Angela Jin: Hi there. I’m Angela
Jin and I’m sponsored by
Automattic to be a community
organiser for the WordPress open
source project. I’m really
excited to be here with you
today to talk about online
learning for the WordPress
community, centred around a
brand new resource that came
about last year amidst the
COVID-19 pandemic, and that is
now available to all WordPress
enthusiasts. Learn WordPress
helps anyone interested in
WordPress build the skills
required for publishing with,
building, and contributing to
WordPress, regardless of
experience level. This is an
amazing online resource with a
lot of potential to grow in the
coming year. So it is my hope to
not only share how learn
WordPress came about, and why
it’s a benefit to anyone
interested in WordPress, but
also to inspire you to
participate. Early in 2020, we
were all so excited about
another year full of in person
wordcamps when the COVID-19
pandemic hit, derailing the
possibility of meeting in
person. This was a really big
hit to the WordPress community.
We do a ton of great work
online, but an additional way we
really connected was at meetups
and WordCamps. When it became
impossible to meet in person, we
lost one of our primary ways of
connecting with each other. But
the WordPress community really
came together to address that.
We had online events with new,
more varied formats, and we even
adapted contributor days online.
We had musical talent shows
featuring community members. We
had online hallway hangouts and
coffee chats. And we even tested
and tried out different
platforms. As a whole, this
community really demonstrated
how creative and fun and
resilient we are, not to mention
very supportive of each other.
What we were missing, however,
was opportunities to learn and
level up our skills, and to do
so in a way that really
connected us together. There is
some magic that happens when
WordPress people get together,
and I think we’re at our best
when we are able to inspire and
learn from each other. So while
the Community team was chatting
with organisers about creative
ways of creating those
connections online, the Training
team for years had been working
tirelessly on creating lesson
plans so that people could host
their own workshops. This led to
a really wonderful
collaboration, and thus, the
idea for learn WordPress was
born: an online resource that
offers free educational content,
for anyone interested in
learning about anything related
to WordPress. Where workshops
could be watched at any time,
and those who are interested in
learning alongside others could
do so through online discussion
groups, creating those amazing
connections that WordPress
enthusiasts cherish. Learn
WordPress was launched on
December 15, 2020, and was the
result of some incredible cross
team partnerships. In addition
to Community and Training, Meta,
Marketing, Design, and more
teams provided invaluable
support, along with a dedicated
Learn WordPress working group.
So today, we have this new
resource: Learn WordPress that
can be found at
learn.wordpress.org. Like
WordPress software, anyone can
use Learn WordPress, and anyone
can contribute to it as well.
There are five ways that you can
participate in Learn WordPress
at this time. The first way to
get involved is to use Learn
WordPress and learn something!
Regardless of if you are brand
new to WordPress, or if you have
been using it or contributing
back to the project for years.
Learn WordPress will be a great
resource if you’re interested in
extending your WordPress
knowledge. The Learn WordPress
site houses workshops,
practical, skills-based videos
that demonstrate to viewers how
to do things with WordPress.
There is a wide range of
material from beginner topics,
like How to Install WordPress
and Where to Find Help, to
more advanced topics like
Advanced Layouts with the Block
Editor. If you’re interested in
creating a new online
storefront, you might find
Getting Started in eCommerce
helpful. For levelling up your
development skills, Introduction
to Gutenberg Block Development
would be really interesting. We
even have the Diverse Speaker
Training workshop series to help
people from marginalised or
underrepresented groups prepare
to give talks at WordPress
events. The point is, there is a
lot of great information
contained in these workshops
that anyone can learn from. Each
workshop includes a description,
along with learning outcomes,
and comprehension questions so
that you know ahead of time what
you should be learning from the
workshop, and so that you can
reflect on what you’ve learned.
Workshops also come with
quizzes, so that you can test
your knowledge.
Workshops that have related,
more encompassing learning
outcomes, are grouped together
to create courses, such as the
Publishing with WordPress
course, which includes all the
basics of creating your site.
Workshops can be watched on your
own and at any time, but what if
you want to learn with others?
This is where discussion groups
can help us create those
meaningful connections that come
from learning together and from
each other. Check out the Learn
WordPress homepage to see
upcoming discussion groups to
join. Watch the corresponding
workshop and join others who are
interested in learning more
about that particular topic.
Discussion groups provide a
dedicated place for like minded
people to learn about a
WordPress topic together by
discussing major learnings,
asking questions and exchanging
ideas, and generally, inspiring
each other to do more with
WordPress. Of course, Learn
WordPress only recently
launched, and there’s a lot to
learn about publishing with,
building, and contributing to
WordPress. Anyone can submit a
workshop idea to Learn
WordPress, and it can be on any
topic related to WordPress, and
for any experience level, and in
any language. To do so, submit
your workshop idea with the
workshop presenter application,
making sure to include a
description of the workshop,
learning objectives and some
comprehension questions.
Creating a workshop is a
wonderful way to share your
knowledge with other WordPress
enthusiasts. Since we are a
global community, a hope that I
have for Learn WordPress is to
see lots of workshops in
different languages, so that we
can truly help everyone and
anyone with WordPress.
Discussion groups are key to
creating meaningful ways of
connecting with and learning
from each other. And the best
part is, anyone can start and
facilitate a discussion group.
Discussion group facilitators
are responsible for scheduling a
discussion time and reminding
participants to watch the
workshop ahead of time. During
the discussion, help to
introduce the topic and keep the
conversation on track. The
advantage of being a discussion
group facilitator is that you
get to pick the topic and
workshop for discussion. You do
not need to be an expert on the
topic. In fact, this could be
your very first introduction to
the subject, and you could ask a
lot of really great questions
about the topic as the
facilitator to help everyone
learn. You can apply to be a
discussion group leader at the
discussion groups page, or if
you are already a meetup group
organiser, organise a discussion
group as part of your Meetup
group. Discussion groups make
for excellent meetups. Included
with Learn WordPress are lesson
plans, guides for people who are
presenting at events or in
educational environments. Lesson
plans are found on the Learn
WordPress homepage and offer
outlines and a complete script
for anyone who wants to recreate
workshops at a WordPress event.
Since WordPress is continually
being improved and built, older
lesson plans will need to be
updated, and you can also create
new lesson plans to help cover
new topics for Learn WordPress.
The Training team can help you
get started in updating and
creating lesson plans. And they
meet every Friday at 11 UTC and
on Tuesdays at 17 UTC in the
#training channel in Slack.
One final way of getting
involved is to join the Learn
WordPress working group, a
collaboration across the
Community and Training teams
that helps to plan for workshops
and discussion groups, review
workshop and facilitator
applications, and works on
improvements to the Learn
WordPress website. The group
meets on a monthly basis in the
#training channel in Slack.
Joining this working group is an
excellent way to help build the
future of Learn WordPress. Learn
WordPress only officially
launched in December, and while
there is already a number of
excellent workshops and
discussion groups available to
help you extend your WordPress
knowledge, there’s so much more
we can do together. WordPress’
mission is to democratise
publishing, and education and
connection are important tools
that will help us get there.
Learn WordPress does not replace
our events, and I’m really
looking forward to seeing all of
you at an in person WordCamp,
when it is safe to do so again.
Learn WordPress simply creates
another opportunity for us to
create impactful connections,
especially during this time of
online events. And, I think
it’ll lead to really incredible
in person discussions in the
future. But the resource also
relies on you as an important
part of the WordPress community.
There is so much knowledge that
we all have to share, and
experience that makes us
stronger as a community. So
check out Learn WordPress today,
add something new to your
WordPress knowledge base, and
give back the gift of your
knowledge and experience to help
the WordPress community. Thank
you so much for joining me
today. If you’d like to get in
touch with me to chat about
Learn WordPress or to discuss
anything related to the
WordPress community, you can
find me here.