Our GitHubGitHubGitHub 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/ project boards
The Training Team’s new onboarding program has been completed by 25 people, of which more than half have continued on with regular contributions to the team. This post considers how the program can be improved further, and proposes a new optional Guide Program for those who would benefit from mentorship by an experienced contributor during onboarding.
What feedback has the Onboarding program received?
In the three and a half months since it launched, 25 people have completed the Onboarding Program. (This data is collected from a survey folks fill out at the end of the material.) Of these:
14 people have contributed to the team beyond onboarding such as by contributing to meetings, reviewing/translating content, and becoming co-hosts in Online Workshops.
8 people completed the program during Contributor Day at WordCamp Asia (February 17th.)
3 people submitted feedback about the program through a feedback form. All feedback was positive.
While the Onboarding program has been successful, it can also feel like there is a human element missing while a new contributor is getting started. Also, the self-serve onboarding program is great for self-driven contributors, but may not meet the needs of every learning style. What can we do to help make an even more welcoming experience for all new contributors?
Proposal: The Guide Program
An optional Guide Program (similar to a mentorship) for the Training Team could serve to support new contributors to the team. The idea is that experienced Training Team members would serve as Guides for these new team members, regularly checking in with them as they make their first contributions to the team. They would be available as a point of contact for new contributors if they have questions while completing the onboarding program.
@courtneypk is working on building out a more detailed proposal on this program for the team to review, and is interested in any thoughts that people have about the idea.
What are your thoughts?
Please leave your thoughts about the following points in the comments below:
Do you have any other observations or feedback about the Onboarding Program?
What are your thoughts about the proposed Guide Program?
Any other ideas that would improve the onboarding experience for new contributors to the Training Team?
This post presents (i) a summary of the findings of and (ii) an analysis of the results of a survey focusing on the needs of individuals when learning about WordPress. It is part of a fuller and evolving Needs Analysis to identify the most useful and high-impact resources and content for Learn.WordPress.orgWordPress.orgThe 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/. The findings will help guide the future development of this community learning tool.
Preparation for the wider Needs Analysis of WordPress training and skill development began in detail in 2022. It included collaborative sessions to formulate survey questions, developed methodologies to better understand training needs, and ensured surveys were linked to the vision for the free-to-use Learn WordPress.
Key opportunities for the Make WordPress Training team and the implications for cross-working with other teams are highlighted in each of the areas identified in this report. Some of these opportunities will be developed further to identify priorities and time scales, phasing work to optimise the benefit to users and adding value to the project.
Geographic spread
Analytical tools showed that almost all the initial responses to the survey were from the US. To broaden the geographic spread, other regions where content was known to have originated or where interest had been expressed in creating content for Learn WordPress were identified by @webcommsat, @nalininonstopnewsuk and @west7.This data was also matched to locales where there were established links through polyglots and WordPress Translation Day. Requests were submitted directly to individuals and groups in those regions to raise awareness of this survey and to encourage participation and feedback. The returns cut-off date was extended so that it could be presented to attenders at WordCampWordCampWordCamps 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. It was a learning point for the survey team that marketing and awareness raising encompassing a wide range of geographic areas was vital and needed to be done at a much earlier stage in the life-cycle of any subsequent surveys.
The initial target of 300-400 respondents was met and surpassed. A total of 583 participants completed all of the survey. There were a number that did not complete the survey, and steps were taken during the survey’s life to address drop-offs. This learning will also be fed into future surveys.
Respondents by region
Region
# of participants(583)
Africa
28
Asia
106
Australia and Oceania
12
Europe
115
Middle East
17
US and Canada
277
South America
28
Note: if a respondent was using a Virtual Private Network (VPN), the survey may have recorded a different regional allocation. This discrepancy could have contributed to the apparent increased response rate from the US.
In response to the question, what is your primary language, 59 different languages were reported. Thirty-one percent of respondents would value more materials to be made available in their primary language. As Learn WordPress was only first piloted at the end of 2020, its vision is to grow and encourage resources to be available in locales in addition to English.
Opportunities
The survey responses gave some examples of potential Training team follow-ups with the Marketing and Polyglots team, and locales where there may be interest in translating or creating resources in other languages.
The data will help the Training team in prioritizing potential follow-ups to encourage awareness and participation in communities where the survey showed a significant engagement and call for materials in local languages. This will also be added to existing data in the team which shows where there has been engagement and interest in contributing to Learn WordPress.
Familiarity with WordPress
This question was crucial in the survey and will be important in ongoing research as parts of the Needs Analysis. Better understanding how users who were willing to complete the survey describe their knowledge of WordPress is crucial to providing content and links at the most suitable level. This affects type of content, its presentation, its language-usage including technical terms, and more. Though this survey can only give us a snapshot view, its results backed up anecdotal findings, and confirmed that there is a considerable need for outreach and awareness raising of the Learn.WordPress.org provision outside the ‘already aware’ or ‘experienced WordPressers’. From informal research and anecdotes with other teams, it is assumed that there will be some variation between how people might describe their familiarity or skills with using the software with what their knowledge level may be. This is a challenge for a training resource, but supports the need for step by step course structures which can help users measure their own skillsets against and support the creation of a benchmark of learning. This benchmark may in future years lead to certificate levels, but even without that, a well used Learn.WordPress.org which becomes the place for step by step learning and achieving standards or levels in learning has a considerable value and benefit to users and the project as a whole.
A total of 321 people described themselves as ‘somewhat knowledgeable’ or ‘very knowledgeable’ of the WordPress software, which potentially equates to medium of advanced level in how content is being prepared more recently. This compared to a total of 262 who described themselves as ‘unfamiliar’, ‘somewhat familiar’ (potentially equating to a beginner level) or ‘neutral’ which could be seen as an indication of a lack of confidence or being in the early learning stages of the software.
Current WordPress Users:
A breakdown of the current WordPress users based on their experience with the platform is below:
The number of years respondents had used WordPress ranged from 29% for less than one year to 32% for more than 10 years.
Opportunities
This shows there are a number of potential opportunities, including:
to interest and gain following and lifelong learning usage from new users
to produce materials that could be of interest or could be made by users of considerable experience
Roles of WordPress Users
According to the data, the current role of WordPress users, who completed the survey, is mainly as follows. The highest number of responses were from people who described themselves in the categoryCategoryThe 'category' taxonomy lets you group posts / content together that share a common bond. Categories are pre-defined and broad ranging. of combined group of Freelancer, Solopreneur or Boutique Agency at 33%, followed by the Developer/Engineer category at 19%. Content Creator at 8%, and Hobbyist/Side Project at 8%. Other roles include Project Manager at 2%, User at 2%, and Trainer/Educator at 5%. Additionally, there are smaller percentages of role choices as: Product Owner/Product Manager, Support, Marketing, Designer, WordPress-adjacent events, Quality Assurance, Dev Ops, and Learner.
The number of respondents are listed below:
The ‘Other option’ in the table above relates to where the provided descriptions did not match the respondent’s own perception of their role in WordPress.The team is aware that ‘Side project’ group may also include users who work in WordPress category as developers or freelancers etc, but WordPress may not be their principal work or income-stream.
Opportunities
This data shows a considerable engagement in a detailed survey on Learn WordPress from freelancer, solopreneurs and boutique agencies at 32%.
Current Offerings
It has been observed that 20% of all respondents said they did not currently utilize any of the resources available on the learn.wordpress.org platform. However, among those who do, the most frequently utilized resources in descending order are tutorials, courses, online workshops, and lesson plans.
Opportunities
The data shows a significant number of users are using more than one resource, with 29 per cent using four or more resources on Learn.WordPress.org. This shows there is a potential opportunity that once users are familiar or aware of Learn WordPress, they will use it for multiple training formats. This can help influence the team’s thinking on how resources can fit together into courses, and related materials can be highlighted to increase the time learners are able to use Learn WordPress and to make their learning journey more useful, structured, smooth and seamless.
The current learning methods
Based on the survey responses, the most popular learning method among the respondents is:
web-based learning (410 respondents)
Learn.WordPress.org (290 respondents)
on-the-job training (229 respondents). In the long-term, Learn.WordPress.org could play a big role in this area, and the opportunities for it can be a follow-up for future surveys and discussions/ promotions with organizations and employers who use WordPress.
conferences came in fourth with 115 respondents (this may have included WordCamps too).
The survey did not specifically mention WordPress meetups or WordCamps. Respondents may have also classed these as in-person learning.
Opportunities
Mentoring and coaching can and is likely to have come through local WordPress networks, such as meetups and WordCamps. This combined with anecdotal information from WordCamp Asia 2023 and WordCamp Europe 2021 shows that these granular events can be a powerful way for Learn.WordPress.org to help users improve their knowledge and keep up-to-date with the software and find ways to participate in the community.
Qualifying this data, some respondents referred to self-learning, which could be either web-based or in-person learning, or a mixture of both. The same issue applied for those choosing on the job training and bootcamps. The Individual Learner Survey was a starting point for the research and improvements into Learn.WordPress.org, and these are some of the areas identified for further exploration.
Broadly, the survey responses at face value indicate a clear preference for web-based learning, but also an ongoing significant use of in-person learning. This supports wider research into emerging training practices and preferences outside WordPress. The data analysis context also has a bearing as within the previous 12 months of the survey, online activity may have been the preferred option due to the pandemic and restrictions. It is just under a year since the major WordCamps returned to some form of in-person events and Meetups having a hybrid of online and in-person. The Training team plans to also use the data from this survey as a benchmark which it will compare against in its future surveys and analyses.
The analysis of the data combined with other research suggests that many of the respondents may be already familiar with where to go for training on WordPress rather than relying just on search engine results.
What the survey results show is a strong usage of online learning, and this is a major boost for what Learn.WordPress.org can offer and its potential for the future. The additional benefit of this resource is that it has the potential to offer online resources that people, groups, and training facilitators can all share with in-person learning environments.
Examples of how Learn.WordPress.org can serve the ongoing need for both online and in-person, and group and individual learning, and provide a flexible learning model.
Online workshops which can be paused for live discussions and questions and workshops. Note: Discussions groups have been renamed and repurposed as online workshops, with a Q&A and questions opportunity in the video-conferencing area.
Lesson Plans: instructors can use or adapt lesson plans for in-person or online classrooms, and as part of courses. Some Lesson Plans include screenshots and examples which can be viewed in a group or individual screen setting.
Tutorials: these can be used by individual learners or in group learning. The Training team with the Community, Marketing and Polyglots teams encourage Meetups to use tutorials in-person or online, share the resources for post-event follow-ups, and add interactivity with their group through discussions and questions. There has been about a year to 18 months of this encouragement, and further focus on this may bring in benefits. This is an example of how Learn.WordPress.org is strengthened by cross-collaboration of teams and can add value to both individual and group learning.
Factors in choosing training
The top three factors in choosing training in general are training time, costs, and content delivery. As for other factors in the customer decision making are location of the training, length of the course, pace of the course, connection with the instructor, quality and relative up-to-date information.
Some learners may want videos ranging from 3 -5 minutes. This may not be practical for Tutorial videos as topics can take time to introduce and present. However, within courses, a series of 3-5 minutes videos would make sense, though possibly not to stand alone. A learner would advance in the course to the next video to continue the topic. Current Tutorial videos range from 3 to 15 minutes on average.
Opportunities
Training time data does not necessarily imply that videos or segments on the resource should be very short. Ongoing product research and learning the lessons from major providers of training in the market will help Learn.WordPress.org be aware of the trends in people’s preferences for learning. It is not possible to say how these stats relate to how long people have been using WordPress. The different journeys discussed in the survey planning would have allowed this to be more useful. This will be incorporated into future research.
This also relates to the shortcomings identified in this survey that content was either too basic or too advanced. This can also be because there is no sequence of the lesson plans and tutorials which would help people find the middle ground. This was supported by the comments in the survey. Comments also focused on not knowing where the start was for a particular area. One of the observations in some follow-up questions during promotion of the survey was that the organizational structure for the available resources is of inconsistent quality in multiple languages presented.
The organizational structure in some areas can be based on publication date rather than the natural or learning progression through a subject. This potential issue is something that the Training team can explore further.
High priority/ greatest need in training material
Respondents in choosing training materials prioritized: time, costs, content delivery, accessibilityAccessibilityAccessibility (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), and personal learning style. People also referenced the scalability of using WordPress – the basics, blocks, WooCommerce, searchability for training materials, editing pages, and coding.
The general tone of the comments in the shortcoming section was that the current content available is vastly different, overwhelming, and confusing for the users that filled in this survey. To better understand the survey, in the data analysis responses were divided into subcategories: resources, skill level, content, language, learning style, costs, searchability, outdated content, problems, personal and instructor.
Resources- problems within the available resources. Respondents who completed this section of the survey would like to see different types of resources such as short books, device friendly resources, and clarity of official documents.
Comments on the shortcomings of WordPress training
A note on the data, that the survey specifically requested information on shortcomings of WordPress training in general to help identify any trends or needs where Learn.WordPress.org could add value or prioritze. Questions around the positive usage of materials were not requested in the Individual Learner Survey 2023. Some of this was addressed in the follow-ups accompanying the promotion of the survey and will help identify further questions that could be asked in future parts of the product development research.
Some suggestions for improvement include:
more structured pathways through the learning, including graphical representation
more mobile-friendly
more on new feature/ releases, and tips on the learning steps to take to better understand and use them
signposting and explaining more of concepts and unfamiliar terms to help users learn and understand the framework
avoid using acronyms without giving the full iteration on first use (i.e. do not assume knowledge)
better sequencing and more logical order
The team is planning to focus more on learning pathways and the insight above will add to findings and observations already identified.
Opportunities
Summary of comments received about shortcomings in WordPress learning materials in general
Opportunities for the Training team and/or steps we have already implemented.
A greater distinction in content skill level between beginners, intermediate, and advanced.
Online workshops are labelled in this way. Tutorials, Courses and Lesson Plans are not labelled in this way currently.
The team could explore how this could be expanded and look at examples of how the Developer Blog uses such audience labels.
A mix of responses on the need for more content on advanced features, too much beginner content, content not written for students that are far advanced.
Requests for more step-by-step guides and connecting related or necessary linked topics together.
Less jargon and increased signposting of terms mentioned. Helping people understand the WordPress developer vocabulary rather than assuming it is known by learners on the site.
There seems to be a mixed response on the level of topics covered.
The Training team could rejoin the cross-team discussions on glossary/ vocabulary in WordPress.
Use language that is easier for those reading who are non-native English speakers/ readers, and avoid truncating words and area-specific expressions.
Encourage more translation of content or create more content in different locales.*
A mix of responses on materials not having enough depth, limited range of topics, limited interactivity, some low quality videos compared to materials available elsewhere.
Video quality will differ as the resource is made for the community by the community.
Discussions on ways to support those making videos are continuing, but there will be some external factors of access to equipment and stable services like internet and electricity have an impact. Ways to support contributors from all parts of the globe would help the team reach more places, and further encourage a focus on diversity and inclusion in its efforts.
The need for more localized content to help learners learn about using WordPress in their preferred languages.
* The Training team has made localization a priority and has recently finished the Content Localization Foundations Project. Further areas to explore have been highlighted.
Link to documentation that can explain things in simpler terms for non-developers.
Building on the cross-linking between the Training team and Documentation team will help this, and signposting to a non-developer level glossary.
The team can also request content contributors avoid terms that may be unfamiliar to audiences, and to signpost more details when introducing concepts or terms that a learner could be be less familiar with.
TagTagTag is one of the pre-defined taxonomies in WordPress. Users can add tags to their WordPress posts along with categories. However, while a category may cover a broad range of topics, tags are smaller in scope and focused to specific topics. Think of them as keywords used for topics discussed in a particular post. resources or provide learning pathways to help learners find materials that match their learning style and follow a structured path.
Don’t over-rely on video content as not suited to all learning styles and may be difficult to follow along without having two screens.
The Learning Pathways will help to address much of this. All video tutorials also have a transcript available to aid learners who would prefer a written text to follow.
Most of the Learn.WordPress.org Courses are a mixture of video and/or text.
More hands-on workshops.
Many of Learn.WordPress.org Online Workshops try to be more hands-on and/or focused on demos.
The team could explore if there is a need for greater visibility of this offering, and how to highlight the range of hands-on material available through Marketing and Community teams.
There is also an ongoing collaboration on increasing relevant cross-links from or to Learn.WordPress.org to materials in Documentation, CoreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. and software releases.
Complete learning plans.
The work on Learning Pathways, linked above, will help provide this.
There is an identified need for increased planning and applying a holistic and structured approach to materials on Learn.WordPress.org. Furthering the efforts on this will help address some of the issues.
Other responses showed users may be expecting all resources to be available in the language they select in the filterFilterFilters 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. on Learn.WordPress.org.
A short clarifying sentence can be added to Learn WordPress near the filter to highlight that not all items in a course may be available in the language chosen by the learner. Adding a call to action button to help make the resource available in the learners’ preferred language may add value too.
Content needs to be able to refer the audience to how to solve the problems.
The team could explore whether adding search engine descriptions for ‘how to’ tutorials could help learners.
A way to remind or help learners finish courses.
Some other training providers have mechanisms to send gentle encouraging reminders to learners. The team could draw on and consider such examples. A popular language-learning app, for example, sends out reminders to users to complete their daily goal.
A way of making sure that content before it goes live is reviewed in-depth.
A system for labelling content that does not apply to particular versions of WordPress.
The Training Team does have a process for review in place. Content is shared for review in GitHubGitHubGitHub 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/, and a review label is used. The team can consider whether more time needs to be given to preparing the structure and content of material, and for review.
The current filtering system on relevance to WordPress software versions may need some information to help users.
Personal time constraints are challenges many adult learners may face.
The team could explore how to add an idea of the minimum time needed to complete courses.
Confusion on which training to follow and if it is the same, eg WordPress.comWordPress.comAn online implementation of WordPress code that lets you immediately access a new WordPress environment to publish your content. WordPress.com is a private company owned by Automattic that hosts the largest multisite in the world. This is arguably the best place to start blogging if you have never touched WordPress before. https://wordpress.com/ Learn, materials available on the web in general which use the descriptor ‘Learn WordPress’.
Continue marketing and elevating Learn.WordPress.org on social media, at WordCamps etc.
Suggestions for other formats suggested by participants
Overwhelming respondents asked for:
case studies (44% of responders)
lectures (12% of responders)
guided courses (8% of responders), and
videos (8% of responders).
other suggestions included: discussion forums, e-books, infographics, in-person workshops, content on media platforms (small bite-size content), podcasts, office hours, interactive quizzes, sample codes, and downloadable slides. One respondent suggested content from Learn.WordPress.org could be available additionally through external training platforms.
Training Certification
The question at the end of the survey was: “How interested would you be in the possibility of WordPress training certifications?” Majority of the respondents were interested in a training certification.
More exploration of this area is underway, and could be the focus of future parts of the Needs Analysis.
Props to Abha Thakor (@webcommsat) for leading on the analysis and data, Wes Theron (@west7) for co-ordinating the survey work, Nalini Thakor (@nalininonstopnewsuk) for marketing and diversity and inclusion review, Saloni Patel (@Saloni Patel) for initial statistical reporting. To Courtney Robertson (@courane01), Mark- Andrew Nordstrom (@nomadskateboarding), and Amit Patel (@amitpatelmd) for providing peer comments.
Thank you also to Training team members who contributed comments to the development of the questions, to all those who helped in promoting the survey, and to those who completed it. There will be more opportunities for collaboration in the future.
If you were unable to submit your comments during the survey period or would like to follow-up to help expand content or reach in your locale, do join the Training team meetings on the Make WordPress SlackSlackSlack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/.. There are lots of ways you can get involved with the efforts of the team and the development of Learn.WordPress.org
The Training Team is excited to announce a new role to the Faculty Program – Translation Coordinators. If you have experience translating content for the Training Team and are excited about helping even more people get involved, then Apply to Join today!
Background
The Training Team recently concluded the Content Localization Foundations project, which kick-started efforts of translating content for Learn.WordPress.org. During this project, it was noted that renewing the previous “Locale Ambassador” role as a fifth Faculty role, and renaming it to “Translation Coordinators”, would be good next steps as the team iterates on its translation processes. (A full recap of the project can be found on Recap: Content Localization Foundations Project.)
Introducing Translation Coordinators – a new Faculty role
The Faculty Program is a team of dedicated volunteers who work to achieve the goals of the Training Team. The new Translation Coordinator role aims to add to the team those who are experienced with translating content for Learn.WordPress.orgWordPress.orgThe 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/, have a strong connection with their local community, and are excited to help others join the team’s translation efforts.
You can read more about the Translation Coordinator role in the handbook page below. If this is something you are interested in, come apply to join today!
While applications for the Translation Coordinators role are open to those who have a strong record of being leaders in their communities, the Content Translators role is available for anyone to join at any time!
Content Translators translate content that has been published on Learn.WordPress.org into their own locale. If you’re interested in joining the Training Team as a Content Translator, come walk through the Training Team’s onboarding program.
This a reminder that the goal of dev-squad triage sessions is to help move PRs and issues forward, not to physically review/verify them. Triage sessions can also focus on either PRs or bugs, and do not have to cover both in a single session.
The Training team is seeking to create a needs analysis document to help determine the most high-impact resources to provide on Learn WordPress. The Learning Needs Analysis project outlines foundational work required to assess the community’s learning needs and includes the Individual Learner Survey that launched in September 2022 which will guide us in our data analysis.
Please see the post Project Overview: Learning Needs Analysis for a more in-depth background and overview. This project thread seeks to outline the tasks we aim to complete to accomplish the project’s objectives.
Note that this is a foundational project. While we won’t be able to capture all the data, there is a possibility to iterate upon and run this project again in the future.
This project is in need of more project members. Please comment on this post if you are interested in helping out!
Project Timeline
Start: January 2023
End: April 2023
Project Objectives
Gather data from the community to determine their WordPress learning needs.
Analyze the gathered data to formulate an action plan for the resources on Learn WordPress.
Establish a set of standards for instructional content on Learn WordPress.
Tasks
Planning
Recruit project members
Determine respondent pool goal
Discuss survey marketing tactics
Determine survey analyzers
Deadline: 6 February 2023
Market the Survey
A marketing push before the cutoff would be helpful to help to gather more data before the cutoff date. This effort can include:
Social media (e.g., Twitter)
Newsletter (e.g., MeetupMeetupAll 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. Organizer newsletter)
Encouraging facilitators of Online Workshops to share the survey with their attendees
Deadline: 13 Feb 2023
Conduct the survey
The survey is currently in progress, and will be cut off on the deadline date, with a goal of a number of respondents to be determined.
Deadline: 20 Feb 2023
Review and analyze the survey data
Once the Training Team has collected the data from the survey, the project team will explore the data in more depth to help identify any trends or issues.
Deadline: 5 March 2023
Publish a post to share the analyzed results
This post on Make/Training will share a summary of the Individual Learner Survey results and analysis.
Deadline: 6 April 2023
Discuss the results
There are a few options for the project team to discuss the results. This will be up to the project members to decide what works best for them, whether that is synchronous or asynchronous meetings on SlackSlackSlack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. or video call, or a blog post with discussion in the comments.
Deadline: 12 April 2023
Publish next steps
This post on Make/Training will detail the outcomes of the discussion and what the next steps will be.
(Others are welcome to join in on the efforts, too! Let us know if you’re interested 🙂)
Project Timeline
Will be posted shortly…
Project Details
1. Custom GutenbergGutenbergThe 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/blockBlockBlock 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
Proposing custom Gutenberg blocks for meeting recap notes, faculty meetings, onboarding posts, etc. This will help to speed up adding/editing the content part.
The idea is to give the simplest user interface for adding required data for meeting recap notes, agenda posts, etc in no time. This will also encourage new contributors to create and work on posts.
2. Adding SEO MetaMetaMeta 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. fields.
Coordinating with codebase team members and adding meta fields for every post and page for training and learn websites.
This feature is going to be completely customizable without utilizing any plugins.
3. Adding language switcher menu for translated pages/posts.
Setting up and enabling language switcher options somewhere in headerHeaderThe header of your site is typically the first thing people will experience. The masthead or header art located across the top of your page is part of the look and feel of your website. It can influence a visitor’s opinion about your content and you/ your organization’s brand. It may also look different on different screen sizes. and footer navigation for learn and training websites. This will help to map same content with their language variations.
This will enable quicker navigation and engage users to find quickly what they are looking for.
Learning pathways are a structured sequence of educational experiences or courses that are designed to help individuals acquire knowledge and skills in a specific field or discipline. By creating a series of learning pathways for WordPress, we can provide learners with a comprehensive understanding of the platform and its open sourceOpen SourceOpen 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. contribution methods. There are many benefits to using learning pathways to create curriculum, including:
Increased Engagement: Learning pathways provide a clear roadmap for learners, which can help to keep them engaged and motivated throughout the learning process.
Personalization: Learning pathways can be customized to meet the individual needs and interests of learners, which can help to make the learning experience more effective and relevant. (as suggested for future development in Learn WordPress Needs Assessment Results)
Better Outcomes: By providing learners with a structured and comprehensive learning experience, we can help them to achieve their learning goals more efficiently and effectively.
Better Collaboration: Learning pathways can encourage collaboration and knowledge sharing among learners, promoting teamwork and problem-solving skills.
Improved Retention: Learning pathways can help learners retain information better by breaking down complex topics into smaller, manageable sections, making it easier for them to remember what they’ve learned.
Unifying Strategy: By unifying a learner-based strategy around curated content will make Learn.WordPress.org more sustainable and reduce maintenance overload. It will also help enhance and provide additional needed resources for WordPress users, rather than duplicating the efforts of others, including the Documentation team and the Dev CoreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. Blog.
To implement this proposal, we suggest that the WordPress community work together to develop a series of learning pathways for WordPress. These learning pathways could cover topics such as WordPress basics, theme and pluginPluginA 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 development, and ways to contribute to the WordPress open source project. We will
Establish our baseline audiences
Charter and create their Beginner ➡️ Expert learning journeys.
Example: As a Beginner-level WordPress Frontend Developer, what is the content you need to master to move on to Intermediate competency? What is the content you need to master to move on to Expert competency and so on? If we can break down each audience and outline the core competencies for each level we focus our content creation around that and build out their pathways.
The WordPress Training Team will seek opportunities to collaborate with hiring managers in the WordPress ecosystem, independent freelancers and contractors, as well as educational institutions and other organizations to develop and promote these learning pathways. Next steps might include partnering with educational institutions to that offer WordPress courses or collaborating with industry organizations to create certification programs.
By embracing learning pathways, we can help to create a more structured and effective learning experience for individuals who want to learn about WordPress. We believe that this will benefit both learners and the WordPress community as a whole.
Additionally, the recently concluded Content Localization Foundations project received feedback that it is difficult for Content Translators to track translation items in GitHubGitHubGitHub 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/ also. It was suggested that content localization issues be moved into their own GitHub project board to make contributing and managing easier.
To respond to these pieces of feedback, @courtneypk and I propose creating two new GitHub project boards directed at the SMEs’ and Content Translators’ workflows.
Note: This proposal DOES NOT make large changes to the current workflows for Content Creators, SMEs, or Content Translators. It is a proposal to break three separate processes out into their own project boards for better management, and to make it easier for contributors to get involved.
Proposal
Currently, Content Creators, SMEs, and Content Translators sift through the team’s LearnWP Content Development GitHub project board to find items they can contribute to. This process has received feedback from both SMEs and Translators that it raises the barrier to making contributions. @courtneypk and I propose creating project boards that match each area of contribution in the team. This would make it easier for contributors to find issues they can get involved in. It would also make triaging work easier for Faculty members as there would be less types of issues jumbled in one location.
Creating project boards for SMEs and Translators
The Training Team currently has 4 project boards. We propose adding two more:
Administrators (dev-squad), MetaMetaMeta 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.
Each project has columns which represent statuses issues move through. Each project board also has views which can be used to filterFilterFilters 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. issues by labels etc. (Example: Content Development project board) Below are the proposed details for the two new projects.
LearnWP Topic Vetting – project details
Column name
Awaiting Triage
Awaiting Vetting
Vetted Topics
Closed Topics
Issue details
This is where topic ideas initially land when submitted.
Ideas are waiting for an SME to flesh out and prepare for content development.
Vetted issues are cleaned up before being sent to the Content Development project board.
Issues that were closed and didn’t make it to Content Development.
Issues moves to the next column when…
An Admin has confirmed an issue isn’t spam, isn’t a duplicate of content that already exists, and has added labels for the subject matters related to the topic.
An SME has finalized the “description”, assigned a priority, and listed related resources. (Of the current assessment criteria, only items 2 and 3 would be required.)
“Ready to Create – You can Help” column in Content Development project board
–
The project board would have views set up for each subject matter label (BlockBlockBlock 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. Editor, security, site development, etc.) and only show issues in the “Awaiting Vetting” column. SMEs would only have to periodically check the views of the subject matters they’re experts in, and move issues to “Vetted Topics” once they’ve vetted them.
LearnWP Content Localization – project details
Column name
Awaiting Triage
Translation in Progress
Awaiting Review
Published or Closed
Issue details
This is where localization issues initially land when submitted.
Issues are being worked on by a Content Translator.
A Translation Coordinator1 has confirmed an issue isn’t spam, has added labels for the locale, and provided the translator with necessary access to Learn.
A Content Translator has completed the translation of the piece of content.
A reviewer has completed a translation review and the content has been published.
–
Next destination
“Translation in Progress” column
“Awaiting Review” column
“Published or Closed” column
–
1: A translation Coordinator is the Faculty equivalent of Content Translator. They are currently referenced to as Locale Ambassadors, but a change has been suggested in Recap: Content Localization Foundations Project.
The project board would have views set up for each locale label (Italian, Gujarati, Indonesian, etc.) and only show issues in the “Awaiting Review” column. This will make it easier for content translators (reviewers) to find content waiting a review in their locale, as reviewing is an easier task to perform in short stints of availability.
Updates to the current LearnWP Content Development project
The two new projects listed above should help tidy up the current Content Development board, too. Here is what the updated board would look like.
Column name
Ready to Create – You can Help
Drafts in Progress
Reviews in Progress
Published or Closed
Issue details
Issues have been vetted and relevant labels have been added.
Issues being worked on by a Content Creator.
Content waiting for reviews.
Completed issues.
Issues moves to the next column when…
A Content Creator has commented on the issue, volunteering to create it. An Admin has confirmed the volunteer has necessary access to create the content on Learn.
A Content Creator has attached the created piece of content.
A content has received three reviews, and has been published.
–
Next destination
“Drafts in Progress” column
“Reviews in Progress” column
“Published or Closed” column
–
The project board views could be tidied up to just have the following:
High Priority topics ready to create (New!!)
Reviews in progress
Recent releases
We tried to brainstorm updates that would make it easier for SMEs and Content Translators, but not affect the current flows Content Creators are used to. To note, we’d expect seasoned Content Creators to skip the LearnWP Topic Vetting project board all together and just start making content in the LearnWP Content Development project board.
What are your thoughts?
How does all this sound? Please leave your thoughts by May 21st. As long as there aren’t major objections, we plan on implementing these changes by the end of May.
Only a month left to Contributor Day at WordCamp Europe 2023! In preparation for the day, we’d like to invite you to share your ideas of what contributors at the Training Team table can get involved with on that day.
Below are some ideas to kick-start discussions. Feel free to comment on this post with your ideas, too!
This brainstorming is open until May 22nd (Monday).
Team reps and table leads will consider all ideas and publish a post with a final plan by May 30th.
Experienced Contributors
Review Ready for Review content.
Create content for Recent Releases.
Local Ambassador for locale (We can explore the opportunities to work with a local Ambassador who represents one locale and help the contributors to translate Lean WordPress Content)
@caraya is working on an idea and is looking for feedback on whether this is something that would work as a course or would work better as a learning path. Please leave any comments on the GitHubGitHubGitHub 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.
Context: Recently the WordPress Developer Blog was officially launched. Many of those articles contain links to code example repositories, usually in the author’s GitHub account. @psykro, and other developer educators in the team, also create code example repositories for our workshops, tutorials, and courses for Learn WordPress, also hosted on our own accounts.
Josepha suggested it might be useful to repurpose the wptrainingteam organization, renaming it to something like learn-wordpress. So we’d like to find out what the training team thinks of this idea.
So far, people who have commented have said they think this is a good idea. But if you have any thoughts, we’d like to hear from you on this Slack thread.
Without adding any code/pluginPluginA 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, what can the team do right now with the site features we already have to solve this problem?
We received feedback this week from one of Learn’s learners asking why we don’t show a publication date on individual Tutorials.
Was this an intentional decision? What pros/cons can you think about showing a publication date on content on Learn? Please leave your thoughts on the GitHub issue.
Looking for volunteers
WordPress Community Summit 2023 – Leadership is looking especially for newer contributors to join, who can bring a fresh perspective to the WordPress project. If you are even a little interested in joining, please apply to attend.
We’ve published a new handbook page that details each of the Faculty roles: Faculty Role Guides
We ask that each Faculty member take a look at the description of their role. But we encourage everyone to take a read too, to better understand how Faculty members can help the team move towards our goals.
Reminder to speak slowly in video content
In consideration of Learn’s global community, let’s remember to speak slowly and insert pauses when publishing video content. Thank you to @weblink for reminding the team about this
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.