Tag Archives: learn wordpress

Ryan Marks 2:47 am on August 21, 2020
Tags: learn wordpress, ,   

Collecting and Reporting Stats for Learn WordPress Discussion Groups

In the Americas friendly Community Team meeting today, a suggestion was made by @andreamiddleton:

it would be cool to see this level of reporting for workshops/discussion groups on Learn

This was inspired by the “transparency and clarity” of @jillbinder‘s reports on the Diversity Speakers Workshops.

Based on the conversation that continued, it seems the following are statistics that could be collected and reported upon:
* registrations: the number of people that sign-up to attend a discussion group
* attendees: the number of people that show-up to a discussion group

Some suggestions on other metrics to collect:
* date and time of a discussion group
* which workshop is being discussed

Are there additional metrics that we should collect?
Where should these metrics be reported?

#learn-wordpress

#stats, #workshops

Hugh Lashbrooke 6:17 pm on August 12, 2020
Tags: launch, learn wordpress   

Learn WordPress is Live

This new learning resource will formally go live on 15 December 2020. You can discover it at Learn WordPress!

This post contains full details and a roadmap for this project, so head over there for some background and additional useful information. Going forward, Learn WordPress is going to be focussed on three main areas of content and interaction: workshops, discussion groups, and lesson plans.

BetaBeta A pre-release of software that is given out to a large group of users to trial under real conditions. Beta versions have gone through alpha testing in-house and are generally fairly close in look, feel and function to the final product; however, design changes often occur as part of the process. launch, August 2020

Workshops

At the time of the beta launch, there are four workshops available with more planned to be added each week. These initial four workshops are:

  • Intro to GutenbergGutenberg The Gutenberg project is the new Editor Interface for WordPress. The editor improves the process and experience of creating new content, making writing rich content much simpler. It uses ‘blocks’ to add richness rather than shortcodes, custom HTML etc. https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/ 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. Development
  • Introduction to Contributing to WordPress
  • Introduction to Open-Source
  • Intro to Publishing with the Block Editor

These workshops appeal to a wide range of WordPress users and builders – from publishers to developers and contributors – even people unfamiliar with open-source and WordPress. They also cover a wide range of topics; anything related to how people interact with WordPress is welcome! The number of available workshops will grow over time, and we will see more and more content focussed on helping people learn how to use and contribute to WordPress.

Editor’s Note: The application link below has been updated.

If you would like to submit a workshop to the site, please feel in this form – your submission will be reviewed, and you will be contacted within a few days to confirm if you should go ahead with recording it. Workshops can be submitted in any language as we would love to see this site be as multilingual as possible. Here’s a sheet with some ideas for workshops that would be valuable – you’re welcome to submit any of these as your workshop and even add to the sheet if there’s content that you would like to see on the site.

You can fill in this form if you would like to assist with reviewing submitted workshop applications.

Lesson Plans

Over the last few years, the Training team has been working tirelessly on creating lesson plans that people can use to run their own workshops. All 85 of these lesson plans are available on the site – they are an excellent resource for anyone wanting to teach people about WordPress. You could even use these lesson plans for workshops that you submit!

The Training team would love additional contributions to identify outdated lesson plans, revise and update those plans, connect multiple lesson plans into a workshop, and to create slides. You can get started here.

Discussion Groups

While recorded workshops are great for learning and personal development, one key aspect that they lack is the personal interaction that you would usually have at an in-person event. With that in mind, we will also be hosting optional discussion groups based on the content of the workshops – led by the workshop presenters themselves, as well as other community members.

The first of these discussion groups have been scheduled – you will find them on the dedicated meetup group – and more will be added as new workshops are published. Each workshop page will link to the 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. group.

Anyone interested in leading a discussion group on any of the workshops on the site is welcome to do so. For more information about what is expected of discussion group leaders, check out this Tuesday Trainings post about leading discussion groups. If you’re interested and ready to become a discussion group leader, you can apply to do so here. 

Additionally, meetup organisers can use the Learn WordPress content for their meetup events – simply ask your meetup group to watch one of the workshops in the weeks leading up to your scheduled event, and then host a discussion group for that content as your event. If you do this, then you do not have to apply to be a discussion group leader using the form above – you can just go ahead and do it as an existing organiser.

Get Involved

Workshops

You can apply to present a workshop or to assist with reviewing submitted workshops. You can also add ideas for workshops that you would like to see on the site.

Lesson Plans

You can help out with updating and contributing new lesson plans by following this guide.  Lesson plans are developed on GitHub and published on Learn WordPress.

Discussion Groups

Meetup organisers can organise discussion groups as part of their existing meetup group, or you can apply to be a discussion group leader.

Development

Development of Learn WordPress is being managed on GitHub – you can head over these to log issues and contribute code.

Contributors to training and towards the development of Learn WordPress

Getting this platform live and supporting the training team has been a strong collaboration between the Community, Design, Marketing, MetaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress., Training, and TV teams.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to getting things ready for the beta launch: @rmarks, @melchoyce, @dufresnesteven, @coreymckrill, @dd32, @tellyworth, @psykro, @andreamiddleton, @angelasjin, @courane01, @camikaos, @bph, @courtneypk, @casiepa, @harishanker, @evarlese, @nao, @francina, @liljimmi, @courtneydawn, @bethsoderberg, @juliekuehl, @jessecowens, @chetan200891, @man4toman, @chanthaboune, and everyone else who provided feedback, tested the new site, and contributed so much of the content.

Thank you to the many lesson plan contributors, presenters, reviewers, and more for contributing during recent years: @bethsoderberg, @bharatkambariya, @bri1ckman, @BrilliantPamela, @brocheafoin, @btrandolph, @c3zh, @carolstambaugh, @chanthaboune, @chetan200891, @chiragpatel, @chmchm, @CoachBirgit, @codente, @conradhallauthor, @courane01, @courtneydawn, @danstramer, @dcoleonline, @decwinser, @donkiely, @DragonFalcon, @dufresnesteven, @epetrashen, @epkruger, @estelaris, @esteschris, @fahimmurshed, @Flash-McDirt, @gdavis0007, @geektutor, @gilzow, @gkloveweb, @gonza166, @graham2621, @GregF, @Gwendydd, @helen, @iandunn, @immeet94, @ittoufiq, @iwritten, @jakilevy, @janet357, @jankimoradiya, @jcasabona, @jenwill, @JerrySarcastic, @jessecowens, @jillbinder, @joostdevalk, @JudyLW, @juiiee8487, @juliekuehl, @kartiks16, @kdrewien, @kenso-trabing, @ketuchetan, @kevinkautzman, @KimWhite, @kshivler, @librariancrafter, @likethegoddess, @liljimmi, @lunacodes, @m_butcher, @man4toman, @meaganhanes, @megane9988, @MelChoyce, @MelindaHelt, @mike_piercy, @mikemueller, @mukesh27, @nofearinc, @noplanman, @OlalaWeb, @operapreneur, @Otto42, @owlsheadbiz, @passoniate, @pbrocks, @Pcosta88, @pdclark, @petj, @pwbrowne, @rachelcavery, @rfair404, @rtenshi, @ryancanhelpyou, @samuelsidler, @Scaryevilclowns, @sethaugustus, @shashank3105, @singhsivam, @siobhan, @skarjune, @stacyduval, @suzettefranck, @taraclaeys, @taupecat, @tecdoc, @tgibs, @toniaslimm, @torlowski, @tristup, @trynet, @viitorcloudvc, @vincek1, @vmarie, @webcreative, @webtechpooja, @webtrainingwheels, @WPAleks, @wpdevsolutions, @wpfreely, @wpnzach, @yvbrooks, @zgordon, @zoonini, and @zstepek

Thanks to Marketing Team which has worked alongside Community and the Training Team, including: @webcommsat, @yvettesonneveld, @megphillips91, @meher, @nalininonstopnewsuk, @oglekler, @lmurillom, @marks99, @sthakor, @antialiasfactory, @jonoaldersonwp, @herculespekkas, @marks99, @lmurillom, @carike, @majaloncar, @vimes1984, @ugyensupport, @Miker, @tarif2100, @Lokesh1994, @technocrews, @YashwardhanRana, @swetabh, @chaion07

Thanks to help from the Diversity speaker working group members including: @angelasjin, @cguntur, @danilong, @jillbinder, @nalininonstopnewsuk, @webcommsat

Thanks to contributors who volunteered for a number of ad-hoc working groups including: @adityakane, @chaion07, @manzwebdesigns, @rmarks, @rickyblacker, @sippis

+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/tv +make.wordpress.org/meta +make.wordpress.org/updates 

#launch, #learn-wordpress-2

#learn-wordpress

Angela Jin 4:25 pm on August 11, 2020
Tags: , learn wordpress,   

Tuesday Trainings: How to be an excellent discussion group leader

The Community Team is exploring a new way of connecting the WordPress community through recorded workshops and live, online discussion groups. In fact, you may have seen posts on the Community Blog lately, calling for Learn WordPress workshop presenters, reviewers, and discussion group leaders. These are all important roles in helping the WordPress community connect and learn from each other.

Today, we want to focus on the crucial role of discussion group leaders, and how they help communities grow and learn from each other. Similar to being a meetup group organizer, anyone can be a discussion group leader! 

What do discussion group leaders do?

Discussion group leaders bring everyone together by scheduling synchronous discussion times. When it is time to meet, they introduce the topic, and help facilitate the discussion. Questions that can be used for starting off the discussion will have been provided by workshop presenters. If the discussion strays too far from the original topic, discussion group leaders refocus the conversation. When conversations stall, a discussion group leader can ask a question to restart the discussion. 

Another important role of the discussion group leaders is to make sure everyone gets an opportunity to be heard. They keep an eye out for quieter participants who may want to speak, and help them feel comfortable in doing so. Similarly, discussion group leaders remind all group members to be mindful of time, so that the discussion isn’t solely held by one or just a few voices. 

What resources are available to you?

Discussion group leaders have an advantage in that they get to select the workshops for discussion! Each workshop will come with learning objectives, which can help viewers quickly understand what the workshop is about, and what the workshop presenter hopes you will learn from watching the video. Workshops will also come with some comprehension questions created by the workshop presenter. These questions are a great way to start a discussion!

Another resource could be other members of your discussion group. Even if you come to your group prepared with lots of questions and points for discussion, another participant might also have some excellent questions and discussion topics related to the workshop. Multiple perspectives will help all discussion group participants better understand the workshop material. 

Discussion Group Formats

The goal of discussion groups is to add community and interactivity back into the experience of watching workshops online. We want to create a supportive, safe space where people can connect and learn together and from each other. Because of this, discussion groups can take many different forms, and we invite you to be creative! Here are a few ideas:

  • Use Ice breakers or activities to learn about each other & create a sense of community.
  • Use the comprehension questions as a way to guide your discussion.
  • Invite everyone to share what they learned from watching the workshop.
  • Invite everyone to share any follow up questions that came up. Then, everyone can help answer each other’s questions!
  • Invite people to share how they will apply their newfound knowledge from the workshop.

The format of your discussion group isn’t limited to just one style. Get creative! Depending on the size, make up, and preferences of your discussion group, you may provide a variety of formats to help engage all kinds of learners. Don’t forget to review this handbook page which includes helpful tips and suggestions for online event hosting tools. 

Let’s brainstorm some of those possible styles now. What ideas for discussion groups do you have? Please share them in the comments below, along with any other tips for discussion group leaders!

Want to become a discussion group leader? Great! You can either start one as an organizer of your 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. group, or apply here. 

#tuesdaytrainings
#community-management #learn-wordpress

Cami Kaos 5:53 pm on August 6, 2020
Tags: learn wordpress,   

Proposal: Managing discussion group signups

With the launch of a new series of workshops coming up rapidly, we need to find a way to manage the signup process for discussion groups. A manual process will not be ideal considering the volume of discussion groups we’re planning to see as a result of the workshops, but we don’t have a tool in use to manage signups in an automated fashion.

Proposed immediate solution to manage discussion group signups

Create a new WordPress group on Meetup.com named “Learn WordPress”  where we can post each discussion group as an individual event. This would allow us to work with a platform we’re already familiar with while allowing attendees to easily sign up for discussion groups. An additional benefit would be that the discussion groups would show up as events in the dashboard events widgetWidget A WordPress Widget is a small block that performs a specific function. You can add these widgets in sidebars also known as widget-ready areas on your web page. WordPress widgets were originally created to provide a simple and easy-to-use way of giving design and structure control of the WordPress theme to the user. since Meetup.com events within the chapter program are already pulled into the system. It would also allow us to limit the number of attendees for each session to a size that is reasonable to hold a discussion (20?) and allow for a waitlist of attendees  who could either join the session if people cancel or be added to the next discussion group on the topic. 

We would use the Make Meetings plugin to show all of the upcoming discussion groups on the site and link each discussion to its corresponding event on meetup.com.

We would be able to implement this immediately.

Proposed eventual method to manage discussion group signups

Create a use case specific tool (perhaps using Camptix or a fork of it so it doesn’t have to be built from scratch) to have sign-ups happen on site. The greatest benefits of this would be that everything happens in one place with no need to send attendees away to a third party site for signups and information. 

We would be able to implement this eventually.

Other ideas discussed

While I landed on proposing 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. for immediate use we also discussed scheduling and signup through Calendly and ScheduleOnce, but after reviewing each it seemed too unwieldy for our needs. I also chatted with some folx about use of CampTix but it’s only set up currently to allow one event per site. 

Questions or suggestions

  • Do you have any suggestions or input on the proposal for immediate use?
  • What do you think is a reasonable limit on the number of people per discussion group?
  • Do you have any suggestions or input on the proposal for eventual use?

We’re on a tight schedule to make this happen so I’d appreciate any feedback you have in regards to these ideas by Thursday, August 13, 2020.

#learn-wordpress, #proposal

Cami Kaos 7:15 pm on August 5, 2020
Tags: , learn wordpress,   

The Learn WordPress discussion leader application is here!

After much brainstorming, reflection, and discussion we’ll be adding non-synchronous workshops to our inspirational and educational content in addition to the online 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. and events we’ve all grown accustomed to over the past several months. This exciting new effort is explained and discussed in greater detail in a recent post.

Later this month we’ll begin releasing new pre-recorded content aimed at educating and engaging both new and longterm WordPress users. While the content itself is sure to be fantastic, it’s just the starting point. Once the workshop content has been made available and community members and users have watched and learned from it, we will launch a discussion group, or series of discussion groups, to greater explore the content of each workshop.

Monday, I announced the application to submit Learn WordPress workshops. Yesterday, I announced the application to review submitted workshops. Today I’m excited to share with you the application to be a workshop discussion leader.

Continue reading →

#applications, #learn-wordpress, #workshops