Category Archives: Idea

Hugh Lashbrooke 8:36 am on April 19, 2022  

Migrating Contributor Training to Learn WordPress

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:

  1. Migrating the courses, lessons and quizzes across from one site to the other.
  2. 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 MetaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress. team. 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.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/ network, but if you can think of any reason why this would be a bad idea then please comment on this post.

/cc +make.wordpress.org/community/ +make.wordpress.org/meta/

Courtney Robertson 1:08 am on January 18, 2022
Tags: ,   

Training Team Goals for 2022

Vision

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)

Also visit the post: Who can Learn WordPress help

  • Users
  • WordPress Open SourceOpen Source Open Source denotes software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified. Open Source **must be** delivered via a licensing model, see GPL. Software Project
    • Project executive leadership
    • Make teams
    • Contributors
    • MeetupMeetup All local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area. & WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. organizers
  • Extenders with livelihoods related to WordPress
  • Informal community gatherings (social media groups, owned forums/events/SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/./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 (pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party/theme devs, SaaS, Integrations)
  • WP Communicators (bloggers, podcasters, hosts)
  • Hiring organizations (contract or employer)
  • External trainers/instructors 
  • AccessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility), 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
  • The scope of Who can Learn WordPress help is a vast audience.

Evaluation

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 GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can 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 UXUX UX 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.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/ 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

Props

Attendees: Thanks to @azhiyadev @webtechpooja @courane01 @hlashbrooke @west7 @arasae @rkohilakis @chrisbadgett @docpop @peteringersoll @kemmy99 @meher @webcommsat who participated in 3 team goal setting meetings.

Proofreading: Thanks also to @webtechpooja @webcommsat for proofreading this summary of the goals for 2022.

#goals, #learn-wordpress

Courtney Robertson 2:27 pm on January 7, 2022  

Learn WordPress Version Taxonomy

In Learn WordPress, there is a taxonomyTaxonomy A 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. based upon WordPress versions used internally for auditing content.

Originally, this was used as a means of comparing or auditing content to ensure it includes any information about the latest versions. It is a checkpoint to indicate we have recently reviewed this content.

We now have several goals with this taxonomy:

  1. This content has been confirmed with the corresponding release version. At this time, this is an internal use-case, but we could envision using this publicly in a changelog at the bottom of lesson plans, workshops, courses to view content from previous versions.
  2. This content is contains new or important features about the latest release. This is public-facing and can help curate a page of relevant content per release on Learn.

The taxonomy created is now publicly accessible: https://github.com/WordPress/learn/pull/292. However, this may be quite cluttered with content comparison checks and not exclusive to features related to the current release.

Learn WordPress lesson plan landing page highlighting the WordPress version filter located in the sidebar
Learn WordPress lesson plan landing page

Thoughts to consider:

  • Should these live in 1 taxonomy area or should these live in 2 separate taxonomies?
  • How do we envision using that in the admin area?
  • How do we need data to publicly display now, and in the future?
  • What additional considerations should we have?

We’ll leave this post open until January 14 before progressing to GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can 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.

Courtney Robertson 12:07 pm on January 7, 2022  

Social Learning Spaces Streaming Platforms

Social Learning Spaces are seeing considerable traction with attendees. You can find the calendar of events at https://learn.wordpress.org/social-learning/. This also appears by default in the WordPress Events and News widgetWidget A WordPress Widget is a small block that performs a specific function. You can add these widgets in sidebars also known as widget-ready areas on your web page. WordPress widgets were originally created to provide a simple and easy-to-use way of giving design and structure control of the WordPress theme to the user. inside ever WP Admin Dashboard.

Questions arose around expanding the use of the platform. Training was asked to consider including these events onto the calendar:

  1. Gutenberg Developer Hour Series
  2. Creating a Block-based theme from scratch

We approved GutenbergGutenberg The Gutenberg project is the new Editor Interface for WordPress. The editor improves the process and experience of creating new content, making writing rich content much simpler. It uses ‘blocks’ to add richness rather than shortcodes, custom HTML etc. https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/ Developer Hour Series, as Birgit is already vetted by community deputies and this is an initiative begun in CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress.. It would be hosted using the existing methods with MeetupMeetup All local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area. + Zoom.

For content that may be broadcast in a new manner, such as using a Twitch stream, we’d like additional guidelines to be included in the team handbook.

Questions to be considered:

  1. How much branding is appropriate? Custom Zoom branding, backgrounds, etc.
  2. Is it permitted during the broadcast to mention “follow/subscribe to this channel on Twitch/Facebook/Twitter whatever to know when I go live again”?
  3. What if users need to enter an email to view the broadcast?
  4. What if the additional streaming platform requires an RSVP as well?
  5. Share additional questions in the comments below

This post will remain open until January 14. From there, a summary will be presented to the team and additional guidelines added to the team handbook.

Courtney Robertson 2:18 pm on November 16, 2021
Tags:   

Team Goal Setting 2022

It’s that time of year – looking back at our progress over the past year and looking ahead to next year. It’s been a few years since the Training Team set goals for the year ahead.

We are planning to have a meeting around team goals on December 6 (or 7th in APAC) at 7PM UTC. Time is hard. Here’s a quick way to check in your locale: Time.is.

Part 2 continued next week.

I can’t wait to see where we are headed. Those previous goals were before Learn launched, and before we had Workshops and Courses.

Reach out to @hlashbrooke in the training channel for an invite to the goal meeting.

#goals

Hugh Lashbrooke 10:41 pm on September 27, 2021
Tags: , proposal,   

PROPOSAL: Ensuring high-quality video contributions to Learn WordPress

The Training Team is incredibly grateful to everyone who helped to launch Learn WordPress and has contributed valuable and solid content. Not least because Learn WordPress is going to be the first place that many people encounter in the WordPress project. Indeed, it may be the only part of the WordPress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/ network that they ever engage with. This is due to the fact that many users will come looking for training on how to do something with WordPress and won’t have any interest in the community beyond that. If people come to Learn WordPress without any knowledge of how the WordPress community works as an open-source project, they will be expecting to find videos that match the quality they could find elsewhere.

A proposal

Learn WordPress content needs to be of high quality, but most people don’t have access to expensive recording equipment and it’s unrealistic to expect everyone to match the video quality of those who do. Production quality must not be a blocker for people contributing their skills and knowledge to the platform, so what can be done about it?

After thinking about this for a while, I have a proposal for how we can proceed that involves two areas of focus:

Distinguish between video types

The idea would be to distinguish between the highly produced videos and the community contributed ones in a similar way to how TED and TEDx talks are different from each other. This would mean there would be a separate taxonomyTaxonomy A 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. that clearly identifies which videos are produced with high-quality equipment and which ones are not. The visual distinction here would need to be discussed before we move forward with anything. My initial thinking is that there would be a section titled “Community Content” or similar that would feature the videos contributed by the community that are not of the production quality standards that are set. These production standards would need to be discussed and finalised before we implement anything here.

Collaborate on planning, but limit who can produce

The other area of focus to complement the separate video types would be to allow anyone to get involved in planning and scripting videos, but only allow approved people to actually record/produce the ones that are not included in the “Community Content” section. In practice, this could look something like this:

  1. Certain people are selected (through a public application process that anyone can submit themselves) to be approved as presenters & producers – this would have a few requirements along the lines of having access to high-quality recording equipment, being able to present well, etc. – this would need to be clearly defined and formalised with a vetting process for new applications. There would be a strong focus on building up a diverse set of voices for this group.
  2. Multiple people collaborate on outlining a video and writing a script for it – this would include anyone who would like to be involved.
  3. The finished outline and script is given to one of the approved presenters to record – this could be one of the people who wrote the script or it could be someone else.
  4. If the video is a screencast with a voiceover, we could even have a subject matter expert record the screencast and one of the approved presenters record the voiceover in order to ensure content can be written to cater to all skillsets.

The advantage of this is that anyone can get involved in creating content, even if they aren’t able (or don’t want to!) actually present/produce it, with the end result being that we have high-quality content produced to a high standard. All contributors would still be credited on the workshop video page regardless of their role in creating the video.

Feedback

Please provide feedback along the following lines:

  • Do you feel this proposal is a good way to ensure that Learn WordPress videos remain high-quality while also encouraging contributors to get involved?
  • Is there anything you would change about this proposal?
  • Do you have a different proposal to suggest?

This discussion on this post will be open until the end of the day on Wedensday, 6 October and then the comments will be summarised with a decision being made based on what is discussed.

#learn-wordpress, #proposal, #videos

Sarah Snow 3:39 pm on August 12, 2021
Tags: course outline, microcourses, new course,   

WordPress 101: Microcourses Proposal

To further develop Learn for everyone, there are a few problems I’d like to see the training team solve through structured Microcourses. These microcourses will be “choose your own adventure” style. Before enrolling in a microcourse, learners will be prompted to assess their own existing knowledge and use their own interest to guide their course choices. 

Microcourses will be:

  • Largely text-and-image based (with a few short videos thrown in for variety) for accessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility)
  • Bite-sized; every lesson (currently known as a “workshop”) should be able to be completed quickly, within 5-10 minutes
  • Self-paced; unlike with longer videos, Learners can set down this learning and pick it back up as their schedule allows.
  • Leveled based on pre-existing knowledge (101/102? We would need to name each level and provide guidance on what someone would be expected to know at each level.)
  • Interactive; each course will prompt users to do something with their knowledge.

This benefits all learners because it creates…

  1. A shorter period of ramp-up time for the basics (from 4.5 hours to 1 hour or less for the basic WordPress 101 course, preferably)
  2. Personalized learning experiences based on need & interest
  3. Self-Paced learning with deliberate scaffolds in place for neurodiverse learners

Eventually, I would love for each course to be recommended based on how people answer certain questions. For now, however, each microcourse page will include “suggested prerequisites” — in other words, skills and knowledge people will need to have in order to best work through a new microcourse. 

Here is a potential structure for a Basic WordPress 101 Microcourse:

Setting Up WordPress

Prerequisites: None!

Take this course if…

  • You are getting started for the first time with WordPress;
  • You haven’t decided on a host yet;
  • You haven’t picked a domain name yet;
  • You haven’t set up WordPress in any way yet.

By the end of this unit, you will be able to… (Quiz questions will be based on these statements–you’ll notice these are very action-based)

  • Describe difference between a host and a domain name
  • Determine which kind of hosting may be best for your website development needs
  • Set up WordPress on a host or on a server of your own
  • Navigate WordPress’ unique dashboard

    Do you know this information already? Take the quiz and earn a badge!

Modules within a Microcourse: Modules/lessons would explore those objectives bit by bit in a fraction of the existing course time. Structured, carefully crafted formative assessments would exist throughout the course (partially to give us feedback on our own instruction). This would ultimately culminate in a summative assessment (quiz for now, complete with action tasks) at the end of the course.

Course Complete!

When someone completes a microcourse, it would be useful to provide suggestions for the next most useful microcourses they might take depending on their goals. 

For example, on a “Course Complete!” page, learners might see something like this:

Congratulations! You’ve finished the course, “Setting Up WordPress”. To decide what you’d like to learn next, let’s find out: Which of these is closest to your goal?

  1. Design a WordPress website with pages that does not have a blog.
  2. Design a WordPress website with pages that also has a blog.
  3. Set up a WordPress blog–no need for additional pages.
  4. Something more advanced (eCommerce website, etc.)

Potential Personalization: Depending on functionality, ideally, each of these options might take learners to a slightly different grouping of microcourses . 

For example, a single lesson for setting up a blog page wouldn’t be toggled on for a course if someone didn’t want a blog on their website. 

To find the proposed course outline (tentative), please click here to be taken to the public GoogleDoc. You are welcome to comment upon that document as well. I would like to begin work on this by Monday, the 16th of August.

Thoughts? Questions? Comments? Is there a topic I am missing from the original course outline? 

Drop your ideas in the comments! 

#course-outline, #microcourses, #new-course, #training

Hugh Lashbrooke 1:08 am on August 10, 2021  

PROPOSAL: Learner achievements on profiles

A planned feature for Learn is integration with WordPress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/ profiles. There’s already an open issue on GitHub for recognising contributors with badges, so I’d like to nail down what kind of thing we would like to see regarding recognising learner achievements on profiles.

Here’s my proposal:

  • An activity stream entry whenever a learner completes a full course.
  • A persistent line showing the learner’s average grade on Learn WordPress – I envision this in the top right info blockBlock Block is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience. above the social links, but happy to be shown otherwise.
  • A new tab under ‘Activity’ called ‘Learning’ (or similar) that shows all of the courses they have completed along with their average grade for the course and what date they completed it on. This could also show individual lessons completed along with the relevant grades, or any other learning data that we have, but I think that courses will be the primary thing here.
  • A ‘Learner’ badge for everyone who has completed at least one course. This badge could use the same icon as the Training Team badge, but in a different colour.

One caveat is that we don’t have a lot of courses on the site at this stage, but that is changing as we develop new content so my hope is that we will have these rewards in place now and as content is created the rewards will flow naturally.

The goal here is twofold:

  1. To surface learning data as a way to make Learn WordPress more valuable to people, not to mention more prominent and visible
  2. To provide motivation for people to take courses

Is there anything else we could do on profiles to recognise learner achievements? Once we have agreement on this proposal it can be moved over to GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can 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 implementation.

Courtney Robertson 5:57 pm on August 8, 2021  

Who can Learn WordPress help?

Defining who the Learn WordPress website is for is rather vast. Then again, so is 42% of the internet using WordPress.

Below is an evolving list of types of users for WordPress. This list will continue to evolve.

Interests

See Care and influence: a theory about the WordPress community

WordPress user types

  • Website Visitors
  • Subscriber
  • Content Contributor
  • Content Author
  • Content Editor
  • Website Administrator
  • MultisiteMultisite Multisite is a WordPress feature which allows users to create a network of sites on a single WordPress installation. Available since WordPress version 3.0, Multisite is a continuation of WPMU or WordPress Multiuser project. WordPress MultiUser project was discontinued and its features were included into WordPress core.https://codex.wordpress.org/Create_A_Network. Super Administrator

Extenders

  • Freelancer, Solorpreneur, Botique Agency
  • Hobbyist, Side Hustlers
  • Support
  • Quality Assurance
  • Designer
  • Developer
  • Engineer
  • Project Manager
  • Product Owner/Product Manager
  • Marketing
  • Dev Ops
  • Podcasters with a WordPress-related topic
  • Vloggers with a WordPress-related topic
  • Newsletters with a WordPress-related topic
  • Bloggers with a WordPress-related topic
  • WordPress-adjacent events
  • Trainers/tutorials with a WordPress-related topic

Contributors

  • Make teams and related WordPress project contirbutors
  • MeetupMeetup All local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area. Organizers
  • WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. Organizers
  • Open SourceOpen Source Open Source denotes software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified. Open Source **must be** delivered via a licensing model, see GPL. Contributors

Leaders

  • Release squads
  • Make team roles
  • Executive Director
  • Project Lead

Experience

Skills progression

  • Entry level
  • Mid level
  • Specializing between front/back end
  • Senior level
  • Career advancement
  • Ongoing professional development

Learning Styles

See The 8 Learning Styles

  • Visual (spatial) Learners.
  • Aural (audio) Learners.
  • Physical (tactile) Learners.
  • Verbal Learners (aka Linguistic Learners)
  • Logical (analytical) Learners.
  • Social Learners (aka Linguistic Learners)
  • Solo Learners.
  • Natural/ Nature Learners.

Considerations

  • AccessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility)
  • Internationalization
  • Bandwidth consumption
  • Content for WordCamp Youth programs
  • Lowering barriers to entry
Courtney Robertson 7:44 am on May 28, 2021
Tags:   

PROPOSAL: An Audit Tool for Learn

As Learn grows, the need for maintaining content in step with WordPress releases also grows. We would like to implement a content audit tool. This will keep the tasks of auditing and then revising content much more manageable.

The Training Team has sought a content audit tool for a number of years. Many of the same requests are still wanted.

With the current workflow of Learn, we’ve revised the list of what would help keep content up to date.

The current workflow:

We are using Edit Flow, which may still be the solution with some enhancements or additional features. Our general content revision process has looked like this:

  • Many users with Editor user role permission to have login-access to content on Learn. 
  • When WordPress has an update, and when the team has the capacity, contributors will manually review each piece of content on the site.
  • Users check a series of Edit Flow Custom MetaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress. Fields to indicate what needs to be updated and another unchecks the box when it is done 
  • Users cannot view all posts that have the same checkmark ticked (like the functionality of viewing all posts with the same tag). 
  • Custom meta is related to the entire post, not noting specific elements such as several screenshots
  • Users with Editor access for auditing have created their own content, not following the lesson plan templates, and published. The team process is to use a template for the content and undergo several reviews before publishing. 
  • Due to the complexity of this process, the team has not made much progress in staying current with feature changes.

Proposed workflow:

  • More specific uses of user permissions, per https://make.wordpress.org/training/2021/05/27/proposal-adding-custom-user-roles-to-learn-wordpress/.
  • Each screenshot, video, and article could have a taxonomyTaxonomy A 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. indicating 
    • The version of WordPress
    • Option of the user interface (show all posts that have the blockBlock Block is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience. selector, or some part of the admin dashboard)
    • A way to note if the outdated content is preserved for historical purposes (not to be updated)
    • Taxonomy would be viewable like tags, allowing an editor to see a listing of all content types of that notation
    • Apply this taxonomy to lessons, workshops, and courses
  • A checklist before publishing that indicates various stages of review and can be modified by admins in an ongoing way without coding
    • Pending Review
    • Spelling/grammar review
    • Technical review
    • SEO review
    • Require that posts are approved by users in a specific role (editors can review updates, admins can review new content to be published)
    • The ability to assign a lesson plan to a “Content Owner” who is different than the author. It can help identify who is currently responsible for that lesson plan.
  • An expiration date. Any content that should be reviewed on a regular basis can have an expiration date that will provide automatic reminders that eyeballs are needed on that content piece. In the Content Audit pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party this can also include email reminders being sent to the Content Owner. It also displays messages on the front end for logged-in users with the proper permissions.
  • Columns are added to the All Posts screen that indicates the Content Owner, Content Status, Notes, and Expiration date. This makes for a very quick overview that contributors could use to identify the highest priority (or low-hanging fruit) from the list of things to be done. Use the review status in the Learn admin dashboard to show stats of lessons needing review, flagged for updates, at various stages of completion. https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2021/02/26/would-stats-dashboards-help-your-team/
  • Nice to have
    • Require featured imageFeatured image A featured image is the main image used on your blog archive page and is pulled when the post or page is shared on social media. The image can be used to display in widget areas on your site or in a summary list of posts. (and how to set a featured image on lesson plans)
    • Require ALT Text descriptions
    • Check for any broken and external links (outside WordPress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/)
    • An SEO plugin that will assist with the tone of voice and complexity of reading

Those who have done considerable content auditing, what tools or features have you used? What would make a tool like this easier to implement across several WordPress teams?

A big thank you to @juliekuehl (original audit request), @azhiyadev, and @evarlese for helping to write this proposal.

Leave your ideas below!

#content-audit