New Web 2.0 course teaches social networking, e-commerce, more

In this age of technology, it is important for a company to keep their online presence up to the moment. Whether the need is for social networking, blogs, wikis, crowd sourcing or e-commerce, the force behind Web 2.0 is gathering speed. Oakland University's new Web 2.0 professional development course can upgrade these skills.

Heralded as one of nine hot technologies for 2009 by Network World, the January 2009 article said the challenge is harnessing Web 2.0 technologies so they are secure, serve basic enterprise functions and enhance productivity and revenue.

“While many workers today have basic Web skills, this isn’t the strength employers need to help organizations create advanced interfaces with intelligent menus, context-sensitive forms, tag clouds and more,” said Kieran Matheison, associate professor of information systems at Oakland University’s School of Business Administration.

Through the SBA’s Center for Integrated Business Research and Education professional education department, Mathieson is introducing and teaching a new professional development course this summer called Web 2.0 Interface Development. The program offers participants the chance to develop the skills needed to build sophisticated Web 2.0 sites.

“By the end of the course, students should be able to build a basic AJAX-enabled e-commerce site,” Mathieson added.

The course takes place from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. over four Saturdays: July 11, 18, 25 and August 1. For more information or to register online, visit www.sba.oakland.edu/ce.