If you like what you see in the WordPress platform and you only maintain one blog, a standard WordPress installation will probably work just fine for you. But if you’re thinking of using blogs in conjunction with your courses, you’d do well to consider installing WordPress Mu (Multi-User) instead.
Why?
Here I can best speak from my own recent decision to move to WordPress Mu. I’d had some minor issues in the past with hosting course blogs at free sites, and had decided I wanted more direct control over my blogs in any case–including the ability to make use of a wide range of plugins and themes. So, late last spring, I bit the bullet and decided to pay for hosting. I started installing course blogs on my own domain just before the fall semester began.
It’s gone well; I have a lot more control over my blogging setup than I did before. I also like the idea that, since the blogs are on my own domain, I can keep them there for as long as I like; they can serve as a record of some of my teaching activities (all I need to do is point interested colleagues to my domain).
I realized a few weeks ago, though, that I was quickly going to run into a serious problem: my hosting package allows for a maximum of 25 MySQL databases. We teach seven courses per year at my institution, so one WordPress installation per course wasn’t a sustainable long-term option.
I’d heard a bit about WPMu, but didn’t know much about it. So I started doing a little reading, and came across two very helpful sites: WPMu.org and WPMu Tutorials. It didn’t take much to sell me on the idea. I can have all my course blogs running from just one database? I only have to run the installation once, instead of doing it for every blog? Sign me up!
Installing WPMU was almost as easy as a standard WordPress install (though I did have to use this hack because I was installing into a subfolder; I didn’t want to move my primary blog, which was already installed on the root). Both WPMu.org and WPMu Tutorials have easy-to-follow setup guides. And I do mean easy. If you can follow your host’s instructions for setting up a MySQL database (usually just a matter of point-and-click), you know how to FTP, and you can (if needed) edit a .php file*, you can set yourself up with little difficulty.
I’m currently in the process of setting up blogs for my spring courses on my WPMu installation. As soon as finals are over, I’ll migrate this semester’s blogs to the new installation, and I’ll be able to get rid of three databases. An added advantage is that, if I sign in as the administrator of the main WPMu blog, I can then edit any of the blogs on the site without having to sign in again.
What’s not to like?
I’ve focused here on the benefits of WPMu for individual instructors, but it’s also suitable for much bigger things. Those interested in an institution-wide installation might want to read this and this. It’s also worth a visit to UMW Blogs or the CUNY Academic Commons to see it in action. (The Academic Commons actually runs mostly on BuddyPress, which runs on top of WPMu–thanks to @boonebgorges for the clarification.)
*You don’t have to be familiar with PHP to edit the file correctly. All you need to do is follow the examples you’re given in whatever tutorial you’re looking at. I have approximately zero understanding of PHP and I had no problem.
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8 Responses to Using a Blog to Run Your Courses? Why You Might Consider WPMU.
peter naegele - December 12, 2009 at 10:42 pm
Now with tweetie goodness!
http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2009/12/12/twitter-api/
Aaron P - December 14, 2009 at 11:05 am
Funny that this comes up, we’ve been running a WPMU site for the digital humanities for a semester or so (I think we’re read to take it out of beta).
http://dighumanities.org
We’ve had mixed reviews.
Like the CUNY commons our site runs on BuddyPress as well. With Boone George’s help we’ve got Wiki integration (and a bit of a hack to format & provide deep visual integration from me /shamelessselfpromotion). It does everything you would need a website to do if you’re in the humanities:
– sign up and get 5 sites, one button, no coding required
– pick from hundreds of themes, one if which fully customizable with no code required
– public and private forums
– integration with other sites
– podcasting support (and file hosting) with all kinds of rich media plugins included
the list goes on.
We’ve seen some good use by a few of the younger profs (I know, typecasting, but it’s a pretty decisive line) using the service for personal sites, which is what we intended it for. Using WPMU as an LMS/CMS (learning / class management system) is problematic because of security and information rights. It takes a lot of work to be FERPA (among others) safe, and to make sure that profs feel safe posting their work. But some profs have really made good use out of it. Distributing digital syllabi, assigning work, and posting notes.
We’ve also had a lot of confusion.
Most of our professors have rejected the idea out of had on the basis of ill-informed, and in some cases just made-up-as-an-excuse-not-to-do-it, copyright and intellectual privacy rules. Of the few that have signed up, some experienced difficulty understanding publishing to the web. Some felt that we as the providers of the service should update their pages for them…
As we did have a few teachers sigh up to use WPMU for their classes, we experienced problems with students not understanding what to do (even though we distributed very concise instructions to students, gave a live demo, and sent them all emails with how-to videos). Some profs wanted to post assignments and get student replies in comments. Others wanted each student to publish his/her own blog with essays on it, then peer review by commenting on each other’s work. We had students posting essays as comments to the site’s news page, students posting essays as support forum posts, as admin of the site (not the teacher), I even got a few kids email me their essays asking (and in one case, ordering) me to post it for them.
The biggest complaint we got was that “it wasn’t easy like facebook” and thus, too confusing and/or hard to use. From the perspective of interface design, and feature complexity, I would argue that it is in fact more simple, but less familiar…
All in all, WPMU makes a great tool for an organization to give sites / blogs to it’s subsidiaries, but most of our teachers, and all but a few of our students simply couldn’t wrap their heads around it. We’re in the process now if trimming down the backend, and giving users the option of selecting ‘simple’ or ‘advanced’ controls.
I think a lot of us assume that students today, having grown up with facebook, myspace, twitter, etc are technically savvy. Our experience shows otherwise. Being accustom to something, does not make you an expert at it.
Our first run has had some ups and downs. I think more ups than downs, despite that I outlined mostly problems– I wanted to give the heads up about our issues if anyone reading this thought it was quick and easy to distribute. No doubt it’s easy for personal use, but if you’re a person capable of installing WPMU, you’re also not the typical user. For those teachers who took the 20 minutes required of them to watch the tutorial videos, we’ve seen good use, and received high reviews. I think there is a strong chance WPMU/BuddyPress could make a good institutional site engine (in my opinion, WP is the best content system available), but as an LMS/CMS, it falls flat. If the entire school used it, and students needed to know it for all of their classes… perhaps, but as it is, there’s too many other and better options.
I’d love to hear what other people have done, or are planning to do, differently.
Amy Cavender - December 11, 2009 at 9:01 pm
I’ve tried that, with limited pedagogical success. Having students post to the class blog (which I did for two of my courses this semester) got them engaging with the material, but not so much with each other as I’d hoped. At least it got students “warmed up” before class, so I could call on the quieter people without them feeling as threatened as they might otherwise.
I haven’t encountered any technical difficulties, though–students have generally been able to post without difficulties.
Kyle Jones - December 14, 2009 at 4:37 pm
Here’s the semester debrief post: http://thecorkboard.org/blog/social-learning-and-debriefing-classes-tametheweb-com/
~Kyle~
Kyle Jones - December 14, 2009 at 1:07 pm
Prof Hacker et al.:
You might be interested in my experiences with BuddyPress and WPMU as an LMS. I’ve been working with a Library and Information Science graduate professor for about a semester and a half developing his course sites specifically with BuddyPress. Here’s our initial reasoning: http://thecorkboard.org/blog/ttw-repost-buddypress-as-a-lms/
I’ll post a debriefing note soon as we just surveyed the class about their experiences.
Thanks,
~Kyle~
Quinn Warnick - December 11, 2009 at 9:59 pm
I’ve used Drupal and WordPress for course websites, and each has its advantages and disadvantages. Lately, I’ve been using WordPress more often than Drupal, and last semester I finally made the switch to WPMU. I created a new WP-based personal portfolio site in my “main” directory, and then imported my old WP course websites into separate subdomains. Now, each time I want to create a new course website, I just add a new blog in WPMU using a new subdomain on my personal site.
The best part about switching to WPMU is the one-click upgrading process. When a security update is released for WordPress, I can upgrade all of my course websites (including the old, archived ones) in one fell swoop. WPMU doesn’t do everything Drupal can do, but it is incredibly easy to setup, customize, extend, and upgrade.
Thanks for the great post!
Elizabeth Kissling - December 11, 2009 at 2:40 pm
This sounds very promising! I especially like this: “I can sign in as the administrator of the main WPMu blog, I can then edit any of the blogs on the site without having to sign in again.”
Do you have your students blog on the class site? Last time I tried that with WordPress (2006), it wasn’t as efficient as drupal for a group blog (each student in my classes is required to write a minimum of two entries or comments/week). Sounds like there’s been big improvements in WP since then, and WPmu might be worth switching over from drupal.
Andrea_R - December 11, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Woot! Thanks for the shout out! :D