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The Case for Revolutionizing How We Teach Web Design

A 20-year-old self-taught web developer from the U.K., who never went to college, recently delivered a keynote address that brought the house down.

Amanda M. Fairbanks
By Amanda M. FairbanksNov 26, 2010
Amanda M. Fairbanks
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Meet Anna Debenham, a 20-year-old self-taught web developer from the U.K., who never went to college. She recently delivered a keynote address at Mozilla's Drumbeat Festival on the Future of Learning, Freedom and the Web that inspired a standing ovation.

Her treatise, on the pathetic state of web education (both at the high school and college level) details how dated material is not only creating a disinterested generation of web designers and developers, but negatively impacting the future economic viability of whole countries.

Of sticking kids in front of PCs and expecting an entrepreneurial miracle, Debenham quotes a teacher as saying: “All we’re gearing our kids up for is a life in an office. No wonder there’s no stampede for that career path.”

At the end of her presentation, she proposes the need for a fix. How do you suggest we do a better job of educating future technologists?

Check out the full presentation, below:

technologyeducationwebcollegeonlineanna debenhammozillamozilla's drumbeat festivalweb educationprogrammerstechnologists

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