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.
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Summary: This post outlines the details of creating a new onboarding experience for those who join the Training Team. The need for a more effective onboarding experience was raised in recent sprint retrospectives (June & July Sprint, August Sprint), and discussed in [Discussion] Reimagining the Training Team contributor roles. This proposal brings clarity to documentation and in-person guidance used in onboarding, by focusing on four areas of expertise within the team.
Next Steps: The plan is to start building out the proposed onboarding flows from mid-November. Let’s discuss ideas and specifics in the comment section below, and come up with a concrete plan by November 18th.
Summary of Previous Discussions
The Training Team has identified that the current onboarding process for new contributors in the Training Team is confusing and in need of improvement. Points of improvement raised in recent discussions include:
Easing the onboarding process for new contributors.
Assign a point of contact for new contributors to reach out to in each role.
Prepare onboarding videos/lesson plans for each role.
Continue building the handbook so contributors have more precise guidance.
Clear guidelines for new joiners, especially for basic and Intermediate-level contributors.
The team also raised points we’d want to keep in mind as we build out a new onboarding experience:
The current list of team roles should remain, but categorized appropriately.
Opportunities should remain for contributors who only have 30-60 minutes to contribute to get involved, without having to go through a lengthy onboarding process.
Documentation regarding who is in each role would be desirable.
Proposal: Four onboarding paths
Here is a proposal that reimagines the onboarding process to the Training Team, while also incorporating all the points listed above.
Step 1: First contact
A Welcome Wrangler asking a new contributor what area of contribution would excite them
When someone joins the #training channel, or submits a contact form, Welcome Wranglers send a personal message to the new contributor. In this message, we would include the question, “Of these 4, which are you most interested in?”
Creating/translating content
Reviewing/editing content
Vetting content ideas and being a sounding board to people creating new content
Focusing on the administration that keeps the Training Team running smoothly
Notice, the answer to this question will tell us which of the 4 areas of expertise in the team the contributor is interested in:
Content Creator
Editor
Subject Matter Expert
Administrator
Step 2: Onboarding pages
Depending on their answer, folks are navigated to one of four onboarding pages in the Training Team handbook. Each page has a similar format, but includes information specific to that area of expertise.
Example of what the “Editor Onboarding” handbook page would look like
Page title: “area_of_expertise Onboarding”
Welcome Video with script
A quick overview of how this area of expertise functions in the content creation flow within the Training Team.
List of faculty members with this expertise
Introduce the faculty members as the new contributor’s mentors. Mention how to use the at-mention feature in SlackSlackSlack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. to reach all these folks at once in the #training channel.
Walkthrough of how to complete a first contribution
Ideally, this first contribution should be something people can complete in 30-60 minutes.
This would be a link to another page in the handbook titled “A first contribution as an area_of_expertise“. The page would include short videos for each process, accompanied by text explanations.
It would be nice if each page had a “Thank you video” at the end folks would watch where they see the face of a real human thanking them for their contribution.
Invitation to have the contributor add themselves to a list of contributors available to continue contributing in that area of expertise
By walking a contributor through adding themselves to a list, we give them a sense of empowerment, and a touch of responsibility. They’d be free to come back and remove themselves from the list whenever they become unavailable to contribute.
A list of roles in this expertise for the contributor to explore further
This would be a link to another page in the handbook titled “area_of_expertise roles”. It would Include video walkthroughs and step-by-step instructions for all roles currently listed in the handbook that pertain to that particular area of expertise.
Invitation to join team meetings
Step 3: Continued mentorship
This proposal stops here for the moment. But I can see the team building out additional processes for those who want to continue growing to move up the contributor ladder and/or become Faculty Members.
Other considerations
What about casual contributors who only have 30-60 minutes?
In the above proposal, we would have created a page for each expertise walking folks through a first contribution in that expertise. These would be ideal pages to share with folks who want to make a quick contribution. Making one handbook page that links to those 4 pages would make sharing easier.
Page title: “Quick contributions you can make now!”
Welcome video with script
In this video, the speaker will still ask the same question as step 1 above. This will help the contributor decide which of the 4 links below they should follow.
We could also use a similar survey to https://orientation.wp-europe.org/ to pair a contributor up with an area of expertise.
List of four “first contribution” pages
Pages are reused from the flow above, and conclude with a “Thank you video”.
Invitation to work through the official onboarding flow above to contribute even more!
How would we make sure the list of contributors is accurate?
Administrators could keep an eye on the list and send a “Hi!” message to anyone who adds themselves, just to make sure the contributor is aware of the purpose of the list. Then, every 6 months or so, administrators could touch base with all who have added their names to confirm they’re still interested in contributing for another 6 months.
How are we ensuring the contributor ladder is applied to this idea?
The current contributor ladder model is a great start, but will need to be updated as this onboarding flow is created and implemented. For example, there are currently no Content Creator roles in the very first rung of the ladder. However, there should be something a new volunteer with a passion for creating content should be able to do without having to experience other areas of expertise first. We would work out which of the Content Creator related roles could be moved down the ladder and introduced as a first contribution to those with a passion to create content.
Could we get, say, Matt or Josepha to record the Thank You videos? 😃
That is definitely something we could consider. Another idea is to record multiple Thank You videos from multiple contributors, and then show a random video each time the page is loaded.
Next Steps: The plan is to start building out the proposed onboarding flows from mid-November. Please leave any other ideas, questions or comments you have below. We will come up with a concrete plan by November 18th.
During a recent episode, UXUXUX is an acronym for User Experience - the way the user uses the UI. Think ‘what they are doing’ and less about how they do it. designer @piccianeri reviewed Learn.WordPress.org. This is a way to find the timestamps AND a request any support on filing 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/ issues for this, alongside updating this post with the GitHub issue links.
Since the team profile badge handbook page is outdated, we are aiming to update it as soon as we can. Below are a few recommendations which we should consider before moving it to the handbook.
If you would like a badge on your 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/ profile that acknowledges your contributions to the Training Team, the following criteria must be met:
Writing – You have developed an approved lesson plan, tutorial and course from scratch or completely rewritten one that was out of date. Your efforts have moved the content from the “Drafts in Progress” stage to the “Review in Progress” stage on 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/.
Copyediting/Reviewing – You have successfully moved a lesson plan, tutorial and course from the “Review in Progress” stage to the “Published or closed” stage in Github.
Testing – You have completed a testing feedback form after using a lesson plan in an event and have updated the GitHub card with any suggested changes.
Auditing – You have audited 3 lesson plans or 3 tutorials or one course. Or you have surveyed the teams Learn WordPress GitHub ReposreposThe Training Team uses GitHub for working copies of lesson plans. You can find them at https://github.com/wptrainingteam. and created 5 GitHub issues for any needed functionality changes.
Connecting – You have made three tutorial recommendations or course recommendations by combining existing lesson plans and submitting your ideas through the https://learn.wordpress.org/ site.
Online Workshops – You have facilitated 3 Online workshops.
Recap Notes – You have written 3 Recap Notes.
A significant code contribution to Learn such as adding or modifying features of the theme.
Other – the team may choose to award the badge for other contributions at the team’s discretion.
Training Team: You have admin rights on GitHub, HelpScout, the https://make.wordpress.org/training/ site, and the https://learn.wordpress.org/ site. You assist with final reviews of lesson plans. You regularly contribute to meetings or the maintenance and management of the team. You have been involved for the past twelve months.
Awarding of profile badges: There will be a monthly review of contributions, and badges will be awarded at that time. A list of the new profile badges awarded will then be posted on the https://make.wordpress.org/training/ site. If you feel that you have earned the badge but were not listed, please leave a comment on that month’s retrospective blog post and include your WordPress.org username.
In this post, I have taken suggestions raised in recent team meetings regarding team onboarding, and present a new idea regarding the Training Team’s contributor roles. The model I propose reimagines the current “roles” of the team as “tasks”, and positions the Faculty members as mentors in 4 areas of expertise (administrator, subject matter expert, content creator, editor) within the team.
Let’s discuss and see if this model can address the friction our new contributors are experiencing during onboarding.
The Goal
In recent sprint retrospectives (June & July Sprint, August Sprint), the Training Team identified a couple of needs related to our team roles. Here are some points of improvement raised in these retrospectives:
Better team role implementation, so new contributors will also have a clear picture of their assigned task(s).
Easing the onboarding process for newcomers and beginners.
Having a few folks who can focus on sorting 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/ issues consistently would be beneficial.
Increasing membership in the copy editor, reviewer, and auditor roles.
Assign a point of contact for new contributors to reach out to in each role.
It would be excellent to have onboarding videos/lesson plans for each role.
Continue building the handbook so contributors have more precise guidance.
Clear guidelines for new joiners, especially for basic and Intermediate-level contributors.
From these points, and other conversations the team has been having, I can see a few common goals we are aiming for:
Improved clarity regarding team tasks
Improved onboarding processes for team roles
A point of contact for each role
Better distribution of contributors throughout roles
An Idea
My idea is to view the 4 areas of Faculty responsibility as areas of expertise in the Training Team. This idea reframes what we’re calling “team roles” right now as “tasks” folks can do within each of those areas.
Reimagining the Training Team roles as four areas of expertise
Onboarding pathways (for example courses and/or tutorials) would guide new contributors into each of these areas of expertise. How-to guides in the handbook would be the go-to resource for anyone wanting to complete a task. Contributors wouldn’t have to carry a role specifically. But there would be clear guidance for them to accomplish tasks and contribute to the team’s mission.
Faculty members would be contributors with experience in a specific area of expertise. They’d function as the point of contact for anyone needing help in that area of expertise. They’d also be mentors to other contributors wanting to grow in that area of expertise.
Your Feedback
What are your thoughts about this new team role model?
Do you see it responding to the areas of improvement raised in the team’s recent retrospective?
Are there any points of concern that should be addressed?
Please share your thoughts below. Based on the conversations we have in the comments, I’ll draft some next-steps for the team to consider at the end of the month.
As a team, we’ve spoken about merging our content types, and even making it easier to create one of our long-requested content types.
Based upon our UX audit, we know we’ve got some site design work to be done.
Where are we now with Learn siteLearn siteThe Training Team publishes its completed lesson plans at https://learn.wordpress.org/ which is often referred to as the "Learn" site. design?
For the archives page, the team landed on this design with containers around the lessons and filters in the right sidebarSidebarA sidebar in WordPress is referred to a widget-ready area used by WordPress themes to display information that is not a part of the main content. It is not always a vertical column on the side. It can be a horizontal rectangle below or above the content area, footer, header, or any where in the theme.. Much of this piece has been done.
Finally, for the single lesson plan page, all looks good. The only two concerns raised were around whether or not the accordions could be made accessible and if it’s possible to add some sort of breadcrumb navigation.
These options have been sitting in the GitHub issue for some time. It seems now would be a good time to revisit this.
Where are we with Slides?
The team has been requesting support for Slides relatively as long as we’ve been a team. Our last real look had us considering a WordPress plugin that would create a Slides custom post type. 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/ issue is still open as well.
The advantage of doing this on Learn would more easily allow contributors to access the source file that may be used in recording videos from inside WordPress, vs access to the paid Canva account or tracking down Google Slides previously used.
Next steps:
Implement lesson plan landing page and archives page designs.
Consider single lesson plan layout. We’re most of the way there now. When improved, embed Video Tutorials into Lesson Plans, rename Lesson Plans to Tutorials.
Discussion needed:
The drop-downs on single lesson plan page are great. As a team, we’ve talked about keeping the example walkthrough fully displayed upon page load with a table of contents, while collapsing the sections like Objective Statements, Prerequisites, Materials needed, and other teacher bits behind those v dropdowns.
What do we envision in current lesson plans being collapsed upon load?
If we bring videos in, and if that lesson plan has a video prominently at the top, would we envision the transcript being collapsed as well, or remain in sidebar as a button? We do require captions on WPTV before embedding on Learn.
Are the outcomes and objectives here in unison with Lesson Plans objectives and descriptions?
How will we show thetranscript? How will this work with translations?
Why do videos have a print layout option but lesson plans do not? What do we want displayed if someone wishes to print the lesson plan?
What considerations do we have for this in merging?
Both content types have versions shown publicly, and any other publicly viewable taxonomyTaxonomyA taxonomy is a way to group things together. In WordPress, some common taxonomies are category, link, tag, or post format. https://codex.wordpress.org/Taxonomies#Default_Taxonomies..
Any additional considerations for combining these?
Slides: As a team, several contributors over the years have come forward expressing interest in getting this request passed. Currently there is a Slides 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 that has been forked from the one tested above. It would still need to be submitted to the 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. team for review/approval to use on LearnWP.
We can currently store reveal.js slides in GitHub, as shown on High Level Overview. However, making slides these way was a barrier to entry for many WordPress-familiar contributors.
If/when the Slides plugin is available, do we want to embed the player in the single lesson plan OR do we want to link to it from the button in the right sidebar?
It’s been a while since the handbook page about hosting Online Workshops was originally published (in November 2021) — the team has hosted over 125 events since then! In the time that has passed since publishing that handbook page, I imagine that we’ve all learned a lot about hosting Online Workshops and what makes them run well.
So far, the tips and best practices that the handbook covers are:
Arrive early
Turn on 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) features
Consider Icebreakers
Set Expectations
Conclude
Have you hosted an Online Workshop? Or have you attended an Online Workshop that you feel went well? I would love to hear your thoughts on some more tips and best practices for hosting Online Workshops so we can update the handbook page with them. Please share in the comments!
Course creation is tough. It’s long; it’s laborious; but it’s glorious when finished.
I’d love to see more courses go live on WordPress – so, how can the community get involved in the creation of a collaborative course?
I’ve written out some proposed steps we might take to create courses from start to finish. These are by no means permanent and are simply a suggestion of a process that may work.
The Overview (Visually)
Details
So you have a course idea. What should (could) you do first? (We have a documented process for this here, but this proposal aims to augment it to better serve the community).
Write a Topic Proposal: I propose we create an intake form (a very simple one to start) on 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/ for this that asks users what course they might like to write, briefly describe it, and submit resources that already exist on Learn that would help shape this course (lesson plans, workshops, etc.)
Looking for Inspiration: What makes a good topic?
Check the team’s Github for existing high-priority lesson plans that might make a better course than lesson plan.
Consider new WordPress releases: are there related lesson plans waiting to be written that would make a good course?
At some point, we will have a completed Needs Analysis that will help us determine the most high-impact courses; this will be good to reference when it is created.
Get Approval: The training team should likely review course topic proposals and set up a meeting with the course proposer, which could be done by a process we set up within the faculty program or reviewed as a team at the weekly meeting.
Note: Courses are extremely time intensive, so I would also suggest creating a buddy/faculty member check-in program around this in order to help contributors with their ideas.
Github Issue: Once this proposal has been approved, we will create a Github issue
A Question: What should the timeline be for review? Is 48 hours enough (this would require faculty managing this), or a week (the greater team could help with this during the weekly meeting)?
Brainstorm Canvas: This would be an outline we provide as the training team, specifically to generate ideas about the audience for the course, overarching course objectives, and the micro-course objectives (that will be used to make up the lesson plans for the course). An example of what a Brainstorm Canvas could look like can be found here (rough draft). I would also be open to walking through this with folks if they were interested ahead of time!
This brainstorm canvas can be done individually or during a Zoom call with a buddy / other interested contributors.
There are no right or wrong answers on the brainstorm to start; once the brainstorm has been completed, a faculty member (likely an instructional designer, but basically anyone who is approved) should be pinged to review course objectives and work with the contributor to polish learning objectives.
What is the timeline on reviewing a brainstorm? Would a week be enough time?
Some lesson plans may already exist about that topic and may simply need to be modified for an online audience;
Other lesson plans will need to be created; these can be written either by the course creator, or with others assisting.
Create the Course Frame: Once a user creates a map of the anticipated lesson plans within a course, they can get started creating the course structure within 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/.
Write the introduction: This introduction should help learners assess their own readiness (readiness question), explain what a learner should be able to do at the end of the course, help learners set up what they need to be successful in the course, and establish several other things that are present in most lesson plan – need to be revised for courses, potential course outline to help users experience success here?
Write each Lesson Plan on Learn.WordPress.org:
These lesson plans should be included in the monthly sprint and recorded in Github.
As you complete a rough draft of each of the lesson plans, make sure to keep the Github board updated and let the #training team know during the weekly meeting or as you complete it.
Link each Github Lesson Plan to the course Github as they are created.
One concern I have: There is a lot of “extra” (but important) information in each lesson plan that may distract students from the content they’re expecting to receive. We’ve talked about…
Having a toggle button to show teachers what they need to know in order to teach content when pressed
We may also consider ways to streamline the lesson plan creation process and/or the way content is displayed.
We also might want to consider if these lesson plans should be identical to the ones that exist already, or if we need a secondary format specifically geared towards online learning. For example, an existing lesson plan may say, “Put students into groups and have them discuss X topic” which wouldn’t work for an online, asynchronous format.
Rough Drafts to Finalized Versions: Completed lesson plans will go through the typical review process:
It will be reviewed for content, copy edited (likely with this copy editing checklist), and for 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) (making sure every image has a detailed alt text and descriptive title, that links are descriptive, and every video has a caption, to name a few examples)
If a course is in progress, it may be useful to organize “mini sprints” to get feedback and insight from faculty members on all lesson plans in a timely manner.
When all lesson plans / modules are complete, a final review will be conducted.
We can make a brief checklist here to help faculty members and training team contributors review content quickly, but basically this is a final set of eyes on the finished product.
At this point, we can publish the course!
We may want to consider working with #marketing ahead of time to announce the course and get eyes on it, but in my view, not at the expense of slowing it getting it out into the world.
PUBLISHED! The course goes live, and everyone celebrates.
What do you think of these proposed steps? What should be changed, added, or removed?
Please leave your thoughts in the comments section here, and in a few weeks’ time, we will finalize how we would like to move forward. I will create a list of action items to be put into Github for what documents, supports, ettc. need to be created.
Tl;dr: Some contributors express confusion when attempting to contribute to lesson plan creation. This post aims to look at how we can improve that experience by documenting the barriers experienced by these contributors, raising additional questions for the team’s consideration, and making suggestions for consideration on how to move forward.
What barriers are the team seeing?
Since June of last year, we’ve seen about 1-2 lesson plans reach publication per month. Alongside those accomplishments, we’re also seeing a number of inconsistencies being flagged in our documentation around the process, and new contributors voicing apprehension about getting involved.
I’m sure that together we can work toward some good solutions for folks, so I’ve listed the inconsistencies I’ve picked up from contributors below for consideration:
There exists conflicting information on creating lesson plans:
There are three different lesson plan style guides, two from the Training Team Handbook (here and here), and one that exists as the GitHub Issue template.
The format in 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 template is the correct one to follow, but that is more a template, not a step-by-step detailed guide to putting together a lesson plan.
This Lesson Plan Style Guide linked on the How to Conduct an Instructional Review page here seems to be a more effective guide on how to fill in the details of each section but doesn’t include the updated items from the template. Getting that style guide updated would require an understanding of what’s required for the new sections, and including details there.
Consider any MarComms (marketing communications) resources and link to those (Empty handbook page)
Review any related material on Learn (No handbook page)
Define several SEO keywords to use in the article and where they should be prominently used (Also Blank)
Additional questions for discussion
These additional questions can branch off into their own respective posts if needed, but as they relate to the current lesson plan process, I’ve included them below for consideration as well:
What is a reasonable turnaround time for content reviews, for the purpose of keeping contributors motivated and eager to come back to do more? (41 are currently awaiting review)
What can we do to ensure that this process is inclusive? (Ranging from diversity of submitters, to published languages, etc)?
How long should it ideally take to design a lesson plan from start to finish?
For those of us who are writing lesson plans, what’s working for you? Where are some places you’ve gotten stuck and why?
For those of us who want to write lesson plans but aren’t, what’s an obstacle in your way?
Team reps, what do you absolutely love about our process? What steps are essential in the designing of lesson plans?
Process improvement recommendations for discussion
Of course before launching into solutions, it would be helpful and great to also hear from other training team members and our Reps about what they like, why they did what they already did, and what they want to see change.
The suggestions listed below are to help start fruitful conversation about what was flagged above:
Set a metric goal for lesson plans to help us sustainably tackle the backlog
Decide if the steps with missing pages are necessary, optional (nice to have), or should be deleted
Review, simplify, and consolidate the “Creating a Lesson Plan” guides in the Handbook, Workshop, and GitHub; reducing link-outs where duplicative
Shorten and Simplify the ‘Development Checklist” in Github
Identify ideal turnaround times for each step in the production -> publication process
For some years, the Community Team has managed the Contributor Training site. The site exists to house training materials for contributors to WordPress. The content currently includes training for various Community Team programs as well as general training around collaboration for contributors on all teams.
Now that Learn WordPress is up and running it makes sense to consolidate all the community-based training content in one place. This will be good not only for streamlining content locations but also because no one is actively maintaining the Contributor Training site, while Learn WordPress is actively managed and maintained.
This consolidation involves two processes:
Migrating the courses, lessons and quizzes across from one site to the other.
Migrating the existing learner data from one site to the other.
Number 1 is easy – I tested it out and the content can all be migrated using WordPress’ built-in export/import tools with no issues.
Number 2 is a bit more work and will involve working with the 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. team. I have chatted to @dd32 about the work and it seems like it won’t be too onerous.
I don’t anticipate any objections to this process since it’s really just consolidating content from two disparate locations on the 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/ network, but if you can think of any reason why this would be a bad idea then please comment on this post.
In 2022, the Training Team will empower users to achieve their goals with WordPress through actionable and practical learning experiences that bring the community together.
Values
The Training team values clear, open-source, quality content that fosters diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging among its contributors.
For WordPress users who want to grow, Learn.WordPress.org is a platform that offers high-quality learning opportunities. Learn WordPress is the official source of information and learning about both the software and its community, and is free to use. It is produced for the community by the community.
Stakeholders
Whose input shapes what we do? Who are we doing this for? (users, providers, influencers, governance)
WordPress 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. Software Project
Project executive leadership
Make teams
Contributors
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. & 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. organizers
Extenders with livelihoods related to WordPress
Informal community gatherings (social media groups, owned forums/events/SlackSlackSlack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/./socials)
Representation of Stakeholders
We aspire to have representation from diverse organizations and individuals within and beyond the WordPress ecosystem, including:
Scale/sizes of organizations
Locales
Freelancer marketplace
Enterprise/agency
Product and service providers (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/theme devs, SaaS, Integrations)
WP Communicators (bloggers, podcasters, hosts)
Hiring organizations (contract or employer)
External trainers/instructors
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), Internationalization, and Diversity
Open Source Software
Methods and Priorities for team goals
Needs Analysis
Define learning experiences
Onboard subject matter experts
Site functionality
Team organization
Contributor onboarding, tracking, outreach
Cross-team collaboration
Official WordPress certification
Obstacles
What could potentially make these goals difficult to achieve and what specific actions can be done to overcome any obstacles? Dependencies, risks, etc.
Awareness about LearnWP and value proposition
Quality/accuracy control of materials
Keeping pace with WP releases
Limitations of the Learning Management System (LMS)
Site functionality and design
Gathering issues and ideas at the right phase of planning and implementation
Time
Availability for existing and new: content creators, site developers, volunteer/self-sponsored contributors, sponsored contributors
Familiarity with tools and procedures
Ongoing impact of COVID
Distinguishing the audience (learner, facilitator/teacher)
Competing stakeholder priorities
Team agreement on types of learning experiences, alignment of content types to the vision
How will we know we have achieved success or successfully completed our tasks from the chosen methods.
Feedback forms for those who have used a lesson plan, completed a workshop, completed a course
Anticipated content creation:
6 courses per year
4 social learning spaces per week
1 workshop per week
Data collection methods needed in conjunction with determining goals for each:
Results from 2022 Annual WP Survey
Support team indication of common questions in forums. Informal cross-team collaboration inquiring about common trends and ways Learn WordPress can be a resource for Support.
Increased visitors to LearnWP
Download stats
Mentions of LearnWP in media
Average course completions
Google Analytics
VideoPress metrics
Popularity metrics
Social learning spaces attendees – new and repeat
Number of WP contributors
Quantity of training team contributors and content created
Milestones
March 1, 2022
Use 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/ Projects in LearnWP repository for managing team activity
Implement a Faculty program (like Community Deputies, name to be determined)
Brainstorm and discovery for the creation of a Needs Analysis
Plan promotions with the Marketing Team
Create Instructor/Facilitator resources portion on LearnWP
June 1, 2022
Conduct Needs Analysis
Create content useful for WordCamp Europe
Release roadmap of new content (that isn’t tied to WP releases/features)
Assess content that has the largest impact
Overhaul the “Submit an Idea” form. Build in conditional logic for workshop, lesson plan, and course.
Ongoing promotions collaborations with other Make teams such as Marketing, Polyglots, Docs, Accessibility, Community
September 1, 2022
Curriculum Advisory Board (working title) planning and outreach
Site functionality roadmap
Redesign of site based upon UXUXUX is an acronym for User Experience - the way the user uses the UI. Think ‘what they are doing’ and less about how they do it. audit and Needs Analysis
SEO for site structure
Content filters based upon interest or profession
Defined learning pathways
Merge lesson plans and workshops
Content for onboarding contributors (Make teams, Meetup organizers, WordCamp volunteers)
Ongoing promotions collaborations with the Marketing Team
Create content for WordCamp US
December 1, 2022
Plan the discovery phase for official 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/ certification
Comparing other Open Source Software methods
Compare other Open Source Software training models
Compare any proprietary certifications and training prep
Collect the issues, what works, what didn’t work well
Define Cohorts – strategy and handbooks
Define courses toward certification with pathways and outcomes
LearnWP Admin Dashboard to track stats and contribution
Option of portfolio-worthy projects for users to run alongside courses
Ongoing promotions collaborations with the Marketing Team
