Tuesday Training: How can meetup groups benefit from Learn WordPress?

As announced last week, for this week’s Tuesday Training, we are having a live panel discussion on one of the most common questions that Community DeputiesProgram Supporter Community Program Supporters (formerly Deputies) are a team of people worldwide who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about program supporters in our Program Supporter Handbook. have heard ever since Learn WordPress was launched: “How can meetupMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. groups benefit from Learn WordPress?”

The live panel discussion is being streamed live on YouTube today – March 16, 2021 (Tuesday), at 09:00 UTC on the WordCamp Central YouTube channel. Watch it live on YouTube!

This discussion is over. You can watch the recording of the live session below:

Participants: @courane01 @evarlese @azhiyadev. The discussion will be moderated by me (@harishanker)

In the discussion, we try to find answers to the following questions that we’ve heard frequently from our Community organizers so far:

  • What is Learn WordPress?
  • What are Learn WordPress discussion groups?
  • How can MeetupsMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. organize discussion groups based on Learn WordPress workshops?
  • How do we organize a successful discussion group?
  • How can Meetups organize workshops based on Learn WordPress Lesson plans?
  • How can Meetups contribute to the Learn WordPress project?

The video will be captioned, and a full transcript for the same will shortly be shared in this post.

+make.wordpress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org//training/

#tuesdaytrainings #learn-wordpress #panel-discussion

Tuesday Training Announcement (March 16): Join us for a Live session on Learn WordPress

I’m pleased to invite you to be a part of next week’s Tuesday Training on the topic: How can meetupMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. groups benefit from Learn WordPress?

Some of the topics covered in the discussion include:

  • An introduction to Learn WordPress
  • What are Learn WordPress discussion groups?
  • How can MeetupsMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. organize discussion groups based on Learn WordPress workshops?
  • How do we organize a successful discussion group?
  • How can Meetups organize workshops based on Learn WordPress Lesson plans?
  • How can Meetups contribute to the Learn WordPress project?

This will be a live session, and we will be joined by existing contributors to the Learn WordPress Initiative: @courane01 @evarlese @azhiyadev, and will be moderated by me (@harishanker). The discussion will be held in YouTube live on the WordCamp Central YouTube channel, and will be open to all!

Members of the community and meetup organizers can also participate in the discussion by asking questions in YouTube livechat, which will be answered by the panelists live, in our call!

Join the discussion!

Date and time: March 16, 2021 (Tuesday), 09:00 – 10:00 UTC (Click to view in your local timezone)
Add to your calendar (links directly to an ICS file)

Come, join us to learn how you can make the most out of Learn WordPress, contribute to the same, and support your local meetup. We hope to see you at all the live event!

+make.wordpress.org/training/

#tuesdaytrainings #learn-wordpress

Learn WordPress: Wanna build a workshop?

Thursday, January 28 at 2pm PST I’ll be hosting a Q&A session on building and submitting Learn WordPress workshops in the #community-events channel.

Where to submit your application

https://learn.wordpress.org/workshop-presenter-application/

What information needs to be included in your application

  • Short description
  • Long Description
  • Learning objectives
  • Comprehension Questions

Steps to follow once your application as been approved.

  • write workshop script/lesson plan
  • update descriptions, objectives, and comprehension questions
  • record video
  • submit video to WP.tv
  • have post and video reviewed before publishing

Then I’ll answer any remaining questions you may have.

Please come prepared with questions and curiosity!

+make.wordpress.org/training/

#learn-wordpress

Tuesday Trainings: How to organize a successful discussion group

WordPress contributor teams announced the Learn WordPress initiative in August 2020, which offers recorded workshops paired with live online discussion groups to help participants learn different features of WordPress. Learn WordPress is gearing up for a full launch, and during the past few months, we have had several workshops followed by successful discussion groups. Discussion groups are, in fact, an essential part of Learn WordPress workshops. In August, @angelasjin published an excellent Tuesday Training post on being a successful discussion group leader. This post serves as a follow-up to explore ideas on how to organize a successful discussion group. 

What is a discussion group? 

A discussion group is an event where participants of Learn WordPress workshops can discuss the workshop topic amongst themselves, solidify their learnings, and find answers to their questions, in a live discussion. These discussions can take place over video calls on Zoom or text based meetings in 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/.. Discussion groups are facilitated and moderated by discussion group leaders who have watched the workshop and know its contents. 

How can I organize a discussion group?

Just like a WordPress meetupMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook., anyone can organize a discussion group! There are two ways to organize discussion groups:

  1. You can apply to be a discussion group leader, which will allow you to organize an official discussion group event for a Learn WordPress workshop.
    Once you are approved, you can organize a discussion event on the Learn WordPress Meetup group, just the way you would schedule a WordPress Meetup on a meetup group. Approved discussion group leaders will be promoted as event organizers for the Learn WordPress group. 
  2. You can directly organize a Learn WordPress workshop for a local WordPress meetup.
    Anyone can organize a discussion group for their local WordPress meetup. All you need is to watch the workshop of your choice and schedule a discussion group event for your local WordPress meetup group. If you are not the organizer of your group, you can reach out to members of the meetup organizing team to schedule the event for you. 

Discussion group leaders can organize the discussion event based on any available Learn WordPress workshop. They will need to watch the workshop in advance and should have a good understanding of the topics covered. Each workshop has comprehension questions and learning objectives, which will help discussion group leaders prepare well in advance for a discussion group.

Discussion group leaders for Learn WordPress can then go to the Learn WordPress Meetup group and schedule an event, just the way you would organize a meetup event. Make sure that you mention the name of the workshop and a link to it in the description. Past discussion group leaders have observed that asking a confirmation question to attendees in the meetup options ensures that participants have watched the workshop before attending. 

Preparation before the event

One of the first things you need to keep in mind is the discussion group format. Most discussion groups are organized on video over a video hosting tool such as Zoom (you can reserve a community zoom room, if available). Alternatively, you can also organize a text-based discussion group in the #community-events channel on the WordPress Slack. 

Make sure that you have watched and understood the workshop before the event. Based on the Learning objectives and comprehension questions on each workshop, it might help to prepare some notes. Based on these, prepare a list of discussion points that you can introduce to the audience. Sometimes, many participants in a discussion group may not have seen the Learn WordPress workshop before, so it might help prepare a recap of sorts using slides. Some discussion group leaders have had success organizing quizzes as part of discussion groups. If you are interested, you can create a short, fun quiz with a tool like Kahoot! and use it for your discussion group. 

Ensure that you have scheduled the discussion group at least one week in advance; this will help you get the most participants. Send your group participants reminder emails to watch the workshop along with a reminder about the upcoming discussion group itself. It might be helpful to send a reminder email 24 hours before the workshop and another one shortly before the event.

Tips for a successful discussion group event

Join the discussion group call five minutes early – this will help you stay prepared. Start the discussion group by welcoming everyone. Introduce yourself, briefly talk about the Learn WordPress initiative, and explain what discussion groups are. If you do not have many participants (less than 5), it might help to start with self-introductions – that can be an excellent way to break the ice. Then, ask the members if they have seen the workshop. If at least 20-30% of attendees have not seen the workshop, you might want to start by sharing the gist of the workshop in a capsule form. Do not take more than 10 minutes for the recap. Once the recap is done, you can officially start the discussion group!

Here are some tips: 

  • You can ask open-ended questions based on the workshop and ask participants to answer them. If no one answers, reach out to folks individually and ask questions. 
  • Another way to start the discussion is by reaching out to individual participants in the call by asking them to share their learnings from the workshop.
  • Based on your notes, find a couple of tricky points and try to initiate a conversation. If your group does not seem to be active, you might want to intervene and lead the discussion. You can slowly pass the ball on to other members. Within the span of a few minutes, you should see the discussion gaining momentum.
  • Ask your group members to share any questions that they may have. When they ask questions, even though you may know the answer, ask other group members to answer them. 
  • Some people may not be comfortable talking on a video call. They can always share their thoughts in chat. In fact, you can encourage folks to share their questions in the Zoom chat.

In the meantime, keep a note of the time. Discussion groups are typically one hour long you do not want your group to go past the time limit!

Get creative with discussion groups

Just like how you have the chance to experiment with online WordPress meetupsMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook., you can also get creative with discussion groups. Here are some ideas that you can try out:

  • Do a quiz: You can use free tools like Kahoot! for quizzes. The quiz works best towards the end of the discussion group. It need not be long – all you need to have is about 5-8 questions. The questions can be simple yet fun and playful. Add trick questions if you want to! We’ve found that activities like quizzes help spice up discussion groups!
  • Group activities: For discussion groups on practical topics such as the Introduction to publishing with the block editor workshop, it might help organize activities (either individually or in groups), depending on the number of participants. For example, you can ask participants to create a quick blockBlock Block is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience. layout by giving them some instructions. The task should be fairly straightforward, and participants should complete it in less than 30 minutes. You can then review the work and share instructions on how to get it done. If you are using Zoom for your call, you can use breakout rooms to divide people into groups (this would work if your event has 10 or more participants). 
  • Play games: Several fun games can be used to make online events more effective. Like quizzes, making them the focus of your discussion group might not precisely be effective. But having a short game somewhere towards the end of the workshop might be sufficient. 

Concluding the discussion

Start wrapping up the workshop five minutes before the time is up. You can share a summary of what was discussed and allow for one or two closing remarks. Once the workshop wraps up, it might help send all attendees a personalized message thanking them for the participation. Please don’t forget to share any additional information shared in the workshop (any discussion points, links, slides, etc.). 


Do you have any ideas for organizing a Learn WordPress discussion group? What can we do to make sure that the discussion group is engaging for our participants? Please share your thoughts in the comments! 

#tuesdaytrainings

#community-team #learn-wordpress

Proposal: Moving the Learn Working Group to Training

Back in August, the Learn WordPress platform, in its current state, had a soft launch. Since then, both the Training and Community teams have valiantly worked towards creating new content, improving and refining what’s already present on the site, and bringing on new contributors to help in these efforts.

With the current structure, we have the Training team and the Learn Working Group, housed under the Community Team, working simultaneously on Learn WordPress. Problematically, the two teams are not officially tied and, as such, it is not always easy to know what one another is working on. While there is some overlap from volunteers who are members of both teams, that overlap is not built-in by design. For such a large project that spans teams, this seems to be an opportunity to improve how we approach this work to bolster and strengthen our shared communication channels.

With all that in mind, I’d like to propose that the Learn Working Group be “formally” considered a cross-team working group to drive home the multi-team efforts, and that the group move its communications, meetings, agendas, et al. over to the Training team P2P2 P2 or O2 is the term people use to refer to the Make WordPress blog. It can be found at https://make.wordpress.org/. and 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/. channel. This is also a great opportunity to refresh and refocus the working group to confirm the engagement of everyone involved, while also giving us an opportunity to revisit and modify some of our processes across teams as we grow closer towards an official launch of Learn WordPress.

While proactive communication is necessary for collaboration in any 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, there are a few benefits here that this transition would assist with:

  • A more natural link between historical conversations and decisions with future iterations of Learn WordPress.
  • Leveraging the existing structures and tools of the Training team, i.e. weekly team meetings at alternating times with a chat or update on Learn working group tasks.
  • For new contributors that join through their experiences on Learn WordPress, more seamless onboarding between contributing workshops and/or lesson plans.
  • A joint Handbook that covers contributions and guidelines that include both the existing documentation for lesson plans, and new documentation for workshops.

For working group members, Community, and Training team folks, how does this proposal sound?

Are there any reasons we would not want to do this?

Any benefits that are missing?

I would like to leave this post open for a week – until December 9, 2020 – for conversation, thoughts, and concerns, with the idea that we can come to a resolution before the new year, especially as we continue planning for future improvements, changes, and iterations on Learn WordPress.

Thank you so much to @courane01, @camikaos, @hlashbrooke, and @angelasjin for helping me write this proposal.

+make.wordpress.org/training/

#learn-wordpress #highlight

Quizzes are now live on Learn WordPress

While we work towards a full launch of Learn WordPress and we build up the courses available on the platform, a new feature has been added to the site that enables quizzes to be added to any workshop. This allows people to test their knowledge of the content they have been learning and make sure they have taken in the relevant information.

A number of the presenters for the existing workshops have submitted quiz questions, which are already live on the site, and future workshops will have the expectation of quiz questions to be included as well. To satisfy the need for quizzes to be graded automatically, all of the questions will be in a multiple-choice format. Additionally, since some workshops are designed to be watched back-to-back, some quizzes will apply to a group of workshops rather than just a single one.

The workshops that currently have quizzes available are:

There is a link to the quiz below the video on each workshop page for easy access for all viewers.

Other quizzes will go live soon, and future workshops will also have quizzes associated with them. In order to take a quiz, you need to be logged in to your WordPress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/ account with a prompt to login being shown on the quiz page if you are not.

For now, the quiz results will only be visible to the individuals taking the quizzes, as well as in the site dashboard. Future plans could include displaying an average quiz score for each user on their WordPress.org profile, a public leaderboard with average scores, and maybe even profile badges for people who receive consistently high grades.

Not only do these quizzes allow people to really test their knowledge, but they will also provide a measurable metric for tracking the value and success of the Learn WordPress workshops.

How can you get involved?

There are a few things you can do to get involved here:

  1. Take the quizzes and report back here with any bugs you find or suggestions you have for improvements we can make.
  2. Submit workshops that you would like to record. This sheet shows workshops that are currently published and being planned.
  3. If there’s a workshop without a quiz, then please submit questions – if you know the content well, you can write questions for it, even if you’re not the presenter.

#learn-wordpress +make.wordpress.org/training/

Standards for Learn WordPress workshop content

All projects and content in the WordPress project follow a set  of guidelines to ensure standards. Some examples include the WordPress coding standards, the WordPress documentation guidelines, and the WordPress.tv guidelines. Hence, it’s time to start thinking about a basic set of guidelines for the Learn WordPress platform as well. The purpose behind having guidelines for Learn are two-fold:

  • To avoid any confusion amongst workshop creators on how to create videos.
  • To ensure that Learn WordPress videos have some form of uniformity and standards, instead of being radically different from each other. 

Here are some ideas on those things about Learn that we can standardize. 

  • Length of the workshop: A maximum of 90 minutes. Anything more than that could potentially be broken down into a series or multiple workshops.
  • Workshop title image format: We could potentially request workshop authors to create title cards similar to WordPress design standards. We can provide a sample title card with the necessary fonts and designs that creators can fork for their use.
  • Fonts/formatting for titles and overlays: Ask users to add content similar to the WordPress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/ design language? We should be able to provide assets to help creators.
  • Slide format: If the presenter uses slides, can we provide them a slide format or a template that they can use? (in .key, .ppt or on Google slides format). The training team already has guidelines for slides, which we can potentially use for Learn. For workshops based on existing lesson plans, it would be useful to make use of existing slides, or to add new slides to lesson plans. We will also need guidelines on the storage and accessibility of slides
  • Suggestions/recommendations on the structure of the workshop How should the organizers present their content? Should workshop organizers present slides along with the workshop? How should organizers switch from screencasts/slides? Here are some thoughts:
    • New presenters are encouraged to create workshops based on existing lesson plans, as they already contain objectives, assessments, and slides for Learn workshops. 
    • Presenters should aim to make their videos as interactive as possible.
    • Add more Slides/writings/written-text on the video workshop.
    • Include screen shares if we’re talking about a technical topic that deals with development or the WP dashboard. 
    • Use jargon-free and straightforward language for the workshop.
    • Share any code that was used in the workshop video.
  • Video and audio format guidelines: The video can be recorded using any camera, but aim for a 720p or 1080p video. The video size should be less than 1 GB so that it can be uploaded to WordPress.tv. The audio should also be of good quality. All participants should be able to clearly hear the audio content in the workshop.
  • Subtitles and captions: As much as possible, each Learn WordPress video should be accompanied by subtitles in the workshop language, as a baseline requirement.
  • Learning objectives, comprehension questions, and quizzes: Each workshop should have 4-5 learning objectives and comprehension questions (for discussion groups). Additionally, since the team is working on integrating quizzes with Learn WordPress, it would be good to have workshop creators submit quiz questions and answers with each workshop. 

Training team guidelines on lesson plans

The training team already has some guidelines in place for the lesson plans. These will be excellent resources as we prepare the guidelines for Learn.


Each Learn WordPress workshop is unique. The purpose of these guidelines is not to make each workshop look like the other. On the contrary, each workshop author should have the freedom to craft the workshop in whichever way we want. The idea behind these guidelines is to ensure that all workshop authors keep a few things to make their workshops have compelling content and are useful for our participants. 

These guidelines can be placed on the page where applicants submit a workshop idea – possibly as part of the confirmation page once the workshop idea is submitted. They can also be placed as a reminder and guide for someone who’s just getting started. Alternatively, these guidelines could be placed more prominently – such that a contributor actively agrees to them before even starting on their submission.

The suggestions listed in this post are just the boilerplate. We need a broader discussion to explore this idea more and would like to have feedback from members of the community on the following points.

  • Is it feasible to set up some guidelines for Learn?
  • If we decide to go ahead with these guidelines, do you have any suggestions on where we can add policies in Learn?
  • What are your suggestions on the guidelines listed in this post? 
  • What are some additional guidelines you’d like to see added?

Please share your feedback on the following questions in the comments by November 30, 2020 (Monday).  The deadline has been updated to December 14 (Monday).

A big thanks to members of our community for your continued support for the Learn WordPress program!

This post was jointly-written by @camikaos and I.
The following people contributed to this post: @angelasjin @azhiyadev @chaion07 @courane01 @evarlese 

#learn-wordpress #workshops #standards


+make.wordpress.org/training

+make.wordpress.org/tv

Setting a launch date for Learn WordPress

Now that Learn WordPress is live, we are seeing workshops being published, discussion groups taking place regularly (with plans to improve their visibility), and lesson plans being extensively audited. This is all very exciting to see and the platform is growing nicely!

The next stage is to set a date for a full, marketed launch so we can spread the word to the broader WordPress community about the excellent learning resources on offer. We have previously discussed some of the criteria we should aim for in order to make a full launch as effective as possible, and we’re well on the way to being ready for that:

A few things need to be completed before we can be truly ready for a full launch:

  • Some dev work is required for the courses & quizzes to work correctly (read more and contribute on GitHub)
  • More workshops need to be recorded to fill out the first two courses (workshops in progress are being tracked in this sheet)
  • Quizzes need to be added to existing and new workshops – this is already being done with questions existing in the dashboard for many of the current workshops

With all of this going on, now is a good time to decide on a date we can commit to being ready for a full launch.

WordPress 5.6 is currently scheduled for launch on 9 December and I personally feel it would be fantastic if we could have Learn WordPress ready prior to that date. How great would it be to have a new feature mentioned in the 5.6 release post, that includes a link to learn about that feature on Learn WordPress?!

Of course, “ready” is subjective and we will always continue to iterate on things as time goes on, but if we can complete the items listed above then I think we’ll have things in a state ready for a full launch.

Feedback

Your feedback along the following lines will be invaluable:

  1. Do you think we can have Learn WordPress ready before the launch of 5.6? What date do you think we should aim for?
  2. Are there any workshops you would like to record & contribute? Maybe one for a WordPress 5.6 feature? Right now, the primary focus is on workshops for the first two courses listed in this post and currently planned workshops are indicated in this sheet.

+make.wordpress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org//training +make.wordpress.org/marketing

#learn-wordpress

Getting more Learn WordPress Discussion Group leaders and attendees

Learn WordPress is getting closer to its full launch and more workshops are being published, worked on and planned. One essential idea with workshops are discussion groups, that are a great way to share thoughts and ideas between others that have watched the recorded workshop.

Discussion groups can be held via Zoom or in #community-events 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/. channel by original workshop presenter(s) or anyone who wants to be a discussion group leader. Virtually anyone interested in leading a discussion group on any of the workshops on the site is welcome to do so.

To make the most out of workshops and discussion groups, it would be great to have at least two discussion groups per each workshop. These discussion groups can happen anytime and even after the workshop has been published already months ago – it’s up to the discussion group leaders interest.

Currently, discussion groups are a bit hidden in the Learn WordPress platform. I’m proposing the following additions in order to raise awareness about discussion groups happening and more attendees and discussion group leaders:

1. Add “Upcoming discussion groups” section between “Recent workshops” and workshop idea submission CTA on the front page.

This new section would list three next upcoming discussion groups and link to the meetup.com page where all upcoming discussion groups are listed. This way also older workshops get some attention on the front page if new discussions groups for those are scheduled.

We already have code to get meetupsMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. from meetup.com, so it shouldn’t be a big job to get scheduled discussion groups from there as well. Of course, it needs some dev time, but I’m sure it will be worth it.

2. Add “Interested in running a discussion group?” CTA next to current “Have an Idea for a Workshop?“ CTA on the front page.

I’d like to have many discussion group leaders, so running those won’t fall into the responsibility of a workshop presenter(s) and a small group of an active group of Learn WP deputiesProgram Supporter Community Program Supporters (formerly Deputies) are a team of people worldwide who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about program supporters in our Program Supporter Handbook.. With this new CTA in place, we make it more visible that virtually anyone can run a discussion group if they find a workshop they’re really interested in and there’s no scheduled discussion group for that workshop.

Quick mockup showing how upcoming discussion groups and new CTA could be places on the front page.

3. Add details about discussion groups in workshop pages.

Currently, the page of a single workshop only has a button “Join a Discussion Group” which is a bit vague. We should add a small blurb on top of the button explaining what is a discussion group. Below the button could be a small text, much like the CoCCode of Conduct “A code of conduct is a set of rules outlining the norms, rules, and responsibilities or proper practices of an individual party.” - Wikipedia notice, saying that if there’s no scheduled discussion group for this workshop, apply to be a discussion group leader to run one.

4. Create a new “Be a Discussion Group leader” page

As you might notice, two previous proposals contain a link to a page that doesn’t exist at this time on Learn WP platform. We should create a new page where it is explained what discussion group is, what it means to be a discussion group leader and how to apply. Currently, this information exists only in this make/community posts.

Tracking all the upcoming discussion groups and keeping an eye that each workshop has at least two groups

It would be nice to have at least two discussion groups for each workshop. These can happen anytime after the workshop has been published, even months later.

To keep track of upcoming discussion groups, we’ll use meetup.com where all scheduled discussion groups are being added.

In parallel to public listing on scheduled groups, I suggest that we create a new Google sheet with each workshop listed on it. In the sheet we can track if;

  • Zoom discussion group has been scheduled/held
  • Slack discussion group has been scheduled/held
  • Additional discussion groups have been scheduled/held

It would fall mostly under my lap, as I promised to manage discussion groups, but everyone who schedules a new discussion group in meetup.com should update this sheet.

With this sheet, we can track if a workshop hasn’t had any discussion groups and we can reach out to our discussion group leaders and workshop presenter(s) (not too) regularly asking whether they would like to schedule one. In future, the list of workshops needing a discussion group leader, could be added to the new “Be a Discussion Group leader” in Learn WP platform.

What do you think? Thoughts, ideas, comments, questions? How we could attract more discussion group leaders and attendees in your opinion? Please share your feedback before 2020-11-09.

#discussion, #discussion-groups, #learn, #learn-wordpress, #learn-roadmap

Learn WordPress course planning

In order to make sure Learn WordPress is ready for a full launch, we need to work towards publishing content as soon as possible that can empower WordPress users to learn relevant and valuable skills. The best way to do that is by compiling courses that target specific learning outcomes. I proposed this on GitHub, so check that out for a deeper explanation of the data structure for this.

In this post, I’d like to explore some course outlines that we could use on Learn WordPress. For a full launch later this year, we need to have a minimum of two complete courses published on the site.

Alongside the course outlines below there are links to existing docs and lesson plans that could be used for people to record the workshops, as well as currently available workshops in some cases. The existing lesson plans and documentation make it very easy for anyone to record a workshop on the topic with minimal effort.

The course & workshop names aren’t set in stone – they’re just from initial brainstorming and this can all be evolved over time.

The feedback needed here is:

  1. Is there anything you would add/change about the course outlines listed here?
  2. Are there any additional courses you can think of that would be good to include?
  3. Which two courses should we make sure to have ready before we do a full, marketed launch of Learn WordPress before the end of 2020?
  4. Are there any workshops that you would like to be involved in creating/recording? If a lesson plan exists, then the workshop is simply using that as your script to record the workshop.

Please read through the proposed courses and outlines below and leave your feedback in the comments!

Continue reading

#highlight, #learn-wordpress