Week 2: Content on the OpenLab

Contents

Week 2 Learning Outcomes

  • Navigate between course site and dashboard
  • Articulate the role of posts and pages in a WordPress site
  • Add and organize content using pages, posts, categories, and menus
  • Make decisions about open vs private content
  • Ethically and legally use images and attribution

Preparation for June 14 Zoom session

  • Using the OpenLab Course Site Hopes and Dreams Worksheet that you already completed as a guide, create a conceptual sketch of your site. You can do this using the software of your choice, or you can draw it by hand.

  • Upload your sketch as a file in our community profile. Instructions for uploading your sketch are here. If you drew your sketch by hand, use your  phone to take a picture to upload.
    • If possible, name your file “Site Sketch Firstname Lastname” before you upload it. That will make it easier for others to know who it belongs to when viewing it.
    • Under description, add a few sentences about your vision for your course sketch.

  • Create a course profile with a site. Instructions for creating an OpenLab course are here.

  • Share your Course Site Hopes and Dreams worksheet with Team Open
    Upload the worksheet you completed last week to our Dropbox folder. We’ll review the worksheets and and use your vision to guide our planning for the rest of our time together.

  • Ask us or your colleagues questions in the discussion area of our community profile (instructions for contributing to the discussion are here) by replying to the Questions prompt.

Agenda for Tuesday, June 14, 11:30am – 1:00 pm, Zoom session

  • Courses sketches – Your vision for your course
  • The OpenLab course template
  • Developing your WordPress site on the OpenLab
    • Pages and posts
    • Working with pages
    • Working with menus

Preparation for June 16 Zoom session

  • What changes might you make to your syllabus?
    • Read Preparing a Learner Focused Syllabus. You may have already seen this article if you’ve participated in OER/ZTC Course Redesign or Open Pedagogy Assignment. For other takes on the topic, you can also look at Liquid Syllabus and Toward Cruelty-Free Syllabi. As you’re reading, consider these spark questions: What is learner/learning-focused about your syllabus and other course documents? What changes might you make to be more learner/learning-focused?

    • Post your thoughts about the questions above by replying to this blog post.
  • Add an item to your course site menu
    Your new course site includes a page called “Class Members,” which is not included in the menu. Add this page to your site menu by following these instructions.
  • Practice adding content to your site
    • Add some content to any or all of the existing pages on your course site: Home, Class Info, Instructor, Schedule, or Syllabus. If you’d like, you can also create new pages and add them to the menu, or remove items that you do not intend to use from the site menu.

Agenda for Thursday, June 16, 11:30am – 1:00 pm, Zoom session

  • Course materials and openness
  • Developing your WordPress site on the OpenLab
    • Creating a post
    • Adding categories and tags to posts
    • Organizing the site using categories
    • Adding a category to the site menu