Faculty Role Guide

Topics

This page serves to guide existing Faculty members in their roles. If you are just getting started as a Faculty member, be sure to review the Faculty Member Getting Started Guide. If you have any questions, please reach out in the private Faculty 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/. channel, and/or contact a Team RepTeam Rep A Team Rep is a person who represents the Make WordPress team to the rest of the project, make sure issues are raised and addressed as needed, and coordinates cross-team efforts..

Content Creators

Content Creators contribute new content to Learn WordPress in the form of lesson plans, video tutorials, courses, or online workshops. There are many vetted topics ready for you to start creating in Ready to Create view on the Content Development board.

As you create content, keep the following guidelines in mind:

Content Creator Faculty members can also help with reviewing content and vetting topic ideas.

Please keep an eye out for @faculty-content-creators pings in Slack and respond as you are able.

Online Workshops
Content Creators can create and run Online Workshops. To get started with creating an Online Workshop, see the handbook page Planning an Online Workshop. The handbook section for Online Workshops contains detailed information on the process. You can start creating with any of the vetted topics in “Ready to Create” (filtered to show Online Workshops), or plan a completely new idea and add it to the board by using the Online Workshop Issue Template in GitHub.

Content Creator Faculty Members can also assist new contributors by co-hosting their Online Workshops and providing guidance.

Lesson Plans
Content Creators can create Lesson Plans. To get started with creating Lesson Plans, see the Lesson Plans section of the handbook. You can start creating with any of the vetted topics in “Ready to Create” (filtered to show Lesson Plans), or you can create a new issue with your topic idea (this link creates a new issue with the “Topic Idea Template”).

Tutorials
Content Creators can record tutorial videos, write tutorial scripts, and edit tutorial videos. To get started with Tutorial creation, see the handbook page Creating a Tutorial. You can start creating with any of the vetted topics in “Ready to Create” (filtered to show Tutorials), or you can create a new issue with your topic idea (this link creates a new issue with the “Topic Idea Template”).

The handbook section for Tutorials contains detailed information on processes and resources.

Courses
Content creators can help create and write Courses. To get started with courses, see the handbook section about Courses.

Working with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)
Content Creators may have questions or need guidance while writing their content. SMEs can help by providing guidance when requested by the Content Creator. Requests can look like:

  • A comment on the GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. https://github.com/ issue for the content.
  • A request for assistance in the #training channel by mentioning the @faculty-smes group in Slack.
  • Contacting a SME directly. See the Faculty Member list, under the column “Area(s) of Expertise” to identify who you can ask about specific topics.

SMEs are not expected to create any of the content alongside the Content Creator, but they are leaned on for their topic area expertise when called upon.

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Editors

Editors assist with editing content created by content creators. This can mean testing content or editing for accuracy, grammar, instructional effectiveness, 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), localizability, SEO, or anything else that helps to improve the content that is created.

You can find content for review in the project board labeled as Ready for Review (link goes to a filtered view of the project board). Read the Guidelines for reviewing content handbook page for detailed information on the process. Please leave your review notes as a comment on the GitHub issue so that the Content Creator assigned can incorporate that into the content.

For additional guidance, see the Guidelines for reviewing content. Editors can also pingPing The act of sending a very small amount of data to an end point. Ping is used in computer science to illicit a response from a target server to test it’s connection. Ping is also a term used by Slack users to @ someone or send them a direct message (DM). Users might say something along the lines of “Ping me when the meeting starts.” the @faculty-smes group in Slack for help with specific topics.

Editor Faculty members can also help with vetting topic ideas.

Please keep an eye out for @faculty-editors pings in Slack and respond as you are able.

Working with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)
When Editors are reviewing the drafted content but stumble upon questions about the subject matter, Editors can ask an SME to assist. Requests for SME assistance can look like:

  • A request for help in the #training channel by mentioning the @faculty-smes group in Slack.
  • Contacting a SME directly. See the Faculty Member list, under the column “Area(s) of Expertise” to identify who you can ask about specific topics.

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Subject Matter Experts

Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) work with Content Creators and Editors to provide expertise in their relevant subject area. They act as guides to ensure that the educational content being created is accurate, complete, and up to date.

Please refer to the Guidelines for reviewing content when conducting content reviews.

Please keep an eye out for @faculty-smes pings in Slack and respond as you are able.

The Training Team also leans on SMEs to help evaluate suitable educational content added to the LearnWP Topic Vetting project board by following the steps outlined in the Vetting Topic Ideas handbook page.

Therefore, a typical workflow for an SME can look something like:

  1. Vet topic ideas in areas you’re an expert in
  2. Work with a Content Creator by answering their questions and providing guidance around content development 
  3. Work with Editors by validating changes coming from their reviews

When vetting Topic Ideas, it’s best practice to share which issues you are going to review in the #training channel, and it’s also recommended to perform periodic sweeps of the Ready to Create column in the Content Development project board to ensure content stays fresh and priorities still match.

Working with Content Creators
When a vetted topic idea moves into the Ready to Create column, the Content Creator who picks it up may have questions or require guidance while writing the educational content. SMEs can help by providing guidance when requested by the Content Creator; these requests may come as a comment on the GitHub issue, a direct message in Slack, or a general request for assistance in the #training channel.

SMEs are not expected to create any of the content, but they are leaned on for their topic area expertise when called upon.

Working with Editors
There may be times when Editors are reviewing the drafted content but stumble upon questions about the subject matter. While the Content Creator should be the first point of contact for questions, the SME who vetted the topic may come in during this phase as well to assist the Editor with any clarifying questions and to ensure the review meets the overall requirements and objectives of the content. Editors will usually ping the @faculty-smes group in Slack when they need SME help, but are also encouraged to contact SMEs directly if their area of expertise is needed.

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Administrators

Administrators perform the management and operations work involved in the Training Team and Learn WordPress. A great way to get started with Administrator tasks is to: 

  • Take notes for any of the Training Team meetings (see How to Write Meeting Agenda or Meeting Recap Posts)
  • Ensure current projects and items listed in the Team Goals have accompanying posts on the Training Team blog, complete with a list of tasks and assigned owners whenever called for

More helpful tasks for an Administrator to work on are:

Please keep an eye out for @faculty-admin pings in Slack and respond as you are able.

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Translation Coordinators

Translation Coordinators work alongside Content Translators, assisting and empowering them as they translate content on Learn WordPress. This is achieved by:

They also bridge the Training Team and their local community to help drive the mission of ensuring equal access to quality WordPress learning materials for all locales. They achieve this by performing actions such as:

  • Advertising Learn Content to their local community
  • Connecting their local community members with relevant Training Team opportunities (Ex. Content translation request)
  • Performing outreach to bring new contributors into the Training Team
  • Identifying and communicating key content for translation or creation based on community needs

Please see the Locale Ambassador handbook page for more information.

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