Eloquent JavaScript

Purpose: to help instructors teach web development courses
Common Course ID:CIS 5620
CSU Instructor Open Textbook Adoption Portrait

Abstract: This open textbook is being utilized in a web development course for graduate students by Dr. Jose Ortiz at California State University, Los Angeles. The open textbook provides easy-to-understand explanations of foundational concepts of programming in JavaScript. JavaScript is one of the core technologies of the Web, in addition to being the most popular programming language in the world today. The primary motivation to adopt an open textbook was its availability free of cost and recognition in the Web development field. Most students access the open textbook online.

Course Title and Number: CIS 5620 
Brief Description of course highlights:  The continued popularity of mobile devices and e-commerce brings a growing demand for web developers. CIS 5620 Authoring Web Sites is a hands-on and practical course that focuses on fundamental technologies and programming techniques for developing websites and web applications. By the end of the course, students will have foundational skills to build web-based solutions to business problems.

Student population: Students of CIS 5620 are usually enrolled in the Master of Information Systems program. However, given the broad appeal of CIS 5620, it is not uncommon to see students from other programs, such as the Master of Business Administration program, taking CIS 5620. Most students have a software development background, while others do not. Prerequisites include experience with at least one programming language.

Learning or student outcomes: 

• Develop responsive websites that render well on a variety of devices and screen sizes
• Add interactive features to websites using standard programming techniques in web development
• Develop server-side functionality for websites and web applications
• Develop and present web-based solutions in a business context 

Textbook or OER/Low cost Title: Eloquent JavaScript

Brief Description: Eloquent JavaScript is a guide to the JavaScript programming language that focuses on practical programming concepts and techniques. The author teaches how to leverage JavaScript's features to write real browser-based applications. The book begins with the fundamentals of programming—variables, control structures, functions, and data structures—then moves on to more complex topics, like object-oriented programming and browser events.

Please provide a link to the resource - https://eloquentjavascript.net

Authors:  Marijn Haverbeke

Supplemental resources: The textbook is complemented with slides developed by the instructor based on the explanations and examples in the textbook and shared with students via the CalStateLA’s learning management system Canvas.

Additional materials include examples and technical definitions used in Web development from the Mozilla Developer Network (MDN) Web Docs. https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/

Provide the cost savings from that of a traditional textbook.  The cost of a JavaScript textbook in Amazon rounds 50 USD.

License: Creative Commons attribution-noncommercial license

OER/Low Cost Adoption Process

Provide an explanation or what motivated you to use this textbook or OER/Low Cost option. Ease of access. Students can access the textbook from anywhere using their browser and focus only on the parts they are interested.

How did you find and select the open textbook for this course? By examining sites recommending textbooks to learn JavaScript. For example, the print version of Eloquent JavaScript is listed as a best seller on Amazon.com..

Sharing Best Practices:  The sustainability of open education relies on sharing with others. Please give suggestions for faculty who are just getting started with OER or Low Cost options.  List anything you wish that you had known earlier.

Participating in initiatives like CalStateLA’s Scholarly Communication Open Resources & eLearning (SCORE) program is an excellent way to getting started with OER.

Describe any key challenges you experienced, how they were resolved  and lessons learned. A key challenge is designing course content that caters to the diversity of the student cohort's technical backgrounds. Course materials that provide intuitive explanations of programming concepts and examples have been essential. These course materials, including the Eloquent JavaScript open textbook, have facilitated the design of coursework that lets students gradually develop problem-solving skills in JavaScript.

The biggest challenge has been to find updated and high-quality materials. The quality of OER/low-cost materials in Web development is good, but the field changes so quickly that new techniques and technologies relevant to practitioners are not typically covered.

Online documentation sites maintained by professional networks like MDN Web Docs mentioned earlier are good options to cope with these limitations.

Instructor Name: Jose Ortiz 
I am an Information System professor at California State University, Los Angeles. I teach Web Design and Development courses.

Please provide a link to your university page. https://www.calstatela.edu/faculty/jose-ortiz

Please describe the courses you teach.
I teach Web Design and Development courses that focus on constructing web solutions to business problems.

Describe your teaching philosophy and any research interests related to your discipline or teaching.
I emphasize teaching and design coursework that explicitly benefits and increases students' prospects for a job in the software/web development industry.