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
On Friday, December 9, we noticed the Team RepTeam RepA Team Rep is a person who represents the Make WordPress team to the rest of the project, make sure issues are raised and addressed as needed, and coordinates cross-team efforts. poll was not receiving new vote submissions. We have reset the poll (erasing previous results) and the timeline for voting. If you previously submitted, please resubmit only once.
Once the nomination has been closed, we contacted all nominees and accepted nominations of those who responded positively.
Nominees
A Team Rep is a person who represents the Make WordPress team to the rest of the project, makes sure issues are raised and addressed as needed, and coordinates cross-team efforts. The following Training team members are nominated for 2023.
Each team has one or more representatives (reps). Team reps are responsible for communicating on behalf of their team to other contributor teams. They represent the team, collaborate with other teams, raise, manage and address any issues. This role averages two to five hours per week in team organizational duties.
In the 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. project, each team has on average one or two representatives, abbreviated as reps. Some teams have more than two.
Historically with the Training team, the team repTeam RepA Team Rep is a person who represents the Make WordPress team to the rest of the project, make sure issues are raised and addressed as needed, and coordinates cross-team efforts. duration was around two years, though some reps stuck around longer if there was a particularly good fit.
It is not called “team lead” for a reason. It’s an administrative role. While people elected as team reps will generally come from the pool of folks that people think of as experienced leaders, remember that the team rep role is designed to change hands regularly..
X-post to Support, Marketing, and Community teams at the end of each sprint (when new content is on LearnWP)
Draft the weekly agenda, including reviewing the happenings 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/. over the past week.
Nice to have: welcome new channel members during team meeting
Conduct weekly Slack meetings
Recruit contributors to facilitate portions of the meeting
Recruit contributors for meeting recap notetaking
Review drafts of recap notes
Assist in drafting a post for any Contributor Days
The Election Process
We will follow the same process as other teams, dates may differ slightly.
Nominations
Nominations are now open and remain open until December 2, 2022, at 12:00 UTC. Please add your nominations as a comment on this post. You can nominate yourself or someone else if you think they are a great fit.
Elections
We will review the nominations at our team meeting on December 6, 2022. If there are more than 3 nominations, we will organize a poll to select the Team Reps.
If we need to have a poll, this will be open until December 19, 2022 at 12:00 UTC .
Announcements
We will announce the results at the next team meeting on December 6, 2022. If there are more than 3 nominations, we will announce the results at the December 20, 2022 team meeting.
If you have any questions, please ask in the comments!
The Training Team has wanted to make contributing localized content for Learn WordPress easier. As of today, you can now find a page in our handbook that will walk you through both translating existing content, and creating new content in locales other than English!
The workflows listed are a combination of processes currently used by Training Team members, and some new ideas to better track contributions and maintain consistency across translated content. The team is looking for contributors to try these new workflows and help us identify how we can make them even better.
Please share your experience creating localized content for Learn WordPress with these new workflows in the comments of this post. If you have any suggested improvements to the newly created handbook pages, please share those below, too! We will continue to update the processes as we receive feedback.
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
Is it possible to link out to existing training resources instead of creating a duplicate on Learn? E.g. the free Yoast SEO course in the Yoast SEO Academy
For reference, we have Brand Guidelines and Promotional Guidelines already established in our Team Handbook. This would be a consideration for linking out.
Assuming the context on lesson plans is for teachers or 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. organizers to use when presenting to their audience/students, not the direct learner. When I personally taught Yoast, I suggested the course on Yoast’s site as an extension of our lesson (optional homework) but not in place of the introductory topic. I created my own lesson plan for that purpose, roughly using the draft version that was already created by the Training team. In which case, having an initial introduction on Learn would help organize the content and cover only the absolute essentials for site owners to know.
Some other feedback included: “I think that’s a great idea, keep the lesson plans more general (e.g. How to optimize WordPress for search) and link off to multiple plugins and their guidelines and tutorials.”
We try to follow the same guidelines other teams on the project use, such as when Docs opts to link out to other resources or not. We have opted to link to 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. resources, such as MDN and PHP.
Questions:
Should we link out to other resources?
If the resources are completely free and publicly available?
If the resources require an email to access?
If the resources are a paid service?
Do we suggest continued learning additional resources? (Such as, for more information visit…. )
What additional thoughts or considerations should we have?
We will leave this open for comment until April 8, 2022.
It’s been about four months since the Learn WordPress Working Group started meeting at its current frequency and schedule. Immediately after launch, the meetings were very active as we navigated new ideas and brainstorms for Learn’s next steps.
I have the impression that the meetings have been a bit quieter since we’ve started moving from that initial brainstorming phase into planning for and working on many of those ideas. With that in mind, I have two small requests to make to help improve these meetings.
Fill out the Doodle poll for new meeting times
I think it’s a good time for us to revisit our current meeting times – especially since I know there are some other meetings that either overlap or happen right around the same time as the Learn WordPress Working Group meetings.
Let’s aim to keep this poll open until Tuesday, April 20th. This gives us enough time to share a reminder in the next Learn WordPress Working Group meeting on April 15, 2021 at 19:00 UTC, as well as sharing a reminder in upcoming Training team and Community team meetings.
I’ll share the top two times that cover the most timezones by the end of the day that Tuesday so folks can put the meeting into their calendars as soon as possible.
Revisit the format of our current meetings
Currently, the Learn WordPress Working Group meetings typically follow this format:
Team check-ins
Updates (i.e. announcements or new workshops published)
Discussion items
Open floor
I’m wondering how others feel about this structure and what’s currently included in the meetings. In particular, it would be helpful to know:
How do you feel about the current cadence, length, or format of the Learn WordPress Working Group meetings?
What is missing from our current meetings? What is working well?
What would make these meetings more meaningful or impactful for you?
In addition to any of the questions shared, please feel welcome to include any others that you feel might be missing.
As always, if you’re interested in helping to facilitate or plan these meetings – or are simply interested in attending – please do share in the comments or reach out in the Training Slack channel!
You may be asking yourself: “What is she talking about? Workshop content on Learn is free!” Unfortunately time and high data costs can be exclusionary.
While this may sound reasonable for an introductory video, this should use approximately 160 MB of data.
At an Out-of-Bundle rate, this is approximately 2.5 x minimum wage for domestic workers in a developing economy – and therefore inaccessible by and exclusionary to many users.
Quality
Videos on Learn only offer the ability to turn on High Definition.
There is no option to set the video to a lower quality setting for streaming.
This is an inherent limitation of VideoPress.
Speed
Videos on Learn can only be watched at 0.5, 1, 1.5. and 2 speed.
These speeds tend to be unnatural.
Unfortunately, VideoPress does not currently offer 0.75 and 1.25 speeds, which are more natural.
Proposed Solutions:
Content Guidelines
Instructional videos should be scripted.
Discussion videos (panel discussions) on more complex topics can be very valuable content on Learn.
However, particularly for introductory topics, scripting topics heavily avoids repetition and should help to keep video lengths efficient.
If a contributor would like to submit an unscripted workshop, they should include a compelling motivation in the application why this best serves the interests of Learn users.
Lesson Plans should be submitted for all Workshops.
To ensure that Workshops benefit from input regarding curriculum development and best practices in terms of teaching philosophy, this proposes that a Lesson Plan (in outline form) should exist before workshops are recorded.
This will also facilitate the harmonization of Workshops and Lesson Plans into Courses at a later date.
Chapters
Workshops should be broken down into chapters, with descriptive titles.
Long-format videos are not conducive to meeting the needs of students in particular, as the information contained in workshops is not searchable.
Video is not an ideal format if you would like to review information again at a later date.
This proposes that a “Chapters” widgetWidgetA 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. is added to workshops on Learn, with time-stamped links.
Subtitles
Subtitles should be submitted at the same time as the Workshop.
Users should not have to watch the video to get access to subtitles.
Subtitles should be viewable on Learn itself (possibly as a custom 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.) and should be downloadable.
Subtitles (in the original language) should be required for all scripted videos on Learn.
Subtitles for unscripted videos like panel discussions should be uploaded as soon as practical.
Browser-side Caching
Carefully consider caching behaviours on Learn.
Content on Learn should not change often and the caching periods should be as long as possible, unless a user manually clears their browser cache.
If possible, use version cache busting.
Buffering
Investigate whether the buffering is sufficient for users on slower internet connections.
Download Option
Make it possible for users to download videos directly from Learn.
This is particularly desirable in educational settings, where multiple users may share devices / a copy can be placed on a central network for everyone’s offline viewing.
Licensing
In order to facilitate downloading, sharing and to encourage proper academic habits in relation to citations, prominently include licensing information on the Learn website and preferably in the videos themselves.
Feedback:
We need your input and engagement in order to realize the goals set out above.
The Training team is on the lookout for simplified way to create slides. We need:
An interface similar to writing a WordPress Post
A centralized location to access slides
Means to audit and revise slide content as WordPress coreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. updates
Consideration 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) and translation
Means to download or use the slides without internet connectivity
We have historically tried tools like Google Slides and Shower.js (similar to storing Reveal.js slides 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/). We found some of these options worked, but still were a barrier for new contributors to use.
Use Case:
During State of the WordState of the WordThis is the annual report given by Matt Mullenweg, founder of WordPress at WordCamp US. It looks at what we’ve done, what we’re doing, and the future of WordPress. https://wordpress.tv/tag/state-of-the-word/. 2019, Matt’s presentation used a 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 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 to create the slides, with quite a crew of folks that helped build the plugin and his presentation.
This Slides plugin looks especially interesting because it would offer us :
Using slides in the WordPress editor experience
A centralized location for auditing and empowering to update later as the revision tools become available on Learn
Options to download the slides
Templating for design, accessibility, and good UIUIUI is an acronym for User Interface - the layout of the page the user interacts with. Think ‘how are they doing that’ and less about what they are doing.
No pre-required skills with GitHub to create or present the slides
Testing and Feedback
Install the plugin
Create a simple slide presentation
Add additional slides
Add media
Use the speaker notes
Save the slides
Display in browser
Does your theme conflict with slides displaying? (having the plugin on Learn would use the Learn theme – possibly with custom styles for that post type, solving any theme conflicts)
