WordPress as a response to teaching, learning and administrative needs in Higher-Ed

UBC has supported blogs and wikis for nearly a decade, but the past year has represented a tipping point in terms of their impact at the institution and beyond. With an advanced technical architecture and a vibrant and rapidly growing user community, the inherited benefits of WordPress are manifesting themselves in often unexpected ways. UBC’s WP framework evolved from an under the desk approach to a robust publishing platform with over 15K users. The session will provide an overview of the UBC WordPress framework and will cover topics including the positioning of WordPress within other “enterprise” systems, in regards to the infrastructure, user management, and front end development. The session will also highlight how WordPress can be used to meet academic needs through the creation of e-Portfolios, course blogs, classroom backchannels and microblogging, open educational resource (OER) development, and other learning and web publishing needs.