To earn a badge in Basic WordPress, students must demonstrate the ability to, individually, complete a number of fundamental tasks that would allow a beginning user to get a WP installation up and running. Students will demonstrate this by:
Completing 100% of the designated proficiencies
Achieving the above in both shorter, timed environments and long-term assignments
Proficiencies for Basic WordPress Badge
| Preliminary | Complete | Incomplete | |
| After WordPress is installed, create a new page called “Wordpress Badge.” This is where you will compile/link to/discuss these proficiencies. | Install WordPress onto server space. Provide domain link for verification. | ||
| Select and install a new theme for the site. | |||
| Get an API key and then activate it. | |||
| Sign up for a Gravatar and associate it with your chosen email address. | |||
| Create an “About” page | |||
| Create a menu that at least includes “Home, About, and WP Badge” | |||
| Install the Akismet plugin | |||
| Install another plugin of your choice and explain why you selected it. | |||
| Posting | |||
| Post a blog entry that includes: | 300 words of text | ||
| An embedded image file with a caption and appropriate attribution | |||
| A link to outside web material | |||
| An embedded video/audio | |||
| Appropriate “Categories” | |||
| Appropriate “Tags” | |||
| The presence of an “Insert Read More” tag | |||
| Have the blog, when “published,” automatically post to a social media account like Twitter/FB | |||
| Include sharing buttons on the post for Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr | |||
| Allow a user, like me, to subscribe to your blog and be made aware of when you post new content. | |||
| Finally, make a shorter post where you embed/link to one of our class projects | |||
| Comment on two of your classmates blogs so that you will receive an email notification if they respond to your comment. | |||
| Dashboard | |||
| Install and set up the “Jetpack” plugin | |||
| Properly set up your General Settings (Site Title, Tagline, etc.) | |||
| Beneath “General,” configure setting for “Reading,” “Writing,” “Discussion,” “Media,” etc. | |||
| Use “Links” to set up a “Blogroll” (Easy! Select blogs of your classmates.) | |||
| In the Dashboard, select “Appearance” and configure: widgets, menu, header, background | |||
| Emergent Outcomes | |||
| Document two things about your DooO experience so far that are not accounted for above. (Something you’ve learned, how it feels to reach a larger audience, etc.) | |||