WordPress is our Bucknell-hosted blogging platform, powered by the publicly available WordPress software. A blog or “Web log” is most frequently an individual journal posted on the Web for a public audience, with the most recent post at the top of the page and previous posts listed below that most recent post in reverse chronological order.
Within a course setting, blogs are often used as a “pre-writing” space for students, allowing the students to present ideas in front of a public audience – usually their fellow students in the course – in order to develop the students’ voice and to increase their awareness of potential audience reactions to their ideas. Faculty members can link to WordPress blogs from within a Moodle course site, tightly integrating the assignment into other course-related work.
WordPress is a user-friendly platform, making it easy for faculty members and students to create professional-looking Web spaces without needing any knowledge of HTML code. The WordPress interface allows people to create “posts” – the chronologically organized entries we have described – and “pages” – which are basically Web pages created within an overarching structured governed by a chosen theme. WordPress can thus be a platform to create a professional Web site or a public, Web-based professional portfolio, using those pre-existing themes to add visual interest to your site.
Please contact ITEC if you have any questions about using WordPress for a course or for your professional Web presence.