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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?
WORDPRESS FOR THE CLASSROOM
