CS265 web network and web site management development of a core course in the Internet technology minor curriculum

The Internet is rapidly expanding into the world of commerce and communication media. The students in many different college majors, including CS and CIS, have an increasing desire to learn more about the Internet and what, where, when, why and how it is used. The question that they have is "How can they get involved and learn about the Internet as it relates to their major field of interest. Our current college students are witnessing a phenomenal effort by organizations of all types (e.g., government agencies, educational institutions, corporations, and small businesses) to exploit the web to deliver information to prospective customers and clients. Developing web applications requires people skilled in the use of state-of-the-art technologies such as HTML, DHTML, CGI, Java or JavaScript, JavaBeans, Microsoft's ActiveX and XML (eXtensible Markup Language). In addition, there is a need for an understanding of Internet information architecture, distributed systems, client-server capabilities, user-interface usability, web-based databases, maintaining security, designing "effective" web pages, and maintaining a web site/server. This paper describes the development of CS265 "Web Network and Web Site Management" a core course in an innovative curriculum for a Computer Sciences minor in Internet Technology. CS265 has been developed within a minor that includes several aspects of Internet-related computing science that are interesting to both the CS/CIS major and non-major alike. This paper presents the development of a successful course curriculum including lectures, lab exercises and projects. It is the intention that the variety of lectures, lab exercises and projects for CS265, "Web Network and Web Site Management," presented here may easily be adapted into any computer science curriculum wishing to include a focus on programming for the Internet and the information systems involved.