Helping Faculty Figure Out Where WordPress Fits

HELPING FACULTY FIGURE OUT WHERE WORDPRESS FITS

Good Morning!

▸ Name: Bruce Caraway

▸ Teach in Computer Info Technology department at Lone Star College (Houston)

▸ Honored to participate in the inaugural WPCampus conference

▸ Love helping others learn about and to use WordPress

How Did I Get Here

�

2009 2011 2013

Part time instructor for

both Credit and

Continuing Ed

Adjunct

Starting my 2nd year as

Facilitator for our Adjunct

Certification Program

Adjunct Certification Facilitator15+ years in corporate IT

Employee / Consultant / Mgr

Corporate IT

Assistant Professor at

Lone Star College in CIT

Dept

Full TimeWordCamp Dallas

How Did I Get Here

�

2009 2011 2013

Part time instructor for

both Credit and

Continuing Ed

Adjunct

Starting my 2nd year as

Facilitator for our Adjunct

Certification Program

Adjunct Certification Facilitator15+ years in corporate IT

Employee / Consultant / Mgr

Corporate IT

Assistant Professor at

Lone Star College in CIT

Dept

Full TimeWordCamp Dallas

How Did I Get Here

�

2009 2011 2013

Part time instructor for

both Credit and

Continuing Ed

Adjunct

Starting my 2nd year as

Facilitator for our Adjunct

Certification Program

Adjunct Certification Facilitator15+ years in corporate IT

Employee / Consultant / Mgr

Corporate IT

Assistant Professor at

Lone Star College in CIT

Dept

Full TimeWordCamp Dallas

How Did I Get Here

2009 2011 2013

Part time instructor for

both Credit and

Continuing Ed

Adjunct

Starting my 2nd year as

Facilitator for our Adjunct

Certification Program

Adjunct Certification Facilitator15+ years in corporate IT

Employee / Consultant / Mgr

Corporate IT

Assistant Professor at

Lone Star College in CIT

Dept

Full TimeWordCamp Dallas

How Did I Get Here

�

2009 2011 2013

Part time instructor for

both Credit and

Continuing Ed

Adjunct

Starting my 2nd year as

Facilitator for our Adjunct

Certification Program

Adjunct Certification Facilitator15+ years in corporate IT

Employee / Consultant / Mgr

Corporate IT

Assistant Professor at

Lone Star College in CIT

Dept

Full TimeWordCamp Dallas

How Did I Get Here

�

2009 2011 2013

Part time instructor for

both Credit and

Continuing Ed

Adjunct

Starting my 2nd year as

Facilitator for our Adjunct

Certification Program

Adjunct Certification Facilitator15+ years in corporate IT

Employee / Consultant / Mgr

Corporate IT

Assistant Professor at

Lone Star College in CIT

Dept

Full TimeWordCamp Dallas

FACULTY SNAPSHOT

*http://www.bls.gov/ooh/education-training-and-library/postsecondary-teachers.htm

Today’s Higher Education Faculty

▸ 1,313,000 postsecondary faculty (2014)

▸ >177,000 new positions by 2024

▸ Majority of these positions are part-time

Today's College Instructor - Tenured Faculty

▸ Tenured instructor perform original research

▸ experiments & analysis

▸ critical reviews

▸ publish

Today's College Instructor - Contingent Faculty

▸ Non-tenured

▸ Usually contract-based

▸ Full-time or part-time

▸ More focus on teaching

▸ Often assigned basic core courses

Today's College Instructor - Adjunct Faculty

▸ Part-time

▸ May work outside of college professionally

▸ May work on multiple campuses

▸ May work for multiple institutions

▸ Some work for online institutions

“an estimated 18.5 percent of college professors worked as part-time faculty members" in 1969…

…as of 2011 contingent faculty made up "75.5 percent of the college teaching workforce, or more than 1.3 million people."

2014 Congressional Review

“THE SYSTEMS” OF HIGHER EDUCATION

HR / Employee Information System

▸ Holds info about the instructor (employee)

▸ Location info

▸ Contact info

▸ Private info i.e., salary, benefits, etc.

Student Information System

▸ Course catalog

▸ Student records

▸ Class registration system

▸ Registration history

3rd Party / Publisher Learning System(s)

Learning Management System

Learning Management System

▸ Faculty, especially new, spend lots of time here

▸ Default place to store:

▸ course info

▸ courseware

▸ syllabi

▸ course calendar

▸ gradebook

Shortcomings of the LMS

▸ "Walled Garden"

▸ Only enrolled students can “see” content

▸ Current semester students

▸ Subject to end-of-semester archiving

Today’s college faculty are overwhelmed, even confused, with the various options placed before them for storing and managing their digital “stuff”.

LSC faculty member

▸ 4883 Faculty

▸ Every faculty member offered a “Faculty Blog”

▸ Blogs run on WordPress Multisite

▸ Most blogs are static providing contact info, vitae, syllabi, etc.

Faculty Blogs Review 2013

▸ Running a “really old” version of WordPress

▸ Themes selection was limited

▸ Limited awareness of the Faculty Blogs

▸ No promotion or incentive to use

Focus on Faculty Blogs - Phase 1

▸ Upgrade WordPress installation

▸ Add responsive theme(s)

▸ Identify suggested content for a typical faculty blog

▸ Offer training and workshops

GOAL: SIMPLICITY

Syllabi

Vitae

Typical Faculty Blog Content

▸ Syllabi

▸ Vitae

▸ Courses Taught

▸ FAQ

▸ Discussion Forums

▸ Course Resources

▸ Your Suggestions???

FACULTY PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

lynda.com

▸ All LSC faculty have access

▸ WordPress courses recommended

▸ Anywhere and anytime

Instructor Blog Workshop

▸ 2 hour introductory course

▸ Help get them registered

▸ Walkthrough the basics

▸ Demonstrate the “simplicity”

▸ Build awareness

Curriculum / Courseware

Next Steps (Phase 2)

▸ Improve the "find-ability" of faculty pages

▸ Auto-link from LSC department page to faculty page

▸ Continue to improve aesthetics

▸ Correct URL naming issues

Three Questions

▸ What if instructor leaves institution?

▸ What if instructor teaches at multiple institutions?

▸ What if the institution changes their LMS?

Thank You

twitter: @brucecaraway

email: bruce.caraway@lonestar.edu

web: brucecaraway.com

WORDPRESS FOR THE CLASSROOM