Much like online businesses or blogging, higher education is a world of its own with unique challenges, content, stakeholders, and target audiences. Higher education is WordPress at enterprise level but we don’t worry so much about which e-commerce plugin is best. Instead, we’re more concerned with managing large-scale networks of faculty blogs, abiding with FERPA and accessibility regulations, and implementing tools to promote research data. This talk will showcase how WordPress is used in the world of higher ed. From learning management systems to intranets to student recruitment, college campuses are a great candidate for utilizing WordPress to its full potential.

1. Rachel Cherry
Director, WPCampus
@bamadesigner
@wpcampusorg
#WPCampus
Say hi on
Twitter!
Hi.
I’m eduwapuu.
Rachel has lots of
swag with my
adorable mug on
it. Just ask.
Using
WordPress
in the world of
Higher Ed

2. Director, WPCampus
wpcampus.org
@wpcampusorg
Software engineer and
accessibility/higher ed consultant
bamadesigner.com
@bamadesigner
Visit the
WPCampus
Get Involved page
to join our Slack
account!
Who am I?

4. wpcampus.org - @wpcampusorg - #WPCampus
Use WordPress in higher ed? WPCampus is a
community and conferences for web professionals,
educators and people dedicated towards using
WordPress to advance higher education.

6. #WPCampus
Why is WordPress great for higher ed?
•Cost
•Open-source / community
•Extendability
•User management

10. #WPCampus
WordPress in higher education
=
WordPress in the enterprise…
on a budget

11. #WPCampus
Jeremy Felt, WPCampus 2018
“Universities exist
for the long game.”

12. #WPCampus
(Some) Universities using WordPress
•Boston University
•Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
•Georgetown University
•Harvard
•Northeastern University
•Princeton
•Yale University

13. #WPCampus
What’s BIG for
WordPress in higher ed?

17. A multisite install with over
10,000 sites and over 30,000 usersBLOGS.UBC.CA

18. NYU has over 2,000 sites on their
multisite publishing networkWP.NYU.EDU

24. #WPCampus
What does Gutenberg
mean for higher ed?

26. #WPCampus
Other important areas
•Governance / change management
•Security/privacy (FERPA)
•Learning management systems
•Content strategy /information architecture
•Research / faculty and student blogs

27. #WPCampus
Other needs / use cases
•Intranets/student portals
•Employee directories
•Digital signage
•Campus maps/virtual tours
•Crisis communication

28. #WPCampus
Other needs / use cases
•Access control request systems
•Digital asset management
•Single sign-on with Active Directory, LDAP, etc.
•Academic catalogs
•Presentations and lectures

29. #WPCampus
Stigmas within higher ed
•Security
•“It’s just for blogging”
•General distrust of free / open-source

30. #WPCampus
Resources
•The WPCampus 2018 schedule
•https://2018.wpcampus.org/schedule
•Videos available next week
•Main WPCampus website
•https://wpcampus.org/

31. #WPCampus
•University of British Columbia
•View their multisite publishing platform
•New York University
•View their mulisite publishing platform
Credits/Links

32. #WPCampus
•UC Berkeley
•View their news site
•Boston University
•Read Of hoops and healing article
Credits/Links

33. #WPCampus
•Washington State University
•View their open source code
•View their accessibility reporting dashboard
Credits/Links

34. wpcampus.org - @wpcampusorg - #WPCampus
• Visit wpcampus.org/get-involved to join our Slack
• You don’t have to work in higher ed to be involved
• We have an annual virtual and in-person conference

37. How to talk to me:
- @bamadesigner
- @wpcampusorg
- bamadesigner.com
- wpcampus.org
Don’t
forget about me
and my swag!
It’s pretty awesome.
eduwapuu never
lies.
Visit the
WPCampus
Get Involved page
to join our Slack
account!
Questions?