Beginning in January 2012, I will be teaching “Introduction to WordPress,” a four credit class at Clark College in Vancouver, Washington, just across the Columbia River from Portland, Oregon.
While many schools are beginning to offer WordPress courses, few are offering credit classes and Clark College approached me to make that happen here in the Pacific Northwest. This is just the first step in a whole series of college courses we’re working on in and around WordPress at Clark.
Beginning January 10 through March 20 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, this 10 week class (40 hours) is from 6-8PM. Registration is through Clark College. Contact the Clark College Computer Technology Office (CTEC), Reesa McAllister at 360-992-2106 for details. You will need the following when you call: Item Number 4538 and Course ID CTEC 280.
What Will You Learn?
This is special projects class and an introduction to WordPress. I will be teaching the basics of how to set up a WordPress.com and WordPress site, how to blog with WordPress, editing and content management, analytics, SEO, multiple contributions, and an introduction to WordPress Themes and Plugins.
This is an ideal class for those wishing to learn or expand their core WordPress skills, add them to their skill set, or earn ongoing education credit for work. With so many employers looking for WordPress expertise from their advertising, marketing, social media, web, and IT departments, this is an ideal program.
Here are details:
- What is WordPress?
- How to setup a WordPress.com blog.
- Categories, tags, and content organization and navigation.
- Web publishing with the visual editor, HTML editor, QuickPress/PressThis, mobile, and alternative publishing tools.
- Publishing multimedia with WordPress.
- Content development and management.
- Introduction to basic core site customization (header art, widgets, etc.).
- Introduction to dynamic web page generation.
- Introduction to dynamic web design.
- Introduction to WordPress Themes.
- How to use Post Format Types.
- Comments and spam management.
- Multiple users and authors (permissions/authorities).
- Managing multiple contributors.
- Basic analytics and statistics with WordPress.com Stats.
- WordPress and SEO.
- Introduction to WordPress hybrid sites.
- How to create and manage custom menus.
- WordPress Widget functionality and customization.
- Understanding WordPress interactivity through trackbacks, pingbacks, and pings.
- WordPress feed management, integration, and customization.
- Integration of social media to and from WordPress.
- Managing a private or restricted access WordPress site.
- Introduction to WordPress Plugins.
- WordPress installation options.
- Troubleshooting WordPress.
- Introduction to WordPress development for employers and clients.
This is a flexible program based upon student abilities, and I will expand the topics if students are ready to grasp new material quickly, possibly moving into WordPress Theme design and development and the basics of writing WordPress Plugins, and more in depth code. This class will be repeated in Spring Quarter, and we should have more options by Fall, so get ready if you can’t make it this quarter.
The class is open to registered students, but they are working on making a few exceptions for the general public to attend, if space is available. The limit is 20 students. The course fees for Washington State and border counties of Oregon is $100 a credit which comes to $434.20 with fees and tuition. The class is already half full, so if you are interested, call them immediately.
Related courses available from Clark College include HTML Fundamentals (MW or Saturdays or online) and Introduction to PHP (Mondays and Wednesday evenings) to complement the WordPress class. Check their Course Catalog for more information.
This is a long-time dream of mine to help educate the future web development and designer leaders. I’ve taught WordPress, blogging, social media, and web multimedia publishing since 1997 around the world, so it’s wonderful to finally have a place to call home and a college eager to work with WordPress and me.
I’m working with the Computer Technology department at the college to build this into an ongoing part of the web development curriculum, creating multiple levels of WordPress and related topic classes. If you are an experienced WordPress instructor or wish to bring a WordPress or related topic class to your own college or university, please contact me. We’re working on a new degree curriculum built around WordPress and would love your insights.
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18 Comments
This sounds great, Lorelle! Congratulations! Have fun with it!
Lorelle, man, how cool is this project you’re undertaking? I’d enroll in a heartbeat if it wasn’t for living in Orlando. Best wishes for your best year in 2012.
Thanks!. Actually, I’m working on coming to Florida to teach some workshops, so stay tuned for news on that next year.
Lorelle, just read your “Prove It” post which led me back here. 🙂
I’ll do what I can to help you promote your Orlando visit.
Do you have a ballpark moth?
I have no plans to head to Florida yet…it’s been over a year in the “planning stages” so if you can come up with another reason or incentive, I’m there! 😀 Thanks.
I am most interested in learning more, but am too far from the “border” in Eugene.. Can you alert me when/if this course becomes a workshop, say, on a weekend/s, or something do-able from Eugene? Thanks!
@Barbara: I post all of my workshops and programs here on this blog, so be sure and subscribe. If you can get enough people or a group or educational organization/facility to sponsor and put on a weekend workshop, I’d love to talk to you about that. I travel all over the world doing training programs for groups, schools, and businesses. Thanks.
Hi Lorelle, hope you’re in good health and spirits. Huge congratulations on landing a gig like this. I imagine this will undoubtedly be one of the highlights of your career. Based on experience, I can certainly imagine the classroom will be filled with enthusiastic energy.
Congrats Lorelle, finally the college word started to include worpress on their agenda … I’m sure many will follow soon 🙂
This is awesome Lorelle. Wish they have this near my place.
Hey friend – you’re in my neighborhood! Totally awesome.
A question for you – will you be utilizing the power of blogging while the class is in session? I.E. Having some of your students guest blogging on your site – or you on theirs? It think there will certainly be some enthusiasm as Jeffro mentioned and why not capture some of that.
“Course, you already were planning on that 🙂
Good stuff and I hope you meet some great learners!
@Tim: Blogging and WordPress are synonymous. Of course students will be blogging, on some of my sites as well as their own. As for here, that’s always a possibility. So of course it’s an “of course.”
We’ll be diving into all things WordPress going as deep as there is time and will in the class. While the program is titled an “introduction” for a variety of reasons, they will walk out fairly well versed in WordPress goodness.
I so envy you for being about to teach a class on WordPress. I’m working toward a doctorate, which I hope to earn in two years, and am working toward a career in academics. I’m also a freelance WordPress developer.
Pretty cool.
I guess I didn’t realize you were local-ish.
I relocated to the west-of-Portland area recently and I’m delighted whenever I find out about big names that are PDX based.
Hopefully you post some follow-ups to let us know how the class goes.
There are quite a few local Automattic and WordPress “big names” here in Portland. I’m so delighted to be living among them all now.
I will be posting updates, and thanks for your support and for spreading the word about the class. It’s a real first and I’m very excited about it. Thanks!
Hello, Lorelle.
We applaud your efforts to put together a for-credit course on the topic of WordPress. It’s an idea whose time has come.
We are a group of high school teachers and web designers who in 2011 created a 12-week curriculum for teaching XHTML and CSS to high school students.
In 2012, we heard from a number of high school teachers that they would also like to teach WordPress to their students. So we are creating a six-week curriculum on the topic, scheduled to be available in June 2012.
If you don’t mind the shameless plug, interested high school teachers can learn more about the curriculum here.
Thank you!
Michael
The High School Web Design Team
Oh my goodness! I didn’t realize this was you! My husband is on the technology board at Clark and he came home from a meeting to tell me about this class. I finally decided I needed to take te class and found you in the top searches. I had no idea! I’ve been coming back to your blog ever since you answered a question for me. What a small world! Will definitely be signing up at some point. Thanks for all the great tips and congrats on landing your dream job!!
Thank you. And good for you for wanting to pursue this.
Please contact Reesa at the CTEC offices of Clark immediately to get on the waiting list for the next class. It looks like it will be Winter Quarter, so jump now to make sure you reserve a spot.
Thanks!
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