Request for feedback: Lesson Handbook pages

As we work towards launching the Learning Pathways in 2024 we will need to create a new set of content creation guidelines that enable the Learning Pathways to scale, with a clear process for developing, reviewing, and updating content.

I would therefore like to propose that we create a new Handbook section which will include the following pages:

  • Lessons
  • Lesson Creation Process
  • Lesson tasks
  • Creating a lesson
  • Lesson Review
  • Publish your lesson
  • Adding the Lesson 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/
  • Creating Lesson Module Quizzes/Activities

I have created a draft Google doc containing these initial pages, as well as content that has been drawn primarily from our existing documentation on Tutorials, but with some added sections drawn from other handbook pages.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1twvDGmVZsyjBZbi9abiqoA_a2G7O_WNis_iGL2Sccg0/edit?usp=sharing

I would like to call on all members of the Training Team to review this new set of handbook pages and share their feedback on the different sections.

You are welcome to share your thoughts in the comment section on this post or use the Google Doc comments feature.

I will leave this post and the doc open for feedback and comments until Tuesday 19 December 2023, after which I will add the new pages to the Training Team handbook.

Recap: GitHub updates and process refinements

The GitHub updates announced in July have finally completed! Here is an overview of the changes.

Here’s what’s new

  • GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. https://github.com/ labels have been reduced from over 120 to just 27.
  • Issue templates have been reduced from 9 to 5.
  • 3 workflows have been set up to automate tasks:
    • Anyone can now self-assign issues by typing //assign in a issue comment.
    • Anyone can send their issue to the relevant project board by typing either //dev, //content, or //handbook when submitting feedback.
    • Faculty members can add content development checklists to their issues by typing either //tutorial, //online-workshop, //lesson-plan, or //course in either the issue itself or in a comment.
  • 2 new handbook pages have been published to document these changes:
  • How We Use GitHub and other handbook pages have been updated to reflect these changes.

Learn more at next week’s Online Workshops

@bsanevans will be hosting two Online Workshops next week to demonstrate these changes live, and answer any question folks may have. These Online Workshops are a perfect opportunity for:

  • Training Team Faculty and contributors who have been contributing to the team and want to get up-to-date with these latest changes.
  • New contributors interested in contributing to the Training Team and wanting to know how we use GitHub.
  • Any contributor from other Make WordPress teams interested in implementing GitHub processes to their team, too.

Come sign up to these workshops from the links below. Times are shown in your local timezone. A recording will be published after the event for anyone who could not attend.


While these changes bring much needed refinements to the Training Team’s processes, there’s always room for further improvements. If you have any feedback, feel free to comment below, or bring them up directly in the Training Team any time.


Thank you to the following contributors who contributed to this project, either directly or by providing feedback as changes were implemented 👏🏼👏🏼 @webtechpooja @jominney @sumitsingh @digitalchild @psykro

Also, thank you @milana_cap for sharing your insight from setting up workflows for the Docs team 🍪🍪

#github, #procedures

Meet your 2024 Training Team Representatives

The Training Team nominated and voted on a number of motivated and dedicated contributors to the team. The new Team Representative nomination, voting, and vetting period is a special time where folks in the community affirm work ethic and confidence, and the outcome of these votes ensure fresh leadership and new perspectives guide the team.

It’s been amazing to watch the growth the team has experienced last year, and the rise in leadership in various individuals. This year, the Training Team keeps 2023 Team Representatives Benjamin Evans and Destiny Kanno, and adds one new Team Representative; Laura Adamonis.

This is a post to share more about your newly nominated Team Reps!


Laura Adamonis- @lada7042

Laura Adamonis lives in Greensboro, North Carolina with her husband and has two kids. Laura got started in WordPress in 2022 after looking for a career change that would provide a flexible and remote work environment. She started her agency, Add A Little Digital Services, in 2022. Laura started contributing to the training team in 2022 by co-hosting. She continued to co-host and then became a content creator in 2023.

Laura has a background in design and education that she brings to the training team. She is a previous Montessori teacher and was the robotics coordinator for the Greensboro Science Center where she taught robotics, engineering and coding.

Laura is a co-organizer for the Triad WordPress MeetupMeetup All local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area. and is a contributor to the DEIB, photo, and coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. teams.


Benjamin Evans – @bsanevans

Benjamin Evans is from Fukuoka, Japan, where he lives happily with his wife and puppy. Ben started making sites with WordPress in 2014. After teaching technical subjects to both undergraduate and postgraduate students for 5 years, Ben made a move to join Automattic in 2019. Since joining, Ben helped create a Japanese support team, created employee education curriculum, and worked on new employee training before becoming a Community Education Manager in 2022.

Ben has been a Co-organizer of a local Meetup group, has spoken at WordCamps, been a Training Team table lead for Contributor Days, and is a frequent Online Workshop facilitator on Learn WordPress.

In his non-working time, Ben likes to travel, play the flute, take long drives, and read books.


Destiny Kanno – @piyopiyofox

Destiny Kanno is from California, USA, and currently lives in Tokyo Japan with her husband and Formosan Mountain Dog. Destiny is currently Head of Community Education at Automattic, but she got started with WordPress in 2016 while working for the Japanese digital agency ASA Digital before joining Automattic as a Happiness Engineer in 2017. Her professional journey has allowed her to experience the various faces of WordPress inclusive of its end users and developers, enterprise customers, and 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. community.

Destiny became more involved with the WordPress community in November 2021, and began dedicating more of her time to the Training Team specifically in early 2022. Outside of the Training Team, Destiny is also a BlackPress Co-Organizer, a Japanese WordPress community member, and the Sponsors Team lead for WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. Asia 2024.

In her free time Destiny enjoys traveling, making music, watching films, and dancing.


Nomination Results

Over the course of three weeks the Training Team voted for their three nominees. Below are the results of the vote.

While the voting helps inform the vetting and final decision process, it is not the only way the current representatives evaluate the candidates. As noted in our Team Rep handbook page, the 2023 reps evaluated the three candidates using the following criteria as a guide:

After the voting period is over, the current team reps will review the candidates in descending order from the highest votes and evaluate their eligibility based on the following criteria:

  • If they have a Training Team badge.
  • Their last six months of activity in the Performing section of the contributor ladder.
  • Whether or not they have been a Training Team Representative within the last 2 years.
  • Diversity of the team repTeam Rep A Team Rep is a person who represents the Make WordPress team to the rest of the project, make sure issues are raised and addressed as needed, and coordinates cross-team efforts. group as evaluated through the Team Values.

Based on the above, we jointly decided that Laura Adamonis best fits the above criteria.

Within the past year Laura has moved from the Performing step in our contributor Ladder to the Leading step, and continues to contribute to the team as a Content Creator Faculty Member who creates video tutorials and hosts Online Workshops for the wider WordPress Community. With her outstanding commitment, the 2023 Team Representatives are excited to invite her to the team and look forward to working alongside her in this capacity.


Once again, we give huge thanks to our offboarding 2023 Team Representative @webtechpooja for her amazing dedication to the team and thoughtful collaboration with her fellow co-representatives.

The new Training Team Representatives are delighted to be serving the community in this capacity this year and look forward to what we will all accomplish together.

You can reach out to the Reps in the #training channel in the Make 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: Defining Active and Engaged Faculty

TL;DR: We need your insights and perspectives! The Training Team is seeking your input to help define what makes an active and engaged Faculty member.

As you may already know, the Training Team Faculty is a team of dedicated volunteers who work to achieve the goals of the Training Team and the Learn WordPress platform. The expertise and guidance of Faculty members fuel the growth and development of our fellow contributors and learners in our community. If you’d like to read more details about what Faculty members do, you can review the Faculty handbook page, Areas of Responsibility.

Our goal is to identify and distinguish active and engaged Faculty members in order to better evaluate the engagement and participation within the Faculty program. By establishing standards for what defines an active and engaged Faculty member, we can assess the need for any necessary updates to the program. This is important to help ensure the continued growth and success of the Training Team.

What defines an active and engaged Faculty member?

To get the discussion started, below are a few preliminary thoughts we’ve gathered on what it means to be an active Faculty member. These initial ideas are by no means definitive and are open to discussion.

  1. Regular participation in Training Team meetings: Active Faculty members make it a priority to attend Training Team meetings, whether synchronously or asynchronously, at least once a month.
  2. Engaged communication: They actively contribute to Faculty member update threads during Training Team meetings, ensuring they stay informed and connected.
  3. Prompt responsiveness: Active Faculty members respond to role-specific 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/. group pings at least once a month, demonstrating their commitment to collaboration and support.
  4. Role-specific activities:
    1. Administrators: Actively contribute to the Training Team’s Help Scout or the Learn GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. https://github.com/ repository within the past month.
    2. Content creators: Actively contribute to various content-related tasks—such as writing, recording, editing, or facilitating—within the past month.
    3. Editors: Lend their expertise to the editing process by collaborating with Content Creators and Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) within the past month.
    4. Subject Matter Experts (SMEs): Actively provide their specialized knowledge by collaborating with Content Creators and Editors in the past month.
    5. Translation Coordinators: Actively contributing to translation efforts within the past month, including working closely with Content Translators.

Let’s hear from you!

Please post in the comments what you think can define an active and engaged Faculty member. Thank you for your input!


Thank you to @bsanevans for reviewing this post.

#faculty-program

Hosting Learn videos on YouTube

I am delighted to announce that the feedback on the proposal to host Learn videos on YouTube has been overwhelmingly positive: Proposal: Hosting Learn videos on YouTube.

  • Contributors express excitement about the benefits:
    • Improved analytics
    • Potential for a broader audience reach
    • Opportunity to showcase outstanding work in Learn videos
  • Emphasis on utilizing YouTube’s 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) features is particularly appreciated:
    • Translations of subtitles 
    • Hopes for accelerated expansion into non-English communities
  • The benefit of having more flexibility and control is well-received.
  • The general agreement is that this transition has the potential to:
    • Boost traffic
    • Improve the overall user experience.

In the future, YouTube video URLs will be embedded in content instead of WordPress.tv URLs and the necessary updates will be made to the Handbook. We are currently revising our content guidelines to match our vision for learning pathways and align with the proposed Learn website information architecture.

For assistance, content creators can reach out to @psykro or @west7 if needed.

Proposal: Hosting Learn videos on YouTube

I propose transitioning the video embedding platform for Learn WordPress from WordPress.tv to the WordPress YouTube channel. We will still submit videos to WordPress.tv but use the Youtube videos for embeds.

YouTube allows WordPress, as a non-profit organization, the opportunity to host our videos without any advertisements, ensuring an uninterrupted and seamless viewing experience for our users. 

We can seamlessly embed YouTube videos into posts and Sensei, the learning management system we use for courses, which will also be utilized for learning pathways.

Additionally, by hosting our videos on the official WordPress YouTube channel, we can:

  • consolidate our educational content in one central location, and utilize the playlist functionality to better categorize and segment Learn videos.
  • utilize YouTube’s detailed analytics, empowering the Training Team to make data-driven decisions and optimize our content strategy for maximum impact. 
  • add chapters to videos, which is something we are not able to do using WordPress.tv.
  • leverage YouTube’s SEO tools to enhance our videos’ visibility, ensuring they reach a broader audience searching for WordPress tutorials.
  • utilize YouTube’s 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) features, such as subtitles and translations, enabling us to cater to a diverse audience, which aligns with our commitment to inclusivity.

WordPress.tv videos are already being synced to the WordPress YouTube channel, so there would be little process change.

Are there any other advantages or disadvantages we haven’t highlighted here? Please share your thoughts by Wednesday, 4 December.

+make.wordpress.org/marketing/

Looking for feedback: Updates to GitHub issue templates and labels

Summary: In an effort to streamline the team’s GitHub repo, the Next steps for GitHub updates project is looking to reduce the number of GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. https://github.com/ issue templates in the repo from 9 to 5. The project is also looking for input as the current list of 119 labels is reassessed and reduced. Please leave your feedback on the proposed changes by October 17th (Tuesday).

Please review the new list of GitHub issue templates

In an effort to streamline the team’s GitHub repo, the Next steps for GitHub updates project has identified a need to reduce the number of GitHub issue templates. The expected benefits from this change include:

  • Less confusion for contributors creating new issues.
  • Less redundancy during topic vetting. (Currently, Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) must vet the same topic for multiple content types.) 
  • Reduction in quantity and complexity of automations that will get set up.
  • Preparation for the consolidation of content types, as proposed in Looking for Feedback: Learn Website Information Architecture.

Below is a table listing the current 9 issue templates, and the 5 proposed templates they’ll correspond to. Each of the new templates have already been created and can be previewed from https://github.com/WordPress/Learn/issues/new/choose. (Scroll to the bottom of the list, and you’ll see these new templates prefaced with “_do-not-use_”.) Please leave any questions, suggestions, or other comments about these templates below.

Current issue templatesProposed issue templates
Bug Report Template
Content Feedback
Feedback
Topic IdeaContent Development (general)
Lesson Plan Template
Tutorial Template
Online Workshop Template
Course Template
Content Development (for Faculty)
Content Translation TemplateContent Translation
Meeting Agenda TemplateMeeting Agenda

Some points to note in these changes:

  • All feedback pertaining to Learn WordPress, regardless of whether it is regarding the website itself or the content, will be submitted in one issue. Automation similar to what the Docs team has will be set up, allowing any contributor (regardless of GitHub access) to triage and send these to their respective projects where they’ll be actioned on.
  • The current “Topic Idea” template will be renamed to clarify this is actually the issue content creators should use when creating content. These issues will be highlighted to SMEs to be prioritized in their topic vetting process.
  • Faculty who will immediately create content themselves may skip the vetting process. The four content templates the repo currently have are designed for this process, but weren’t labeled as such, and were therefore confusing general contributors. These will be consolidated into a single template marked “for faculty”. Automation similar to what the Docs team has will be set up, allowing Faculty to call the respective development checklist for their content type with a command.

Help us review the current list of GitHub labels

The project has exported the current list of GitHub labels into this Google Spreadsheet. We’re looking for Training Team contributors with experience in labeling issues in the team’s repo to help us document the purpose of each label.

Once completed, the project will:

  • Reassess labels based on their current use.
    • Similar labels may be consolidated.
    • Labels may be renamed for clarity.
    • Some project-specific labels may be replaced with custom fields.
  • Document the purpose of each label in the handbook.
    • Documentation will also include how new labels should be added and which labels are used in automation and, therefore, should not be modified.

Thank you for your feedback!

We’re looking for feedback on the proposed changes to issue templates and documentation regarding the repo’s current list of labels, by October 17th (Tuesday).


@webtechpooja and @jominney were co-authors of this post. Thanks also go to @yuli-yang for exporting the list of GitHub labels for the project!

#feedback, #github

Recap: The first Learn WordPress course cohort

Summary 

During September and October 2023, the Training team experimented with facilitating its first course cohort. Course cohorts have been a goal of the Training team since 2022.

The first iteration of the Learn WordPress course cohort guidelines was published, and this cohort would be used to test and iterate on these guidelines.

The cohort was announced on 2 August 2023, and ran from 4 September 2023 to the 13th of October 2023.

Here are some numbers regarding the course cohort:

  • The cohort was conducted over 7 weeks, with new content provided over 6 weeks
  • 14 participants were chosen from 64 applicants
  • 6 participants completed the content by the 13th of October
    • This slightly missed the predetermined Learning success metric “A 50% course completion rate”, by 1.
  • 4 participants requested an extension till the 15th of November
  • 2 participants did not start on the content
  • An average of 7 participants attended the weekly synchronous calls
    • This met the predetermined Results success metric of “A 50% attendance rate for the weekly calls”. 

Feedback Survey results summary

Participants were asked to complete a feedback survey once they had completed the course. 

  • 75% of respondents indicated that the course achieved all of their expected learning outcomes
  • None of the respondents highlighted any missing topics or information that they expected to learn in this course.
  • The only information they felt was not necessary was 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. styling (applying styles to blocks via CSSCSS CSS is an acronym for cascading style sheets. This is what controls the design or look and feel of a site. files)
  • All of the respondents indicated that the course instructions were very clear and easy to follow
  • 75% of the participants felt that there was enough time to complete the course.

Overall the feedback was very positive, with little to no negative feedback. One respondent indicated that an introduction to the different programming languages might be a beneficial addition, for anyone brand new to programming.

Click here if you would like to read more about the preparation, planning, and execution of this cohort.

Preparation and goal-setting

To prepare for this first cohort, we published the first iteration of the Learn WordPress course cohort guidelines, and set the following success measurements. 

  • Results: at least 50% of participants complete the activities, attend the in-person sessions, and/or complete the feedback survey.
  • Learning: at least 50% of participants complete the course, and pass the final task, or both.

These goals were based on the first two levels of Kirkpatrick’s Four Levels of Training Evaluation

Additionally, we hoped to use this cohort to:

  • Determine if the existing steps laid out in the guidelines were complete, or if gaps existed that needed to be addressed. 
  • Experiment with the course cohort format and use the lessons learned to help improve the guidelines and help future cohort facilitators plan and execute their cohorts. 

Planning vs. Execution

Course signup

Expectation

Application for the course cohort required interested folks to complete a sign-up form. The sign-up form included a question related to their ability to attend the weekly synchronous calls, as it was important to ensure that applicants could make this call. 

Results

A total of 64 applications were received, about half of which were possibly not going to make the synchronous call, due to being in distant time zones. 

Participant selection

Expectation

Participants would be randomly selected from the list of available applicants.

Results

As the number of applications were larger than what we had anticipated, and from a wide range of time zones, we had to think of a way to fairly select a diverse group of participants while making sure those selected would indeed be able to attend the synchronous sessions. 

Ultimately what we ended up doing was splitting the group into AMER, EU and APAC friendly time zones. We then confirmed with all the AMER folks whether they would prefer an AMER friendly cohort, which they all agreed to. Finally, we selected 7 participants randomly from the EU and APAC groups. 

Course communication

Expectation

The cohort would use a group 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/. DM in the Make WordPress Slack. 

Results

Slack group DMs are limited to only 8 participants, so an alternative solution had to be found at the last minute. A new Slack channel for the cohort was created.

Course duration, content delivery, and synchronous call schedule

Expectation

The course was to be held over 6 weeks, from 4 September 2023 to 9 October 2023. 

New course content for each week was to be released on the Monday of each week, and the weekly group call would be held on the Wednesday of the same week, with 6 group calls expected. 

Each participant was expected to attend every call unless unforeseen circumstances prevented it. Participants were expected to complete the coursework for each week by the date of the next Wednesday’s call. 

Results

Based on the above-mentioned content delivery schedule, the first group call served more as an introduction, and one additional asynchronous call was required on the 11th of October 2023. 

There appeared to be about a 50% drop off in attendance for the weekly call. After performing check-ins with those folks who were not able to attend, a number of them indicated that they had some unexpected changes but would be back. 

By the end of the course: 

  • 6 participants had marked their course content as complete
    • 2 had actively notified the group that they had finished the project (either with screenshots or GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. https://github.com/ reposrepos The Training Team uses GitHub for working copies of lesson plans. You can find them at https://github.com/wptrainingteam. of the code)
  • 8 were still progressing through the course
    • 4 had asked for time extensions until 15 November 2023 due to unforeseen circumstances
    • 2 had not started.

Course content

Expectation

Results

Trying to create course content based on existing related content was not effective. This was because changes to tooling and block development since those original pieces of content were created meant that it was either slightly out of date, or couldn’t be reused in its entirety. This meant creating new content specifically for the learning outcomes of this cohort. 

Content Delivery

Expectations

The course content would be managed using the Sensei LMS pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party. This would also provide an opportunity to experiment with the Sensei Groups and Cohorts feature for managing the cohort.

Results

The use of Sensei and the Sensei Groups and Cohorts feature worked well, with one small caveat. All the course content needs to be created upfront, and then either published or set to release on specific dates to be made available to cohort members. 

What did we learn?

Below are the lessons we learned from this cohort, that will be used to improve the cohort guidelines:

  1. Make use of the shortcodeShortcode A shortcode is a placeholder used within a WordPress post, page, or widget to insert a form or function generated by a plugin in a specific location on your site. in any course cohort launch posts, to ensure readers are aware of the time of any synchronous meetings or calls.
  2. Make the application more detailed for the vetting process. Ask more detailed questions about the cohort time commitments, and their availability to take part.
  3. Decide on a better vetting process to filterFilter Filters are one of the two types of Hooks https://codex.wordpress.org/Plugin_API/Hooks. They provide a way for functions to modify data of other functions. They are the counterpart to Actions. Unlike Actions, filters are meant to work in an isolated manner, and should never have side effects such as affecting global variables and output. and select participants for future cohorts.
  4. If choosing to continue to use Slack, set up a Slack channel well ahead of time.
  5. Consider alternative means of communication, possibly email. Some folks did not receive notifications of Slack messages, and so missed either check-ins or the invitation to the course.
  6. Investigate using comments on Lessons in Sensei.
  7. Allow for one more call than the number of weeks in a cohort, (ie a 6-week cohort requires 7 calls) 
  8. Consider adding a follow-up call after a month from the course completion date.
  9. Consider allowing additional time for folks to complete the course, who might have unforeseen circumstances affect their ability to complete it in time.
  10. In the future, we recommend extending the time to complete the course content, allowing for unforeseen circumstances. 
  11. Use an existing course as-is for the cohort content. 
  12. If one does not exist that covers the specified learning outcomes, create it first, before announcing a course cohort on the topic. 

Additional questions

During the process of drafting this recap post, the following questions arose. 

  1. What additional questions could we ask cohort applicants, to improve the vetting process?
  2. What can we do to improve the selection process? 
  3. How can we safely request applicants to submit their email addresses, to improve cohort communication?
  4. How much additional time should we allow for folks to complete the course content, after the cohort is completed?
  5. Is there a reason comments are not enabled for lesson post types, and can we fix this?

Answering these questions will help the Training team improve the course cohort guidelines.

Therefore, we are calling on all Training team members and faculty to assist with brainstorming ideas to find solutions to these questions.

Next steps

This is just the first of hopefully many more Learn WordPress course cohorts, but we need your help to improve the guidelines and make it easier for future facilitators. 

This recap post is calling on the Training Team to help improve these guidelines, starting with the following:

  • Comment on this post with any ideas or answers you can think of for the questions in the Additional Questions section.
  • We are looking for volunteers to help update the Course Cohort guidelines in the handbook based on the lessons learned from this cohort.
  • If you participated in the cohort, please share your thoughts and feedback in the comments on this post. 

What’s next for Dev-Squad?

Earlier this year we launched a new initiative called dev-squad. The initial goal of dev-squad was to hold weekly, 30-minute triage sessions to help move PRs and newly opened bugs forward. These triage sessions can focus on either PRs or bugs and do not have to cover both in a single session.

The initial sessions were planned to be held on Tuesdays at 06:00 UTC and Tuesdays at 22:00 UTC, to allow members across different timezones to run triage sessions. After testing these times for about 6 weeks, the meeting time was moved to Thursdays at 07:00 UTC.

Since then, we have managed to run several successful triage sessions, clearing the PR list and triaging any new bugs. However, there are currently some problems.

  • We don’t have any official documentation so that anyone could potentially run these sessions.
  • The weekly sessions are currently hosted by one person, and this is not sustainable.
  • Currently, membership is limited to Training Faculty Admin members only, which limits the number of participants.
  • We do not actively encourage new members to take part in or run sessions.

Therefore, I would like to propose that we set the following short-term goals for dev-squad, to grow its membership, and make it more sustainable and successful.

Timeline: by Friday 29 December 2023

Goals:

  1. Document dev-squad triage sessions
    1. General format
    2. Process of triaging pull requests
    3. Process of triaging new bugs
    4. Adding triage updates to weekly training team meetings
  2. Invite other training team contributors to participate in triage sessions
    1. Open dev-squad membership to all training team members
    2. Add interested participants to GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. https://github.com/ with the relevant permissions to label issues
  3. Work towards having more than one triage session host
    1. Set up a rotation of session hosts
    2. Plan the host rotation for the first 4 sessions of 2024

Are you interested in joining dev-squad, to help keep the new PR and bug issue list clear? Comment on this post and let us know how you would like to help or join the next dev-squad triage session in the #meta-learn channel on Thursday at 07:00 UTC.

Training Team Meeting Recap – 14th November 2023

This meeting followed this meeting agenda in GitHub. You can see conversations from the meeting in this Slack Log. (If you don’t have a 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/. account, you can set one up.)

For those newly joining us, the WordPress training team helps people learn to use, extend, and contribute to WordPress through synchronous and asynchronous learning, as well as downloadable lesson plans for instructors to use in live environments via learn.wordpress.org.

We have a few ways for you to get involved: https://make.wordpress.org/training/handbook/getting-started/.

Introductions and Welcome

There were 18 attendees: @piyopiyofox, @jhimross, @digitalchild, @faisalahammad, @psykro, @bsanevans, @sakibsnaz, @yuli-yang, @sancastiza, @sumitsingh, @lada7042(async), @quitevisible(async), @devmuhib(async), @weblink(async), @west7(async), @courtneypk(async), @benjirahmed(async), @huzaifaalmesbah(async), @sierratr(async)

We’ve had one new person join the channel recently. Let’s get introduced: @faisalahammad

@piyopiyofox asked: What is your interest in Learn WordPress and the Training Team? Also, what do you enjoy outside of WordPress? @faisalahammad is a content creator and he thinks he can be a part of WordPress community to share my knowledge with other learners. @bsanevans encouraged him to contribute in the Training Team where he can make the content listed in our Learning Pathways content outline.

If you’re not sure how to get started with us yet, I recommend checking out our onboarding link above or our newly introduced Guide Program.

The Guide Program will connect newcomers such as yourselves with seasoned contributors who provide guidance, answer questions, and help you navigate the contribution process with confidence.

News

Meeting Note Takers

Meeting recap notes are one of the best ways to get started contributing to a team, and you can find details on how to write notes in this handbook page.

  • November 14th – @devmuhib
  • November 21st – @sumitsingh
  • November 28th – need volunteer
  • December 5th – need volunteer

Looking for feedback

Team repTeam Rep A Team Rep is a person who represents the Make WordPress team to the rest of the project, make sure issues are raised and addressed as needed, and coordinates cross-team efforts. nomination closed on November 14th. Current team reps will next contact nominees and work on creating a poll for voting on our newest Team Reps.

Looking for volunteers

  • Looking for Learning Pathway Content Creators.

Training team needs help creating lessons for the Designer, User, and Developer pathways, which have been defined in this document. Please comment on this thread or reach out to @west7 if you’re able to assist.

The goal is to complete these three pathways by July 2024.

Other News

The course cohort instructor, @psykro, is specifically looking for feedback to the questions noted in this post!

@psykro received props from @piyopiyofox for creating the program and for the first cohort to completion? But he thanked all the cohort applicants for taking part, as well as his “teaching assistant” @bsanevans for his help and insights during the cohort.

  • 6.4 is out and was the first release where we had the Training Team as part of the release squad.

@piyopiyofox requested feedback from @courane01, @courtneypk on how the process went for them and what they’d like to see happen for future releases? @courtneypk – thinks It would be good for us to write something up to share for future releases.

Open requests for review

See our Guidelines for reviewing content to review the following content.

Can we do an AI review?

Translation and reviews can be run through some sort of AI system like ChatGPT. We can ask reviewers to perform. Additionally, we can also ask it to give content update recommendations for the content creator.

@digitalchild wants to experiment with how to make this easier and everyone appreciated that.

Localized content not getting reviewed in a timely manner– an AI review ahead of a native speaker review could be a good first step toward making progress.

Project Updates

Open Discussions

The idea is to create a page in the handbook that lists opensource, or free, video editing tools content creators can use when making content for Learn. We could also create Tutorials, or host Online Workshops, showcasing how to use those tools.

@digitalchild will make a form to send out to all creators. He’ll collect a spreadsheet of all the tools, to then categories and publish.


You can see all meetings scheduled on this meeting calendar. If you are new to the Training Team, then come walk through our onboarding program to get to know the team and how we work. And if you have questions, feel free to reach out in the #training Slack channel at any time.

#meeting-recap, #training