TLDR;
- We are revolutionizing the future of the web by mixing activism, CDNs, Open Source, OER and taking a page from the Web of the Past
- We have fused classroom pedagogy with platform development to form a “pedagogical pipeline” of developers for our platform
- Participants will be encouraged to install, play with and explore HAX on Reclaim hosting (or Reclaim Cloud) to see how it can be used in teaching
- The technical approach is mentioned, but the focus of this talk is pedagogy and the revolution being built as a result of this approach
Details
HAX is a visual web builder for producing content in a “forever” format known as HTML, with a wrinkle. Imagine being able to reprogram the <strong> tag. While silly, this would fundamentally change the way you build and develop everything on the web. When we describe HTML as forever, it’s because the HAX platform is literally a <h-a-x> tag in the browser that we can reprogram after initial implementation. This means courses written in HAX 5 years ago, never touched by faculty, leveraging advanced JS and CSS yet never known about by faculty, are more accessible, higher in usability, load faster, and are easier to use by students with 0 additional effort by faculty or staff.
We’ve developed 500+ reusable HTML tags, all of which work on any website on the internet they are loaded onto. All can be changed retroactively thanks to a free (PSU pays the bill, and it’s cheap), fast (AWS), CDN + Documentation on how to implement it via copy and paste. Our editor isn’t just a page editor, it can design full outlines of web content and is quickly becoming a popular replacement for WordPress at Penn State, where HAX.psu (HAX + Azure) is mind-brickingly easy to use, fun and ever improving thanks to our “pedagogical pipeline” (TM).
I am an adjunct advanced web educator for Information Science and Technology College on the side. And in that role, I’ve gotten to use HAX as the back drop for learning about web development in seven courses and dozens of independent studies the last four years. This pipeline has seen 100s of students contribute to HAX through making elements, fixing documentation, performing UX audits, writing themes, and fixing bugs, all while learning web skills that will benefit them throughout their career.
May ’22, four independent study students teamed up to make site creation in HAX into a fun, “Doodle Jump” inspired journey complete with 8-bit visuals, sound effects, and remixable RPG characters.
While sounding technical, this talk will be more about showing pedagogical solutions, like building courses from Word Doc files via upload, converting GitBook courses to HAX courses with a copy and paste, and challenging ideas of portability, remix and what OER platforms can be. There will be lots of time for getting hands on as HAX is part of Reclaim’s products as they support HAX via their dashboards!
HAX isn’t just a web builder, it’s an NGLDE, a community, and a revolution.
