Study-Unit Description

Study-Unit Description


CODE MCS3100

 
TITLE Website Creation

 
UM LEVEL 03 - Years 2, 3, 4 in Modular Undergraduate Course

 
MQF LEVEL 6

 
ECTS CREDITS 4

 
DEPARTMENT Media and Communications

 
DESCRIPTION The study-unit aims to give hands on and practical experience to students when creating their own website using modern content management tools (such as WordPress) keeping in mind flexibility and security. Students will be guided to make informed choices when creating content for tablets, mobiles and how to handle multi language websites for maximum audience reach.

Study-Unit Aims:

This study-unit aims to give students an overview of content management tools for website creation. It aims to provide students with a platform using WordPress to create their own sites, and allow students to experiment when managing these sites.

The unit also aims to extend students’ website use of plugins, widgets, etc., while making informed choices when targeting tablets and mobile devices.

The study-unit will also seek to provide students with an opportunity to obtain basic knowledge on site security; the operation of ecommerce website; CSS design updates; how to handle users, groups and permissions; how to improve search engine ranking; how to handle multi language content; and peer review the work in progress of the project assigned.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Knowledge & Understanding:

By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate an appreciation of content management tools (particularly WordPress);
- Distinguish between content targeted for computers and that targeted tablet and mobile devices;
- Be aware of security implications while operating online.

2. Skills:

By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:
- Add content to a WordPress site;
- Test, install and work with themes and plugins;
- Manage users, groups and permissions;
- Operate plugins for e-commerce, fora, etc.;
- Understand the need for and apply security within the site;
- Handle websites with multiple languages;
- Apply search engine optimisation techniques;
- Update themes with the use of CSS.

Main Text/s and any supplementary readings:

Main Texts:

- Krol, K. (2019). WordPress 5 Complete: Build Beautiful and Feature-Rich Websites from Scratch. (7th ed.) Packt.
- Williams, A. (2019). WordPress for Beginners 2020: A Visual Step-By-Step Guide to Mastering WordPress. Independently published.

Supplementary Readings:

- Barker, D. (2016). Web Content Management: Systems, Features, and Best Practices. O'Reilly Media.
- Levy, J. (2015). UX Strategy: How to Devise Innovative Digital Products that People Want. O'Reilly Media.
- The WordPress Genie. (2016). Build your own WordPress website: an ultimate guide for small business owners. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
- Duckett, J. (2011). HTML & CSS: design and build websites. Wiley.

 
STUDY-UNIT TYPE Lecture, Seminar and Tutorial

 
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT
Assessment Component/s Assessment Due Sept. Asst Session Weighting
Classwork SEM1 No 20%
Assignment SEM1 Yes 40%
Project SEM1 No 40%

 
LECTURER/S James Azzopardi

 

 
The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints.
Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice.
It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years.

https://www.um.edu.mt/course/studyunit