Learners' and educators' perspectives on the value of web design in the South African grade 11 computer applications technology curriculum

Web design was introduced into the Computer Applications Technology (CAT) curriculum in South Africa at Grade 11 level in 2013, and Grade 12 in 2014. This paper reports on a study determining what value learners and educators saw in using web design and Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML). The paper comprises studies undertaken by 17 honours students in 2013 and 2014 as part of a research report module, and followed a survey research design in which 18 educators were interviewed and 319 learner questionnaires analysed. It was found that there was some disagreement regarding the level of support offered to educators having to learn HTML and that most learners enjoyed learning web design and were coping with the demands of learning HTML. Educators felt that web design ought to remain part of the CAT curriculum, although time constraints were frequently raised as problematic. The majority of learners, similarly, felt that there was value in including web design within the CAT curriculum. Workshops to support e...