[Alan Webb]

Hey everyone, I’m part of this year’s pilot of the Open Master’s Program, which is an experiment in using a common framework for creating self-directed, peer-reviewed Master’s program in small groups.  We’re a small participant-organized (volunteer) project with some of our initial support coming mainly from P2PU, the Shuttleworth Foundation, and Hub DC.

Most of us (22 people) are based in Washington, DC and some of us (an additional 12 people) are spread out around the world. We discovered CBOX just recently and we think it’s a great solution for helping us create a better platform for communication, sharing, and collaboration as a group (we’re currently using google drive, google groups, etc.).  We set up a beta site to start to play around with it.

We are all wordpress novices- although 4-5 of us are interested in learning more about wordpress and programming in the process of creating and maintaining this site- but we could really use some help getting started!

Is there anyone that would be willing to hop on a call with us for 30 minutes to help us think through some of the immediate questions and hurdles we encountered?  We’ll be forever yours!

Thanks!  This is a great project and we really appreciate that this exists… and the pace at which you all have been churning out releases!

[Mark Dale]

Do you have a bullet point list of what help it is you need, that you could post on here?

then folks would know whether they can help at that level, or they could maybe direct you to online help/resourcees.

I’ve taught myself wordpress mainly by googling, trying, you-tubing, trying again, reading tons of blogs, and just basically giving things a go – it is a great platform to play with; I’d previously used Joomla, and found it more clunky – especially for self-taught fumblers like myself !

I’m learning buddypress now using cbox – here http://naturalinfo.co.uk/  my challenge at the moment is getting the forums and funky groups and group blogging set up so that it looks decent.

I’m working on this project with a friend, who is a total novice at wordpress, but he will be writing most of the content, but he is learning wordpress at the same time !

I’ll help where I can, but i think there may be others on here more skilled, as I keep asking questions anyway   LOL

Mark

 

 

[Alan Webb]

Thanks Mark!  We sound like we’re in a similar boat.  We’ve got a few immediate trouble-shooting issues and a pretty good  aspirational list of things:

Immediate Concerns

* Group Email Subscriptions not sending notifications of forum activity.  Works fine for member-to-member messages, and all of system notification emails.  I even got the reply-by-email plugin working just fine, but I just can’t get email notifications of forum activity to send regardless of settings.  I’ve tried all of the usual fixes (reinstalling from scratch, disabling all other plugins, checking on forum settings, etc.) but haven’t found any help online that applies to us, after a few hours of sleuthing.  I started a Help & Support thread on that one here.
* Infinity Theme options editor is hanging up… just spins “loading option editor” infinitely.

Improvements / Customizations – small things we can probably get working on our own

* Group Scheduling – e.g., maybe something like the WPMU Dev Group Calendar Plugin.
* User Location – e.g. maybe this google maps integration
* Social Login – e.g. maybe the WordPress Social Login
* Bebop or Courseware plugins – these are great, but are throwing errors when we try to use them, but the devs seem aware of the issues.

Wishlist – bigger things that probably need help to do…

* Spiffy up User Profiles and Member Directory a bit more.  It’s really important to make members look as good as we can and really showcase their work.  I feel like we are going to need some pro design help to do this well.
* Custom User Relationship types – rather than “friends” declare specific relationships to other members… e.g. [study buddy], [mentor], [advisor], etc.
* User Levels – corresponding with progress through the program (e.g. prospective member, member, candidate for graduation, graduate)
* Awards / Badges and Open Badges Interface integration.
* Integrate our Member Checklist into user profiles so that each person can check off and show their progress.

[Mark Dale]

Yea, all of that is beyond me !  – But I’ll have some of it when you find out !  – Hence if solutions are posted on here , it would be well handy, especially if it is common issues…..

I was also  wondering whether any of the WPMU stuff would fit in as well, as I have a developer account there, so it’s all free to use.

 

[Alan Webb]

Oh excellent, let me know if you use any of the WPMU Dev plugins, especially the Group Calendar one.  Since I don’t have a developer account there,  hearing someone else’s experience before buying would be nice.

Thanks again Mark!

[Author]

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