The University of Wisconsin is offering a free self-paced course on Creating WordPress Websites for students through its Stevens Point branch. It is one of ten free courses offered to the general public in a catalog that includes courses on management, communication, personal finance, customer service, and small business marketing. Creating WordPress websites has become an essential skill, as the software now powers 37.5% of all websites ranked in the top 10 million by Alexa.
The WordPress course is designed to give users hands-on experience in building a website. Students will learn how to design pages, add content, and customize their sites using themes and plugins. Self-hosted sites require paid hosting, and SiteGround has donated a free 90-day hosting account and temporary domain for students to use while taking the course. Instructions for how to sign up are included in Lesson 1.
The course is 24 hours and covers a wide range site creation topics, including creating content, uploading images and files, the basics of optimizing for usability and search engines, and how to analyze stats and promote content to social media. This is a good way to get started for anyone wanting to learn WordPress with a more structured approach. It may be helpful for new users who are exploring a career change or wanting to create a website for a new business.
Creating WordPress Websites is a non-credit course and is suitable for students who are comfortable learning without an instructor. The registration deadline for the free courses is June 30, 2020. Students will have three months of access to the course after registration.
