Call for Volunteers: Creating a Learn WordPress Course on Open Source Leadership

With the launch of Learn WordPress, the WordPress open sourceOpen Source Open Source denotes software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified. Open Source **must be** delivered via a licensing model, see GPL. project has a highly useful way of offering important resources to all contributors. Leadership training is an excellent way for any community to develop valuable skills (like stronger communication and collaboration, or strategic decision making) and can lead to a more sustainable community with greater representation. While there are multiple paths to leadership in the WordPress project, providing central training can provide greater insight into the leadership qualities that have proven to be particularly effective and aligned with the WordPress mission, and community values when it comes to working together

What would this look like?

Like other Learn WordPress courses, a WordPress Open Source Leadership course would comprise lesson plans, recorded workshops, and quizzes. The course would cover a series of topics, such as:

  • Open source principles
  • Strategic planning
  • Best practices in communication 
  • Managing open-source projects
  • Building psychological safety as a team
  • Creating welcoming and inclusive spaces
  • Giving and receiving feedback
  • Collaborating with volunteers
  • Maintaining accountability
  • Encouraging diversity and inclusion
  • Fostering innovation in open-source
  • Effective mentorship
  • Conflict de-escalation
  • … and more!

After this course is created, contributor teams could organize cohorts to go through the course together, host discussion groups, and learn leadership skills together! 

How you can help

There are two ways anyone can help!

The first way is to provide feedback. What other topics do you think we should include in the course? Please share your thoughts in the comments by Friday, February 12, 2021. 

Another way to help is to help create the course! Everyone interested is welcome to contribute, although it is particularly helpful if you already have experience with:

  • WordPress leadership
  • Understanding of open source principles
  • Familiarity with writing lesson plans
  • Experience with recording or editing workshops

Depending on how you want to help, and how many topics we decide to cover in the course, this project could take a few months to complete, and might ask around 1-3 hours of your time each week. 

If you are interested in building out the lesson plans, recording workshops, and writing quizzes, please let me know in the comments below, or reach out to @angelasjin in the Making WordPress SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/., also by Friday, February 12, 2021.

+make.wordpress.org/training/