Title: Proposal: Faster Course Development with Video-Based Courses
Author: Hugh Lashbrooke
Published: September 21, 2022

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 [  ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/hlashbrooke/) [Hugh Lashbrooke](https://profiles.wordpress.org/hlashbrooke/)
1:15 am _on_ September 21, 2022      

# Proposal: Faster Course Development with Video-Based Courses

In order to speed up the development process for new courses, I propose that the
Training Team also explores video-based courses with full transcripts, to go alongside
the fully text-based [courses](https://learn.wordpress.org/courses/) that have been
produced so far. There are a few elements to this that would all need to be implemented
simultaneously, so here are some thoughts about how this could look:

**Use published tutorials for course content**

The coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development
Team builds WordPress. of this idea is that courses will effectively become a logical
group of [tutorial videos](https://learn.wordpress.org/tutorials/) strung together
in order. This means that, as content is developed, we need to become intentional
about creating tutorials with this in mind. The immediate benefit is that course
content will be coming out all the time as stand-alone tutorials, and then packaging
them into courses will be a faster process that will involve adding content to Sensei
and creating assessments. If we could find a way to combine these with [lesson plans](https://learn.wordpress.org/lesson-plans/)
then that will be a win all round as it would create much tighter cohesion between
all content types.

This doesn’t mean all tutorials need to be part of a course – we can and should 
continue to publish stand-alone tutorials, so that avenue for contribution and content
creation will continue to remain wide open. 

**Expand tutorials with fully formatted text**

One distinct advantage of our current courses is that they don’t lock people into
one way of learning – we have multimedia courses that use videos, text, and images.
In order to ensure that we don’t only have one way of learning, all tutorials will
also include a text version alongside the video. We already have the full transcript
published – while we won’t be changing that, it would give us a good starting point
for creating the text tutorial and adding screenshots where appropriate. It’s definitely
some additional work but well worth it, and it’s an area where it will be easy for
new contributors to get involved. It will also greatly enhance all tutorials regardless
of the benefits for courses.

**Continue maintaining existing courses**

The existing courses (plus the ones currently in development) cover the primary 
areas of WordPress usage and development:

 * Getting started with setup and publishing
 * Building a site with the Site Editor
 * Building 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. themes
 * Developing blocks

I propose that we continue to maintain these courses as they will always be extremely
valuable, so we can work that maintenance into our schedule around the time of each
major WordPress release – something that is already happening, thanks largely to
[@courane01](https://profiles.wordpress.org/courane01/). This process must be documented
and easily repeatable each time a major releaseMajor Release A set of releases or
versions having the same major version number may be collectively referred to as“
X.Y” -- for example version 5.2.x to refer to versions 5.2, 5.2.1, and all other
versions in the 5.2. (five dot two dot) branch of that software. Major Releases 
often are the introduction of new major features and functionality. is on the horizon.

## Conclusion & Feedback

In practice, this means the tutorials published on Learn WordPress will be available
as both video and text, and courses will take significantly less time to produce,
as their content will be published while it is being developed. Not only does this
make it all available sooner, but it will also more readily allow for more public
feedback on the content, and it will make it much easier for new contributors to
get involved in the course creation process.

**Does this proposal sound reasonable? We can experiment with this approach and 
continue to iterate on the process.**

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 1.  ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/e7b27b178ff5a141aa26976d2f17272a6483508f92d4fc6a210bcf8df560921f?
     s=32&d=mm&r=g)
 2.   [Courtney Robertson](https://profiles.wordpress.org/courane01/)  1:23 am _on_
     September 21, 2022
 3.  Worth noting that only 19% of respondents to the [individual learner survey](https://learn.wordpress.org/individual-learner-survey/)
     indicate they prefer learning via video. I would like a larger sample size of 
     respondents, but this is a good indicator.
 4.  Also referring to [this resource](https://make.wordpress.org/training/2021/02/01/lowering-barriers-to-entry-for-workshops-on-learn/)
     from a contributor in a locale where bandwidth has been a huge concern.
 5.  I believe we need to account for [multiple learning styles](https://make.wordpress.org/training/2021/08/08/who-can-learn-help/)
     and that our goal is to make the learning experience easier for the learner.
 6.   * ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/1dba75a903be8eb13bae6f961d81a99e5c76d5ca8c327a18bc25e96df2417b99?
        s=32&d=mm&r=g)
      *  [Hugh Lashbrooke](https://profiles.wordpress.org/hlashbrooke/)  1:25 am _on_
        September 21, 2022
      * > I believe we need to account for multiple learning styles and that our goal
        > is to make the learning experience easier for the learner.
      * This proposal would certainly help in that regard! The end result here would
        allow people to choose whether they learn via video or text.
 7.  ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/103244d69358ca20db2213bcb0b3dd7bf1c5e798aa83c7efd784b3e597a8d228?
     s=32&d=mm&r=g)
 8.   [Wes Theron](https://profiles.wordpress.org/west7/)  2:26 am _on_ September 23,
     2022
 9.  We have many tutorials on Learn that visitors are only able to access if they 
     search for a specific topic. It would very beneficial if we merge many of our 
     published tutorials into courses as this will not only be a centralised place 
     for related content, but it will allow learners to work through content logically
     and systematically. Finally, we put substantial work into creating tutorials; 
     therefore, it makes a lot of sense to use them in course creation. As you mentioned,
     tutorials already have transcripts available as well as learning outcomes.
 10. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eb8a100b34072d5a5ba15cb247f8f55f56cf228b60e71d74303a4e6f6a0b081d?
     s=32&d=mm&r=g)
 11.  [Hauwa Abashiya](https://profiles.wordpress.org/azhiyadev/)  6:14 pm _on_ September
     23, 2022
 12. I’m always up for using what we have rather than recreating the wheel. I’m looking
     forward to seeing how this fits in with the course creation workflow sessions 
     that Allie Nimmons is running. I do agree that we need that balance between text-
     based and video-based, everyone learns differently and accessibilityAccessibility
     Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices,
     services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible
     design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning
     compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen
     readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility) is key. Dare I ask, do
     we have any stats on the use of transcripts on Learn?
 13. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/e7b27b178ff5a141aa26976d2f17272a6483508f92d4fc6a210bcf8df560921f?
     s=32&d=mm&r=g)
 14.  [Courtney Robertson](https://profiles.wordpress.org/courane01/)  3:21 pm _on_
     September 27, 2022
 15. +make.wordpress.org/accessibility/
 16. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/e7b27b178ff5a141aa26976d2f17272a6483508f92d4fc6a210bcf8df560921f?
     s=32&d=mm&r=g)
 17.  [Courtney Robertson](https://profiles.wordpress.org/courane01/)  3:27 pm _on_
     September 27, 2022
 18. +make.wordpress.org/polyglots/
 19. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/34076f2d7ed4c5380e261e8fcb138c5aac103682fb9822cff34c79035d99806d?
     s=32&d=mm&r=g)
 20.  [Meagan Hanes](https://profiles.wordpress.org/meaganhanes/)  3:51 pm _on_ September
     27, 2022
 21. I caution us on going all-in on video for a multitude of reasons:
 22. 1. Video is far more laborious to produce and update than text – and there are
     already known issues with updating text documentation and training to coincide
     with WP releases. It is reasonable to assume this challenge also exists in video.
     How would updates be done to videos when the original author no longer has time
     to volunteer? Do we have buy-in from the WP.tv team members? Have we resolved 
     some of the challenges faced in our current video hosting platform? @courane01
     can articulate these platform limitations.
 23. 2. The Training team does not have access to learn.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/](https://wordpress.org/) statistics required to confirm
     or challenge whether video is the most effective method of instruction. **Who 
     can help us resolve this immediate need**, perhaps someone on the +make.wordpress.
     org/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./ team?
 24. 3. Our responsibility to the WordPress Certification project requires conducting
     research before proposing a direct pipeline of courses-as-videos – this may show
     that a multi-avenued educational approach (as seen in Salesforce’s training) proves
     better for the learner and ultimately the training materials and certification’s
     value and respect itself.
 25. I absolutely support the re-leveraging of our lovingly-crafted training plans 
     and lessons, and transcripts by default is just 💯; however I feel we must always
     keep in mind our contributor’s limited time commitments and reign in scope creep
     whenever possible. Creating a sustainable, open, and healthy process is critical
     to ensuring the Course project is and remains successful for years to come.

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