Introduction

Who should read this material

This article is meant for you if you are thinking about using the WordPress lesson plans for an in-person workshop/training and you want to decide whether it’s appropriate for your set-up and how to do it successfully. It will also help you understand the objective behind this project, how to best approach preparation of a session based on one of our lesson plans and find some helpful tips on presenting in front of an audience.

What is the objective of our lessons

The lesson plans we create are meant to serve WordPress community in general or anyone who wants to know more about using WordPress. They are designed to be used at a face-to-face teaching session.

Pre-planning

Possible setup of the lesson

The WordPress lesson plans have a history of being used for WordCamps, meetups, and workshops for underrepresented groups in IT, but are not limited to that. Basically, any non-commercial face-to-face event that is intended to introduce people to WordPress can use them.

However, note that for most of the lessons it’s best if the audience has access to computers/laptops and their own stand-alone website (we recommend a testing site or sandbox, not a live production website), so it’s best it you warn everyone beforehand about the requirements and prerequisites.

Order of lessons

If you’re planning to teach a series of lessons or a full workshop, it’s important to plan a learning path for the students to follow. And of course that depends on the initial level of the group and your end goal. Visualize the composite parts of the end goal, and what should students know to master each of these composite parts.

Also, Getting Started with WordPress is a good plan to follow for users track when ultimately people want to create their own blog/website and customize it for themselves.

Audience

What is an optimal group size to make sure every learner can retain the new information successfully? That depends a little on which lesson plan you chose (i.e how complex it is and whether it contains a hands-on part), but generally experts say that for training with specific skills building objectives, 8-12 individuals per teacher is the best amount, so the group itself may be even larger if teaching assistants are available.

Note that too few participants can be just as bad for learning as too many; people feel exposed and a welcoming atmosphere can be difficult to create. However, group size is less important than group co-operation, so don’t let that be a limiting factor.

Venue

If your training lesson is not a part of an already organized 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./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. and you have to choose a venue, here is some advice. You may want to look at your city or town’s public education locations, co-working spaces or it could be even a conference room of a friendly local business. Some basic requirements it has to adhere to are:

  • Internet access if the lesson involves downloading something and using internet resources
  • If there’s a demonstration, a projector is recommended for you to show the students the process. A microphone is also handy for large audiences.
  • Setup/breakdown timing: make sure you know when you can come in to set up the equipment and how long will you have to get people out of the venue and clear out
  • Restroom access that is available to everyone and has considerations for those with limited mobility
  • Temperature and air conditioning availability
  • Noise. Ask about traffic noise, noise from adjacent buildings/floors, upcoming construction.
  • Parking/transit. Speaking of traffic, is there parking available? Is it free or paid? Is there a mass transit line nearby, so you can encourage people not to drive?
  • 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). Are all spaces wheelchair accessible?
  • Capacity – will it fit everyone? If the space is small, you may want to have a mandatory registration for your event and limit attendance.

Check out the Venue and Date page of the 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. Organizer handbook for more information on choosing a right venue.

Preparing a lesson

Lesson structure

This section provides a brief overview of all the parts we have in each lesson, what they are for and how to use them during the lesson itself:

  • Assets are the linked files/materials the instructor needs to teach the lesson plan. Note whether the students will require a WordPress installation, a specific theme (i.e. Twenty Sixteen theme), some files or software. Make sure all the links listed are working.
  • Prerequisite Skills list any skills or topics the students should be familiar with to be able to master the lesson. For example, if your lesson is about a certain plugin, “Installing and activating plugins” can be in this list. This can be included in the announcement about the session, or you may want to send out the information on the prerequisite skills beforehand so that everyone will have chance to prepare and refresh their knowledge.
  • Screening Questions is something you can ask in the beginning to make sure everyone is prepared. (A good example: Are you familiar with X? or Have you had experience doing Y?)
  • Teacher Notes include some recommendations on what students should do to prepare for the session, how the screening questions should be answered, whether it’s imperative to use a specific theme, approximate timing of the section, a hint on how advanced and thorough the tutorial is and any helpful information for instructors. Make sure you pay attention to this section!
  • Learning Objectives come from the actual learning outcomes the lesson plan strives to achieve for your students.
  • Description paraphrases the learning objectives in a more friendly way. This text may be copied for a lesson description and used to announce it. When the learners read/hear the announcement they should understand what to expect, what they will have learned after completing the lesson, whether it suits them, and whether they want to participate.
  • Hands-On Walkthrough section is the body of the lesson. It contains a script you can use together with live demonstrations to make sure the students understand and are participating (if there is a hands-on part in the lesson)
  • Quiz section. It’s the last, but definitely not the least part of the lesson plan because it helps to solidify the material in students minds. The material retention is enhanced by making the learners practice effortful retrieval of the material they just went through when answering the quiz question and accenting the points we consider being the most important by asking questions based on them. Quizzes are best at the very end of the session (before or after Exercises).
  • Exercises are mostly about students repeating the actions already preformed together with the instructor but by themselves. They often have different settings or other variations that encourage students to think about the exercize differently. If you’re running out of time, or it seems like the lesson was very easy for the group, you can also ask them to do the exercise as homework.
  • Additional resources: (optional) includes 1-3 resources related to the lesson which can slightly extend the lesson or sometimes repeat the lesson content in a different way. Definitely a good idea to study them.

Reviewing materials

First and foremost, study the lesson plan attentively:

  • If there’s a demonstration, go through the demonstration yourself using the instructions provided to make sure everything will work
  • If there are links to additional materials, read them as well
  • Read it several times and then practice leading the session
  • Think of the questions your students may have? Are you ready to answer them?
  • If something is unclear for you, ask us in the #training Slack channel on wordpress.slack.com

Equipment

Try to imagine yourself giving this talk in the venue of your choice and note what you’ll need. That could be:

  • Internet access for you and students,
  • A projector,
  • A microphone,
  • A laser pointer,
  • Computers for students (they can bring their laptops, or if your city or town has a good laptop rental program, that may come in handy)
  • A flipchart & markers if your teaching style involves drawing

Resources

If the students are to use any images, videos or audio clips, they all have to be original or copyright free (public domain or used with the permission of the photographer or artist). Here is a short list of copyright free images to get you started.

Contact participants

If you have a list of participants or if your training event has a shared site (i.e. a WordCamp site or Meetup group page), you can send out instructions regarding:

  • the venue: how to get there and where to park
  • how to prepare to the session (i.e.install WordPress)
  • any prerequisite reading materials

During the lesson

Hand-outs

You can print out the lesson plan itself as a handout for your students, or even better send them the .pdf version, so that both the in-text links and the rainforests are better preserved. To do this easily, just right-click the lesson plan page and hit Print. Save it as .pdf or use a printer.

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Lesson Flow

If this is not a meetup group/recurring session where everyone is familiar with one another, it might be really good for you to have a small “everyone introduces themselves” part to break the ice and also for you to be able to judge the level and expectations of the students.

Then, tell students what are the Learning Objectives for this session and ask them the Screening Questions to make sure all the prerequisites are met. If they are actually not met, you may want to do some explanation regarding the prerequisites.

After that, it’s time to follow the Hands-On Walkthrough section. For the hands-on part it’s best if you demonstrate first, then have the learners perform the actions themselves with you ready for questions & troubleshooting. This is especially important if you have handouts, since that way the flow is not disrupted by waiting while everyone does what they should, the student’s attention is on you and you don’t risk being stuck fixing someones technical problem which arose on their computer in the middle of your demonstration. However if you prefer that everyone follows along on their own computer as you do the demonstration, that will also work.

As a side note, you may want to make sure the students understand it’s very important to follow every instruction. For a WordPress web developer listening to their clients and following their instructions and needs precisely is a crucial skill, and also when dealing with web programming, if you miss one step of the tutorial you might end up with a serious security flaw.

Grouping

If the lesson is hands-on and requires a laptop but some in your group do not have a laptop or if there’s a problem too complex to solve right now with their installation, group them in pairs. Make sure everyone has an installation to work with (you may have to ask explicitly whether everyone is able to do hands-on work).

Breaks

If the learners get overwhelmed or the lesson has lasted longer than 45 minutes, you can organize a short break. Encourage your students to stand up, drink some water and unwind. Make sure you’ve informed them when it’s time to get back to work.

Handling Questions

Don’t be scared of questions, they are actually a very good sign – meaning your audience is engaged and interested. Take a note of the following:

  • Preparing responses to possible common questions increases your confidence and impresses the students. Also, if no one asks any questions, you can break the uncomfortable silence by offering to tell about those, i.e. “A question I’m often asked about this topic is…. “.
  • Well-structured answers are the best. See this handout for methods of how to answer questions and what to do when you don’t know the answer.
  • Unless the person who posed a question has a microphone, or you are a very small group, repeat the question back after it’s been asked to make sure everyone heard it.

After the lesson

Feedback form

Your feedback is crucially important for us, so please don’t forget to fill in a feedback form after the event. Pay special attention to how much time it took you to conduct a session and things you think we could improve.

How to contact training team

If you have questions, ideas or suggestions, feel free to ping us in #training Slack channel on wordpress.slack.com.

How to participate in lesson plan creation

If you’d like to try out writing a lesson plan, this instruction will provide you some tips, hints, and recommendations on how to do it according to best practices of instructional design and training team workflow.

Also, if you had a good experience using our lesson plans, please spread the word! Encouraging others to try out teaching and learning WordPress is indeed a good deed. 🙂

Summary

You’re welcome to use one of our lesson plans for any non-commercial face-to-face event that is intended to introduce people to WordPress. Read the lesson plan of your choice thoughtfully before teaching it, try the suggested activities and make sure the venue is going to have what you need and the students come prepared. Let us know how it went and don’t hesitate to ask questions. Thank you for reading this and good luck!

Additional resources

Here are some links to some third-party materials on how to engage audience and speak in public you may find useful: