The WordPress Team Project is designed to help the students use their basic WordPress skills and creativity to create a WordPress Theme within the limitations of WordPress.com for a small business. The business may be hypothetical but the student teams will do their best to make the site as “real” as possible.

The student teams will perform as if they are a WordPress development and design company developing a prototype site for their client.

1. Create a statement work: The Statement of Work is a traditional name for Request for Proposal (RFP) and includes an outline of the project tasks, assignments, responsibilities, and possibly the budget as if it were a real proposal. Create a statement of work for the project to guide your team through the process. You will find examples and more information on “Web Professional Resources.”
2. Create a WordPress.com site:
   • Use the company name or its initials and the numbers 123 or 456 for the domain name such as clarkridingstable123.wordpress.com or crs456.wordpress.com.
   • Set the Privacy settings to NOT permit indexing by search engines.
   • Turn off trackbacks and pingbacks.
   • The project must be completed within the limitations and the WordPress.com Terms of Service.
3. Project Website: The finished site requires the following:
   • Warning Class Project: A graphic disclaimer above the fold on the sidebar to indicate this is a class project.
   • Add Team Members: Each student team member must be an Administrator on the site.
     • Site authors/contributors must be represented by names (rename yourselves in the Profiles).
     • Changing the display name on one WordPress.com site changes it across all sites. Sign up for a username with fake usernames under different email addresses if you wish to have multiple authors on the site
   • Content:
     • The About and Contact Pages must be complete with appropriate content and images. It is required you investigate related businesses and their industry in order to complete the project
     • Policies appropriate to the company’s needs must be included.
     • If the company offers services or products, as much specific and technical information as needed to meet the goals of the website must be complete including photographs and graphics.
     • Posts/articles are required to be in appropriate categories and have titles representative of the topics such a business would offer. The article content may be Lorem Ipsum.
     • All content must be “original” or within Copyright Fair Use, not plagiarized.
     • There must be a minimum of 5 categories with three posts per category. The posts should feature appropriate keywords for the business per the post title (and implied subject matter).
   • Look and Feel: Visual styles and graphics must be representative of the company’s goals and customer needs.
   • Social Media: Social media “integration” should be through the use of visuals and tools that do not require the creation of social media accounts. Pretend.
4. Final Project Presentation: The presentation will consist of:
   • Each team member presenting the statement of work and summary of the project assignment and goals, different aspects of the site and the reasoning behind their decisions.
   • A maximum 15 minutes in length with up to 5 minutes for Q&A.
   • The site must be presented live so students can explore it.
   • A PowerPoint presentation is recommended to highlight the project details.

Final Project Tools and Resources

• WordPress Team Project Guidelines
• What is a Website Call to Action?
• Lorem Ipsum: Resources for Dummy Content

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Project Checklist

This is an example of the project checklist that students will use to evaluate and judge their fellow students on their team presentations.

The WordPress Class Project is to help students use their basic WordPress skills and creativity on a work project for a hypothetical client within the limitations of WordPress.com. Please use your best judgement in scoring the project, and if necessary, explain in further detail on the front and page of this paper.

Does the Statement of Work:

• include an outline of the project’s scope?
• feature assigned tasks and responsibilities?
• feature deadlines?
• describe demographics information and research?

Does the site feature:

• About Page?
• Contact Page?
• Policies (appropriate to project goals)?
• Appropriate images?
• Appropriate content topics?
• Product and service descriptions and information representative of the business?
• Posts in appropriate categories?
• Content in appropriate tags?
• Post titles representative of the business and project goals?
• Five categories with three posts per category? If not, how many?
• Author/Contributors representing the project goals?
• Appropriate use of widgets?
• Social media integration and share points?

Answer the following to the best of your ability and explain or comment:

Y	N	Does the site represent the goals of the project proposal?
Y	N	Do you feel the students did their homework and researched the client and their industry?
Y	N	Does the overall look and feel of the site represent the statement of work and project goals?
Y	N	Is the Project’s “call to action” steps complete?

What did the team do best?
How could the team improve?

How would you rate the site as meeting the proposal outline and goals? (5 = excellent)	1	2	3	4	5
How would you rate the team’s presentation?	1	2	3	4	5