Schedule

Case Study: Using WordPress in our Classes

Date: Saturday, July 16, 2016
Time: 2:30 - 3:15 pm (EDT) (UTC-04:00)
Location: Room A221
Format: General Lecture Session

Session description

We teach web design as part of a full-time arts degree to the University of Toronto at Mississauga students. They learn WordPress as part of their course, but we also use BuddyPress and bbPress for our forums. In addition, we've developed some of our own plugins to mark assignments, and provide testers from which our students can learn on their own and at their own pace. WordPress is a fundamental piece of what we teach and is necessary for our students' success.

In this session, we’ll share how we teach WordPress at Sheridan College, how we use WordPress to help our students learn from one another (and streamline how we respond to questions), and plugins we’ve built to better teach our students and streamline our marketing processes.

Presenters

Kiera Howe

Headshot of Kiera Howe
Chief Geek (AKA Chief Technology Officer), Wiley Solutions

Kiera Howe a software coder, entrepreneur/business owner, instructor, problem solver, explorer of all things new in tech. She builds things, she breaks things (then fixes them), and more.  She’s been an owner of businesses in the computer/internet industry since 2005.  Kiera has written code in over a dozen computer languages and built software from games to business web applications.

Kiera has been using WordPress since 2007, and, more recently, she’s been teaching web design at Sheridan College using WordPress as a platform. She’s has built a number of plugins and widgets for internal use by students and faculty.

Outside of teaching, Kiera is a freelance software developer for her own company Wiley Solutions.  She builds custom software solutions, mostly in the area of business intelligence (reporting, automation, etc.)

Sessions

  • General Lecture Session: Case Study: Using WordPress in our Classes

Shanta Nathwani

Headshot of Shanta Nathwani
Instructor, Sheridan College

Shanta is an IT, web design and social media consultant and an instructor in web design and capstone project at Sheridan College. She is also a principal in Web Weapons, specializing in web development, business intelligence and educational training.

She is a problem solver and has been said to have the patience of a saint. She can explain even the most difficult concepts to the most basic user and has developed training documents that allow clients to learn for themselves. She thrives on understanding the needs of my clients and believes in making social media as simple as possible and making it fun, which allows our clients to seamlessly incorporate it into their organization.

Shanta holds a Certificate in Business Management and a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from Ryerson University in Information Technology Management. Some of her volunteer activities include being the Alumni Advisor for the Women In Information Technology Management program at Ryerson University, Technical Advisor for the Malvern Red and Black Society and Assistant Instructor at the Canadian Martial Arts Centre.

Sessions

  • General Lecture Session: Case Study: Using WordPress in our Classes

Session video