How Inclind is helping Del Tech revamp its web development program

Future students enrolling in Delaware Technical Community College’s web development program might be in for a treat.
Until now, the program was a little out of touch with the industry, its courses revolving more around computer programming and networking than development and design.
In December, the college decided it was time to bring the program up to speed with current trends. They added two new faces to their advisory committee — Bryan Cordrey and Nick Bumgarner, developers with Georgetown-based web development agency Inclind.
“The program just needs refocusing,” said Cordrey. “We have identified courses that could add more value to a web developer.”
“While we can’t change the program to be exactly what we would like, we’re suggesting which technologies and methodologies should be taught,” said Bumgarner.
One of those suggestions is to split the program into two separate tracks — one for front-end devs and one for backend. A front-end dev student in the new program might take courses in CSS preprocessors, Javascript and jQuery, and possibly basic UX design principles. Students studying backend development, on the other hand, would focus on Object Oriented Programming, advanced PHP and MySQL and CMS custom development.
“We are working to increase students’ exposure to languages that they are far more likely to see in the work world,” said Cordrey. “While students are learning the fundamentals, we’re proposing that they are utilizing modern programming languages.”
These are all suggestions. Cordrey and Bumgarner’s role on the advisory committee is to identify current trends and technologies in the industry. When it comes to packaging the actual curriculum — well, that’s up to Del Tech.
Considering Inclind has partnered with Del Tech in the past to recruit interns and revitalize southern Delaware’s tech scene, modernizing the web development program would ultimately be in the best interest of the college, the students, Inclind and southern Delaware as a whole.