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• How effective are our advertising efforts for WordCamps?
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• WordPress Education at WCEU 2026: More Than Learning to Build a Website
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• Automating WordPress Campus Connect application processing
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• Introducing the WordPress Facilitator Training Program
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• Retiring the WordPress Campus ConnectSpecific Mentor Program
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Categorize a post as Highlight to add it to this section.

Group of the Month: Bulamogi College Gadumire, Uganda

[A facilitator writing students' questions on a blackboard at Bulamogi College Gadumire] Bulamogi College Gadumire (Uganda)

Their Campus Connect lost electricity partway through. No laptops, no slides, nothing to project. The team taught WordPress out loud to about a hundred students instead, finished the session, and everyone walked out with certificates. The room was the point.

MeetupsMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. of the Month

[Attendees at the WordPress Nairobi meetup] WordPress Nairobi Meetup (Nairobi, Kenya) [A talk in progress at the WordPress Brisbane meetup] WordPress Brisbane Meetup (Brisbane, Australia) [Attendees at the WordPress Vadodara meetup] WordPress Vadodara Meetup (Vadodara, India) [A participant building her first website at Campus Connect Tegal] Campus Connect Tegal (Tegal, Indonesia) [Participants at Campus Connect at Kyoto University of Advanced Science] Campus Connect Kyoto University of Advanced Science (Japan) [Attendees at the WordPress Shanghai meetup] WordPress Meetup Shanghai (Shanghai, China) [Students at Campus Connect Kishoreganj] Campus Connect Kishoreganj (Bangladesh) [Students working in teams at Guatemala's first WordPress Campus Connect] Universidad del Valle de Guatemala (Guatemala) [Organizers planning Campus Connect Kolhapur Season 2] Campus Connect Kolhapur (Kolhapur, India) [Attendees at the WordPress Kolhapur meetup] WordPress Kolhapur Meetup (Kolhapur, India) [Members of the Chiba WordPress meetup at a working session] Chiba WordPress Meetup (Chiba, Japan)

#community-event, #community-team, #meetup-organizer-newsletter, #newsletter

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WordPress Credits is working. Students around the world are contributing to real projects, earning academic recognition, and graduating with a WordPress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/ profile they can point to. What we have not built yet is what happens after that.

Right now, graduates leave the program with no defined next step. That means a lot of the momentum we built together such as the onboarding, the mentorship, the contribution work, stops at the exact moment a graduate is most capable of giving something back.

This proposal is our attempt to change that: Proposal: WordPress Credits Graduate Retention Program

The tracking issue for this work is on GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the pull request where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged by the repository owner. https://github.com/: https://github.com/WordPress/Community-Team/issues/1083

What We Are Proposing

We want to move WordPress Credits from a one-time experience to the first step in a longer contribution and career pathway. The proposal has three phases, starting with lightweight infrastructure changes and building toward a self-sustaining pipeline.

Main takeaways:

Give every graduate a clear next step. Right now the wrap-up flow ends without directing graduates anywhere specific. We want to change that with discipline-specific routing: dev-track graduates get pointed toward a WordPress Developer Certification and jobs.wordpress.net. Other tracks get equivalent routing based on what they contributed during the program.

Build a credential pathway graduates can see. The arc we are working toward: WordPress Credits (contribution program) continued contribution Developer credential received ecosystem opportunity. We want graduates to be able to see the full path at the moment they finish the program, not discover it piece by piece after the fact.

Ensure students see their place in our contributing community. The arc we are working toward: WordPress Credits (contribution program) continued contribution peer mentoring community leadership

Create scoped graduate contribution projects with Make teams. One of the most consistent barriers to returning is not knowing where to start. We want to work with Make WordPress teams to identify and tag real, appropriately scoped tasks that graduates can pick up. These are not new contribution areas they are existing work made more accessible as a defined entry point.

Connect graduates to ecosystem opportunities. We are in conversations with ecosystem companies who have expressed interest in the WP Credits talent pipeline. The model we are exploring: companies fund certification exam seats for graduates, with one verifiable post-graduation contribution unlocking the seat. In return, companies get first access to graduates who pass and warm introductions to strong candidates. We are also pointing graduates to jobs.wordpress.net, where their WordPress.org contribution profile functions as a verified, public portfolio.

What We Are Looking For from the Community

This proposal touches several parts of the WordPress community, and we would love input before we move into execution:

Make team members: We want to collaborate on scoped graduate contribution projects: real tasks your team needs done, tagged as appropriate entry points for graduates returning to contribution. If you are on a Make team and interested in being part of this, please comment below or reach out in #wpcredits.

Ecosystem companies: If your company hires WordPress talent and is interested in exploring the exam seat model, we would love to talk. You can comment here or reach out directly.

Experienced contributors: If you have been through a structured contribution program yourself, whether WordPress Credits or something similar, we would love to hear what would have brought you back after graduation, and what would not have.

The full proposal includes a phased timeline, a tiered definition of what returning to contribution means, a 25% Tier 2 retention target for the dev-track pilot (benchmarked against comparable open sourceOpen Source Open Source denotes software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified. Open Source **must be** delivered via a licensing model, see GPL. programs), and a research foundation grounded in what has worked at LFX Mentorship, Outreachy, and GitHub Campus Experts.

We are not building everything at once. Phase 1 is infrastructure and one re-engagement message. Phase 2 is the dev-track pilot. Phase 3 is expansion to other tracks.

Feedback at any of these stages is welcome.

Questions or thoughts? Comment below or join the conversation in #wpcredits on the Making WordPress SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/.

Props to @peiraisotta for reviewing this post and proposal, and @celigaroe @francescodicandia @roblesloaiza @alanabwarner for reviewing the proposal.

Tags: #wpcredits, #proposal

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For the past year we have been telling the story of WordPress Credits through updates and posts: students turning open sourceOpen Source Open Source denotes software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified. Open Source **must be** delivered via a licensing model, see GPL. experience into skills that launch careers, institutions building contribution into their teaching, mentorsEvent Supporter Event Supporter (formerly Mentor) is someone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues. guiding it all. Starting today, you dont have to take our word for it.

The WP Credits dashboard is now live, and it shows the growth and impact of the program as it happens: students enrolled, institutions involved, contributions flowing into WordPress, new sites built and skills unlocked, plus testimonials from the people living the experience. Data refreshes weekly, pulled directly from our program records and WordPress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/ profiles, so what you see is always the current state of the program.

Join us

The dashboard is public, and so is the invitation. There is room for you in this program:

• Universities and schools: bring real open source contribution into your curriculum and give your students experience they can stand behind. Find out how you can launch your WordPress Credits program and fill out our interest form, and we will get in touch.
• Companies: sponsor the program and connect with an emerging generation of WordPress talent.
• Mentors: share what you know with students taking their first steps into the community. Join us in the #wpcredits channel on Making WordPress SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/ and apply to become a program mentor.

Take a look at the dashboard, share it with a school or company that should be part of this, and come build the next generation of WordPress contributors with us.

See you at WCUSWCUS WordCamp US. The US flagship WordCamp event.

If you are coming to WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what theyve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. US, this is the easiest way to start the conversation. We will be at the Education Table during Contributor Day on Sunday, so come sit with us, explore the dashboard together, and see how you or your organization can get involved. The rest of the days you will find us around the venue, and we are always happy to talk students, schools, and contribution, so if you spot us (@peiraisotta and @gomp), stop us. We also deeply hope to meet in person some the students and mentors behind the numbers on the dashboard.

Kudos to the following people for reviewing this post: @webtechpooja, @roblesloaiza, @francescodicandia

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Activity kits are now live on Learn WordPress, and we want to make sure community members know about them!

A WordPress activity kit is a complete, ready-to-run session package for anyone (event organizers, facilitators, instructors, etc) who wants to teach about WordPress topics. Each kit includes a facilitator guide and slide deck, all within a single downloadable zip. This is everything you need to run a hands-on session without preparing materials from scratch. All kits are designed to work in WordPress Playground (no installation or accounts required) or an equivalent free environment, run in 6090 minutes, and produce something tangible by the end.

You can browse the full library at learn.wordpress.org/activity-library.

Whats available now

Eleven kits are ready to download and use:

• Contributor Onboarding: Participants explore the Make WordPress contributor pathways, create the accounts they need, and make their first real contribution before the session ends. (60 minutes, Beginner)
• Accessibility Testing in WordPress: Participants use the AccessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both direct access (i.e. unassisted) and indirect access meaning compatibility with a persons assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility) Checker pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party. to scan a page for issues, fix three common problems in the BlockBlock Block is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience. Editor, then test the page using only a keyboard. No prior accessibility knowledge required. (60 minutes, Beginner)
• Content Creation: Participants work through the full content lifecycle in WordPress structuring posts with blocks, managing images accessibly, organizing with categories and tags, scheduling, and recovering from mistakes using revisionsRevisions The WordPress revisions system stores a record of each saved draft or published update. The revision system allows you to see what changes were made in each revision by dragging a slider (or using the Next/Previous buttons). The display indicates what has changed in each revision.. (60 minutes, Beginner)
• Debugging for Site Owners: Participants learn a repeatable, tool-backed approach to diagnosing and fixing the most common WordPress problems, without needing FTPFTP FTP is an acronym for File Transfer Protocol which is a way of moving computer files from one computer to another via the Internet. You can use software, known as a FTP client, to upload files to a server for a WordPress website. https://codex.wordpress.org/FTP_Clients access, server knowledge, or a developer on call. (60 minutes, BeginnerIntermediate)
• Debugging for Developers: Participants work hands-on with four complementary debugging tools: WP_DEBUG, Query Monitor, browser DevTools, and Xdebug, and learn to match the right tool to each type of problem. (60 minutes, Developer)
• eCommerce with WooCommerce: Participants learn about various WordPress eCommerce offerings in the ecosystem and configure WooCommerce using the setup wizard, add their first product, and complete a test purchase from store to confirmation page. (60 minutes, BeginnerIntermediate)
• Managing Your WordPress Site with AI: Participants use Claude Desktop and the WordPress MCP Adapter to manage a local WordPress site entirely through natural language conversation. Note: this kit requires a local WordPress environment and Node.js 22+. (80 minutes, BeginnerIntermediate)
• SEO Foundations: Participants audit the SEO features built into WordPress coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress., evaluate whether their site needs an SEO plugin, and configure the essentials using RankMath in WordPress Playground. (60 minutes, BeginnerIntermediate)
• Using AI in Your WordPress Dashboard: Participants set up the WordPress AI plugin, connect it to a free AI provider, and use it to draft, revise, and summarize content without leaving the editor. (60 minutes, BeginnerIntermediate)
• WordPress Playground: Participants explore WordPress Playground for safe testing, version testing, and environment sharing and leave with a shareable Playground link they built themselves. (60 minutes, All levels)
• WordPress Security Essentials: Participants audit a WordPress sites security posture, apply essential hardening steps, and learn what to do when something goes wrong. (60 minutes, Beginner)

How to use a kit

Visit learn.wordpress.org/activity-library, choose a kit, and download the zip. Each kit page includes an overview of the activity, a preview of the facilitator guide and slide deck, and a download button for the full kit. The facilitator guide includes everything you need to run the session: learning objectives, setup notes, step-by-step participant activities, facilitator tips, and debrief questions.

You do not need to be a WordPress expert to facilitate these sessions. The kits are designed to be used by anyone interested in teaching and learning about WordPress.

Help us build and maintain the library

We have eleven kits live and we want more. Heres how you can get involved:

Facilitate a kit at your next event. Download one, run it at your local meetupMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook., and tell us how it goes through our feedback form. Post in #community-team or #training on Making WordPress Slack with what you tried and what landed.

Create a new kit. The Training Team has published a step-by-step handbook guide covering everything from topic selection to publishing on Learn WordPress. You can create a kit using the AI prompt package (compatible with Claude, Gemini, ChatGPT, and others) or the Claude Cowork plugin both are available in the WordPress/Learn GitHub repository.

Flag something that needs updating. Notice a broken step, an outdated plugin version, or a path that has changed since a kit was published? Post in #training with what you found. Keeping the kits current is an ongoing team effort.

Questions? Reach out in #community-team or #training on Making WordPress SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/.

Kudos

Thank you to the peer reviewers who helped shape our first kits: @mohkatz @rashunda @mayankmajeji @akshayar @rianrietveld @alh0319 @nilovelez @ekamran

Thank you to our MetaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress. team folks who helped get the Activity Library live on the Learn WordPress website by reviewing, providing guidance, and merging: @obenland @adamwood @paulkevan @dd32

Thank you to the Polyglots who helped with translating our feedback form: @francescodicandia @fierevere @masino1967 @jensratzel

Did I miss you? It wasnt intentional! Please send me a pingPing The act of sending a very small amount of data to an end point. Ping is used in computer science to illicit a response from a target server to test its connection. Ping is also a term used by Slack users to @ someone or send them a direct message (DM). Users might say something along the lines of Ping me when the meeting starts. so I can ensure youre noted <3

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Following up on Rethinking our Monthly Team Meetings, were running our first coworking session next Thursday, August 13th.

Time: 11:30 UTC

What well work on: the handbooks restructure proposal, picking up the audit work and moving pieces of it forward together.

Format: short kickoff to align on what were tackling, then a focused work blockBlock Block is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience., then a quick wrap-up on what got done and whats still open.

This is a first test of the new format, so expect some rough edges, and feel free to just show up even if you havent been involved in the handbooks proposal before. All you need is some available time and curiosity.

Well follow up here with a short recap after the session.

h/t @unintended8

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Welcome to the Monthly Education Buzz Report, your go-to source for highlights and updates on the WordPress Campus Connect, WordPress Credits, and WordPress Student Club education initiatives within the WordPress community. This report aims to celebrate, promote, and inform individuals across the WordPress community and beyond about the diverse educational endeavors underway.

WordPress Campus Connect

WordPress Campus Connect (WPCC) had a busy July, with new campuses joining the program on four continents. If you would like to help shape one of these events, join the conversation in #campusconnect on the Make WordPress SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/.

Bangladesh saw two more campuses join WPCC Kishoreganj 2026, organized by Muhibul Haque (@devmuhib). The first event, held at Kishoreganj University, brought speakers Nasim Miah (@muddassirnasim) and Mehraz Morshed (@mehrazmorshed) together with volunteer Mehrab Morshed (@mehrabmorshed). for a session on the WordPress ecosystem, careers, and open sourceOpen Source Open Source denotes software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified. Open Source **must be** delivered via a licensing model, see GPL. contribution. Students there built 38 websites. Two weeks later, the series moved to Kishoreganj Polytechnic Institute, where speaker Shipon Karmakar (@shiponkarmakar) traveled more than 80 kilometers to join as a guest expert and students built nearly 70 websites. Across the two campuses, the success stories page now lists more than 200 participating students and over 100 published sites, with two more institutions, Government Mohila College and Pouromohila College Kishoreganj, still to come.

Japan held its second Campus Connect event of the year at Kyoto University of Advanced Science on July 4. The session was organized entirely by students from the campuss Open Source circle, with Kaito Hanamori (@kaitohm) sharing the recap and thanking staff members Hiroshi Sato and Shohei Tanaka for their support.

In Spain, Josep Morn (@josepmoran) led a Campus Connect at Escola Pia Sta. Anna in Matar for 100 higher-level vocational students studying network management and marketing. Over two four-hour sessions, students compared WordPress.comWordPress.com An online implementation of WordPress code that lets you immediately access a new WordPress environment to publish your content. WordPress.com is a private company owned by Automattic that hosts the largest multisite in the world. This is arguably the best place to start blogging if you have never touched WordPress before. https://wordpress.com/ and WordPress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/, learned about WordPress Credits and WordPress Student Clubs, and used Playground and AI assistance to build a functional pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party. that calculates the best time for shore fishing in the city. Students and faculty alike called out the career opportunities tied to the WordPress ecosystem and the official certificate they received.

Ugandas Central and Eastern Uganda schools series added Bulamogi College Gadumire on July 29, and the full recap is worth reading in full. Organizer Moses Cursor Ssebunya (@mosescursor) and his team lost power on arrival, so they scrapped the planned demonstrations and instead opened the floor to questions from more than 100 learners. Fellow organizer Stephen Dumba, national coordinator of the ICT Teachers Association of Uganda, stepped in to keep the group focused once the power went out. The room, in the organizers words, exploded with curiosity, and first-time volunteers Mariam Nairuba and John Wayera helped carry the day. The schools governing body received a Certificate of Appreciation in return for hosting.

A few more campuses are moving through planning, including a first-ever event proposed for Penang, Malaysia, by Ben Leow (@surf7net) ahead of WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what theyve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. Asia 2027, and an event at UVG Guatemala coordinated by Lidia Arroyo Vargas (@lidarroy). If you have a connection to a college or university and want to help bring WordPress to campus, the #campusconnect channel is the place to start.

WordPress Credits

WordPress Credits kept building on its first-half momentum in July, with two new pilot projects, a call for a developer track, and a preview of what the program will bring to WordCamp US.

July was the strongest month of the year so far by several measures, according to an update from Maciej Pilarski (@gomp). Partner institutions grew from 28 to 38, up 10 in a single month and now spanning 16 countries, with 18 more institutions entering the pipeline, the strongest intake month of 2026. Active mentorsEvent Supporter Event Supporter (formerly Mentor) is someone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues. reached 91, up from 83 in June, on the strength of 11 new mentorEvent Supporter Event Supporter (formerly Mentor) is someone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues. applications, while 62 new students started their WordPress Credits internship, the second-largest monthly intake of the year after May. Graduates reached 226, up from 199 in June, with 26 more students in pending graduation. Two applications that came out of the WordCamp Europe Education Table in Krakw, Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences in Finland and SAE Athens in Greece, are now confirmed partners, and Institut Teknologi Tangerang Selatan in Indonesia became the first Campus Connect host school to convert into a WordPress Credits partner institution, signing on July 20 after hosting a Campus Connect event on June 18. That signing also gave Indonesia its first spot on the partner map. Separately, CUNY City Tech signed on as the programs first partnership with a public university system in the United States, arriving just ahead of the WordCamp US Contributor DayContributor Day Contributor Days are standalone days, frequently held before or after WordCamps but they can also happen at any time. They are events where people get together to work on various areas of https://make.wordpress.org/ There are many teams that people can participate in, each with a different focus. https://make.wordpress.org/support/handbook/getting-started/getting-started-at-a-contributor-day/ push.

Rita Robles Loaiza (@roblesloaiza) shared the first two pilots she has been running as Program ManagerProgram Manager Program Managers (formerly Super Deputies) are Program Supporters who can perform extra tasks on WordCamp.org like creating new sites and publishing WordCamps to the schedule. for WordPress Credits in Latin America. The first grew out of Patrones Hermosos, an international camp run by Tecnolgico de Monterrey and MIT that came to Costa Rica for the first time this year. Three students from the second WordPress Credits cohort at Universidad Fidlitas designed and delivered a three-session WordPress workshop for 40 high school students, who each built and presented their own website by the end, with a 100 percent satisfaction rate. The team turned that experience into a fully replicable guide that any student, university, or local community can reuse. The second pilot brings Liceo Experimental Bilinge Jos Figueres Ferrer, the first high school in the Americas to join WordPress Credits, into the Polyglots contribution area, where 13 students are working with the Costa Rican Spanish Polyglots teamPolyglots Team Polyglots Team is a group of multilingual translators who work on translating plugins, themes, documentation, and front-facing marketing copy. https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/teams/ to localize WordPress.org into es_CR as part of their community service program.

The program is also looking ahead to a developer-focused track. A US college has expressed interest in WordPress Credits but needs a path built around real, job-relevant development work, and the call for input is open now. The team is looking for ideas on what a beginner-to-advanced tier structure could include, with the first tier needed by the end of August to keep the pilot on schedule. You can weigh in through the GitHub issue or in #wpcredits on Slack.

Looking toward WordCamp US, the Education working group announced a dedicated table at Contributor Day on August 16 in Phoenix. Isotta Peira (@peiraisotta) and Maciej Pilarski (@gomp) will be on hand throughout the event to talk through WordPress Credits, Campus Connect, Student Clubs, Faculty Training, and the new AI Literacy through WordPress course on Learn WordPress. The group is looking for US-based mentors, connections to local meetupsMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. for students, introductions to colleges and universities, and companies interested in sponsoring the programs.

July also brought a steady flow of new students into the program, joining from Nepal, Costa Rica, Spain, India, and the US, including a professor at Drew University in New Jersey who found the program through a WP Tavern Jukebox episode featuring Ivana irkovi. Among them, Vctor Rodrguez of Universidad Fidlitas in Costa Rica wrapped up his internship with the Polyglots team, submitting 386 translation suggestions for WooCommerce in Spanish (Costa Rica) and documenting his progress along the way. Anne McCarthy (@annezazu), the WordPress 7.1 release leadRelease Lead The community member ultimately responsible for the Release., kept up her behind-the-scenes updates for students so they can shadow the release process firsthand.

WordPress Student Clubs

A Student Club at Ahmads Education in Dhaka, Bangladesh, used its weekly session to dig into how WordPress works as an open source project, discussing how the platform has grown through the contributions of millions of people and how club members can start contributing themselves. Organizer Atikur Rahman shared that the group is now preparing for an upcoming WordPress Campus Connect event at the same institution, with members working to bring in more classmates and build on the momentum from the discussion.

Get Involved

WordPress Credits
WordPress Campus Connect
WordPress Student Clubs

See something in the community that should be noted here or in a future newsletter? Comment below!

Stay tuned for next months update!

Tags

#education-buzz, #campusconnect, #wpcredits

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When I stepped into the role of Program ManagerProgram Manager Program Managers (formerly Super Deputies) are Program Supporters who can perform extra tasks on WordCamp.org like creating new sites and publishing WordCamps to the schedule. for WPCredits in Latin America, one of the goals I set for myself was to explore new ways of bringing students and educational institutions into the WordPress ecosystem.

Over the past few years, weve seen a growing interest in contributing, but weve also identified a common challenge: many institutions want to participate but simply dont know where to begin. While WordPress already offers well-established contribution areas, integrating an educational community requires clear processes, supporting materials, guidance, and methodologies that make that first contribution experience approachable.

With that in mind, over the past few months weve been working on a series of pilot projects. The goal is not to create new contribution areas, but rather to develop replicable models that make it easier for educational institutions to sustainably engage with the contribution opportunities that already exist within WordPress.

Today, Id like to share the first two pilots weve been working on.

Pilot 1: A Replicable Methodology for Introducing New Users to WordPress

The first pilot emerged from a very special opportunity.

During Patrones Hermosos, an international camp organized by Tecnolgico de Monterrey and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which came to Costa Rica for the very first time and was hosted at Universidad Fidlitas, we had the opportunity to introduce WordPress as part of the camps learning experience.

Three students from the second WPCredits cohort at Universidad Fidlitas took on the challenge of designing and delivering a complete WordPress workshop for 40 high school students participating in the camp.

Across three sessions, they guided participants through creating their first WordPress website using GutenbergGutenberg The Gutenberg project is the new Editor Interface for WordPress. The editor improves the process and experience of creating new content, making writing rich content much simpler. It uses blocks to add richness rather than shortcodes, custom HTML etc. https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/ while introducing key concepts such as website structure, the difference between pages and posts, content creation, digital privacy, accessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both direct access (i.e. unassisted) and indirect access meaning compatibility with a persons assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility), and responsible publishing practices. By the end of the workshop, every participant had built and presented their own website, and the workshop achieved a 100% satisfaction rate.

My role in this pilot focused primarily on the educational side of the project. I worked alongside the team to design the learning experience, define the learning objectives, and develop the guides, templates, checklists, and supporting materials needed to both facilitate the workshop and document every stage of the process.

However, delivering a successful workshop was never the ultimate goal.

From the very beginning, we wanted the entire experience to become a reusable community resource. As a result, we developed a fully replicable guide that documents the methodology, roles, planning process, materials, recommendations, checklists, and evidence needed, so that any WPCredits student, university, or local WordPress community can organize a similar experience without having to start from scratch.

More than just a workshop, this pilot aims to demonstrate that an educational activity can also become a meaningful community contribution when it leaves behind open documentation and a methodology that others can adopt, improve, and reuse.

Pilot 2: A Replicable Model for Integrating Educational Institutions into WordPress Contribution Areas

The second pilot starts with a different question:

What does an educational institution need to successfully integrate into a WordPress contribution area and enable its students to contribute in an organized and sustainable way?

To answer that question, we selected Polyglots as the first contribution area where well validate this methodology.

Its important to clarify that this pilot is not simply about translating WordPress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/. Translation is the environment where well test a much broader process.

Our goal is to document the entire journey an educational institution follows from deciding to participate in WPCredits to having students make meaningful contributions to the WordPress community. This includes preparing teachers and students, developing supporting materials, creating guides and templates, coordinating with the community, providing mentorship throughout the process, tracking progress, and documenting lessons learned.

This pilot will be carried out in collaboration with the Costa Rican Spanish Polyglots teamPolyglots Team Polyglots Team is a group of multilingual translators who work on translating plugins, themes, documentation, and front-facing marketing copy. https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/teams/ to contribute to the translation of WordPress.org into Costa Rican Spanish (es_CR).

The first institution selected for this pilot is Liceo Experimental Bilinge Jos Figueres Ferrer, the first high school in America to join the WPCredits program.

Thirteen students are participating in WPCredits as part of their Community Service Program, creating a unique opportunity to connect academic learning with real contributions to the WordPress project. Because the school is bilingual, students will also be able to leverage their English and Spanish language skills while contributing directly to the Polyglots community and supporting the localization of WordPress for Costa Rica.

As with the first pilot, the objective extends far beyond completing a single contribution. We want to document every step of the process and build a methodology that other educational institutions can reuse when integrating WordPress contribution areas into their own academic programs.

If this model proves successful, it can later be adapted to other contribution areas, reducing the learning curve for new institutions and making it easier for more students to begin contributing to WordPress.

What We Hope to Learn

Although these two pilots focus on very different experiences, they share the same purpose.

We want to better understand what helps educational institutions become active participants in the WordPress ecosystem and how those experiences can be transformed into open, well-documented, and easily replicable models.

Each pilot will help us identify what works, what can be improved, and what resources can help universities, schools, and communities avoid starting from scratch when introducing WordPress into their educational and contribution initiatives.

As both pilots continue to evolve, Ill be sharing the results, lessons learned, and resources we develop, with the hope that they can serve as a starting point for many other educational institutions around the world.

Id love to hear your thoughts, suggestions, or similar experiences. I truly believe that one of WordPresss greatest strengths is that our best ideas grow when theyre built collaboratively.

Props to @peiraisotta and @celigaroe for reviewing this post.

#wpcredits

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WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what theyve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. US is almost here, and the Education working group will be there with a dedicated table at Contributor DayContributor Day Contributor Days are standalone days, frequently held before or after WordCamps but they can also happen at any time. They are events where people get together to work on various areas of https://make.wordpress.org/ There are many teams that people can participate in, each with a different focus. https://make.wordpress.org/support/handbook/getting-started/getting-started-at-a-contributor-day/ on August 16. If you are curious about how WordPress is entering classrooms, campuses, and student communities around the world, come find us, we would love to talk.

What you will find at our table

@peiraisotta and @gomp will be there throughout the event to share an overview of the current community Education programs and answer any questions:

• WordPress Credits: partnering with schools and universities so that students earn academic credits (or the equivalent academic recognition) by contributing to WordPress.
• Campus Connect: WordPress events hosted on campuses, bringing the community directly to students and faculty.
• Student Club: student-led groups that keep the momentum going between events, where students learn, build, and contribute together.
• Faculty Training: preparing professors and instructors to teach WordPress and integrate open sourceOpen Source Open Source denotes software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified. Open Source **must be** delivered via a licensing model, see GPL. contributions into their courses.
• AI Literacy through WordPress: a brand new course on learn.wordpress.org to gain practical foundation in AI literacy built around real workforce goals.

Stop by to learn how each program works, what we have learned so far, and where they are heading next.

How you can help

A few things are top of mind for us at this WordCamp:

We are looking for mentorsEvent Supporter Event Supporter (formerly Mentor) is someone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues. based in the US. We are about to onboard more students and more colleges, and the current group of mentors cannot stretch to cover the growth on its own. If you have experience contributing to WordPress and want to help a student find their way into the project, or if you are not an experienced contributor but want to learn how to support students, come talk to us at the table. Mentoring is one of the most direct ways to shape the next generation of contributors, and we will walk you through what the commitment looks like.

We want to connect our students to active local meetupsMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook.. A students first WordCamp or meetupMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. is often the moment the community becomes real for them. If you organize or attend a meetup in the US, we would love to map where our students are and introduce them to the groups closest to them, so that their contribution journey continues locally after the program ends.

We want to reach more institutions. If you have a connection with a university, a college, or a vocational school, whether you studied there, teach there, or simply know someone on the faculty, you can help us open a door. A warm introduction is often all it takes to start a conversation about bringing WordPress into a classroom, and we can take it from there. Come tell us about your institution and we will figure out together which program could be the best fit.

We welcome companies who want to sponsor the programs. Growing to more students and more colleges takes resources, and sponsorship is a concrete way for companies to invest in the future of the WordPress talent pool. If your company hires WordPress talent, cares about open source education, or wants visibility with the next generation of contributors, stop by the table and we will walk you through the sponsorship options and what your support would make possible.

Come say hi

Whether you are a longtime contributor, a meetup organizer, a professor, or someone who simply cares about bringing new people into WordPress, the Education table is for you. Stop by, ask questions, share ideas, or just say hi, we will be there with the table at Contributor Day on August 16, and between tracks and hallways until the last day of the event on August 19.

See you in Phoenix!

Props to the following people for reviewing this post: @celigaroe, @alanabwarner, @piyopiyofox

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The Meetup Organizer Newsletter has been quiet since July 2025. Huge credit to @bjmcsherry, @josvelasco, and @peiraisotta for carrying that one.

As were all thinking hard about reconnecting communities, a regular events roundup feels like something worth having again, and Id like to help bring it back.

Ive been getting more involved in community events (just got approved to organize a meetupMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. in my area ), and I want to lead the charge on getting a V1 out.

What Im thinking for V1

Keeping it simple to start: a monthly post highlighting upcoming and recent events across meetupsMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook., WordCamps, Campus Connect, and the next gen formats, with the cool things organizers are actually doing front and center.

Keeping it sustainable

From what I understand, the old one lapsed partly because it was a lot to put together by hand each month, and that got hard to keep up. One thing Id like to use is SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/s built-in AI, Slackbot. It can search across our event channels and pull together a surprisingly solid first draft in minutes. The idea is to let it do the heavy gathering, then a human pass to polish, fact-check, and pick photos, so it never falls entirely on one person to write from scratch.

Next steps

Im going to build a V1 and get a first issue out. To start, Im planning to pull event updates from a few channels: #community-events, #campusconnect, #community-team, #student-clubs, and #contributor-day. Ill share the first draft next week, and Id love your input, now or once the draft is ready, on two things:

• What made the old newsletter useful, or what youd change.
• Other channels or sources I should add.

And if you worked on it before, I especially want to hear from you.

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The problem

Over the past months weve tried two meeting slots at different times, then a 12-hour open window, hoping to catch more people across timezones. Neither change moved the needle. Attendance and participation remain low, and, as we discussed openly in the April meeting, most of the value of these meetings can already be absorbed by reading the agenda or the recap afterward. If a meeting can be fully replaced by a P2P2 P2 or O2 is the term people use to refer to the Make WordPress blog. It can be found at https://make.wordpress.org post, its not really a meeting anymore.

We (the 2026 Team Reps) have talked this through and want to propose splitting what today is a single monthly meeting into two separate, more focused things.

The proposal

1. A monthly written update (unchanged in spirit, clarified in purpose)

Well keep publishing a monthly post at the start of each month summarizing what the team has been working on: policy changes, WordCamps, meetupsMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook., Campus Connect recaps, education programs, and anything else worth surfacing for people who cant follow every P2 post or SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/ thread.

What changes: this stops being the agenda for a meeting and becomes its own thing: a monthly digest, written by a different volunteer each month. We think this is a great low-friction way for people to start contributing to team coordination without needing to run a live session.

2. Coworking sessions

Instead of a status-update meeting, we want to try live coworking sessions: blocks of 12 hours where a group works together, in real time, on an actual team task.

Rough shape:

• Short kickoff (510 min): whoevers hosting explains what were working on that session and why, and takes quick questions.
• Focused work blockBlock Block is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience.: everyone works (same or related tasks) with the channel/call open for does anyone know how questions as they come up.
• Wrap-up (1015 min): quick share of what got done, whats blocked, and what needs follow-up.

Why we think this could work

The coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. insight from the discussion was that people dont show up for information they can get elsewhere, they show up when theres something to do together, or someone to ask in real time. A status meeting competes with reading a P2 post, and loses. A working session doesnt have that competition, because you cant read your way into having helped triage the backlog.

Wed love feedback before taking this further:

• Does the split between written update and coworking make sense to you?
• Any specific ideas about the coworking sessions format?
• Any concerns about coworking sessions being harder to join for volunteers in less common timezones (worse than a single meeting would be, since were not proposing multiple slots yet)?
• Should we pilot this for one or two months before committing, and if so, what would tell us its working better than the old format?

Thanks to @adityakane @thehopemonger and @webtechpooja for reviewing the proposal.

#coworking, #meeting, #proposal

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