Media Relations
William Woods University

Each semester William Woods University’s website development students work with businesses and organizations to construct promotional websites.

The class, which has been offered since 1999, has created websites for many entities – as close as a few blocks away and as far as Sweden, the Bahamas and London.

Dr. Linda Davis and Murphy Tetley, management information systems faculty, offer the course for students interested in learning the basics of website development. Approximately 500 students have completed the course over the years, creating websites for an equal number of businesses and organizations.

 

At the beginning of the semester, each student chooses a particular business or organization in need of a website. Students work to create a website for the chosen client, a class project that stretches beyond the classroom.

 

 “Students are not only learning to design and develop a website for a business, but they are learning to work with clients,” Davis explained.  “This provides a valuable link on their resume as a reference and as a project showing real-world expertise.”

 

Katie TerMeer, a May graduate who lives in Tebbetts, Mo., but is originally from Covert, Mich., combined her love of dance with her class assignment and produced a website for Dance Ovations Dance Company of Fulton. She worked with Adrienne Branson, Dance Ovations owner and adjunct dance instructor at WWU.

 

"I really enjoyed working on this project because it not only allowed me to be creative and artistic, but it allowed me to showcase something great,” TerMeer said. “All the members of Dance Ovations, including myself, work very hard to do what we love, and I am glad that I could develop a website that would showcase our talent.”

She added, “I never would have been able to do it if it weren't for Adrienne Branson, who supplied me with all the necessary materials, and Murphy Tetley, who taught me how to put it all together."

 

Erin Crooks, a senior from Clinton, Mo., took the class during spring semester and created a website for Maplewood Farm, which is located between Fulton and Kingdom City.

Crooks has worked there for three years, so she was familiar enough with the "client" to actually write the copy for the website, as well as design it.

"I loved the class," she said. "It was really fun to make the website and have something to show, something to be proud of. Having that skill on my resume will attract employers and make me more marketable for any job."
                                                       

Gretchen Pani, owner of Maplewood Farm, said, "Working with a student on this website was a very rewarding experience. Erin was professional, and the website is already helping me to build my business."

 

"Working 'real-world' applications, like websites, gives students a better understanding of business practices both on the technical side and the very important working relationship side,” said Tetley.

 

 “The class has been extremely helpful for my major,” Drew Neudecker, a senior from Alton, Ill., said. “I have worked with real clients, making websites on my own. This experience is irreplaceable and has been a big part of my experience in college.”

 

For Bradley Prasuhn, a December 2009 William Woods graduate from Farmington, Mo., who recently completed his MBA at WWU, the class helped prepare him for his career. He took the website development class in 2007, and this summer, he became the web designer for the university, working in the Marketing and University Relations office.

 

“This class was the start of my love for web design,” Prasuhn said.  “When I took this class it was entry level and it provided me a solid base into the web-design world.  It is funny to look back at a single college class and realize that everything I am doing now stems from that one class. I don’t know that many people can say one class gave them everything.”

Davis agrees: “There is a tremendous impact. Students have the opportunity to improve their advanced website development skills and also to engage in service learning, client interaction and professionalism.”

 

She added, “At the present time, I believe William Woods University is the only college demanding this level of client-based project in the website class.”

 

In addition to creating websites for businesses, students conduct service-learning projects, combining class work with community service. Non-profit organizations, such as the Rwanda Community Partnership (between Fulton, Mo., and the East African town of Kibungo, Rwanda) and Hope in the Streets of Kansas City (which reaches out to the homeless population), receive the website design service free of charge. There is a minimal charge to other clients.

 

The class is currently looking for clients for this semester. For more information, contact Davis at linda.davis@williamwoods.edu or (573) 592-4382.

                                                        

CUTLINES:

Katie TerMeer shows her website for Dance Ovations Dance Company to the owner, Adrienne Branson.

 

The homepage of the Dance Ovations Dance Company website.

The homepage of the Maplewood Farm website.