Clark College jumping big onto the future media bandwagon with courses for WordPress
Every blog that I have of my own is a WordPress based blog, as is the two other blogs that I write for. In fact WordPress is one of the biggest blogging platforms out there and doesn’t seem to be seeing any slow down of adoption.
One of the areas where it is seeing an increased usage is the engine to power a growing number of company sites, both big and same. This means that there is also a growing need for people who are proficient with the blogging software as companies don’t want a plain vanilla looking experience.
With that in mind Bob Hughes, the head of Clark College’s computer technology department, launched the first of a temporary course offering centered around WordPress – Introduction to WordPress – with the idea of students learning about the code of the WordPress platform. However the really great thing about this ccourse, even though it is a temporary one at this point, was that it was being taught by a WordPress pioneer – Lorelle VanFossen.
VanFossen is one of a growing number of very recognizable names when it comes to working with the WordPress platform (another is Aaron Brazell aka Technosailor). She has been working with WordPress from the very early days of the platform and probably knows the ins and outs of WordPress as well as anyone at Automattic, the company behind WordPress.
Even though the temporary course will be returning in the spring it will need to be vetted and approved at both the college and state level in order to become a permanent course at the college which is Hughes’ hope:
Currently, the course is “a test balloon,” Hughes said. “We’ll see how we can sculpt it into an academic offering.”
There are a few steps left to go before the class could become permanent. If students and fellow instructors give CTEC 280 the thumbs-up, that may well become reality.
But Hughes has a bigger vision for WordPress training on campus.
“This could be the root of a program,” he said.
It is very far from being a done deal, but the hope is that Clark College could offer an associate degree something like “web practitioner and developer,” said Hughes.
It would go with the college’s mission to prepare students for the workplace.
via The Columbian
With the average salary for a developer with serious WordPress skills hitting the $45,000 range per year, according to the salary listings on SimplyHired.com this definitely looks like a career option with some legs.
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Steven Hodson Steven has been around the tech world long enough to see most of the stuff we think of cool happen before which leads to a certain bit of cynicism that has contributed to him being known as the cranky old fart of the Internet. Besides sharing some of the goodness that he finds with you here at 42x you can also find him curating some digital goodness at Winextra (tech type stuff) and Rotten Gumdrops (for your daily dose of WTF).
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