Digital Humanities Questions & Answers

1. 

   Stéfan Sinclair
   Admin

   I teach a programming fundamentals class in our undergraduate Multimedia programme, and I'm considering doing most of the course within a content management system. In some ways this is a bit absurd, but I think working in a CMS is useful experience for the students, and too often I see students thinking they should start websites from scratch instead of leveraging the power and functionality of a CMS.

   My first instinct is to use WordPress, in part because I think it's a good compromise of power and ease (it will be relatively easy for students to install and start using), and in part because I think it's likely to be the most useful platform for them to learn (at least in a first instance). The trouble is that it doesn't seem especially well-suited to experimenting with PHP and Javascript, particularly at the post level (the template level is another story). It looks like it's possible to configure the editor to accept additional tags and plugins to allow PHP, but it seems quite awkward. Maybe I just wasn't able to find the right documentation for WordPress 3.

   For my own stuff I've used Drupal more extensively, and it seems better suited for experimenting with in-post code, but I'm not sure I want to throw Drupal at students who are just beginning to grapple with code and CMS.

   For the benefits of syntax colouring, debugging, and so on, I'll probably have students write most of their code in an external editor, but I'm keen on having them post their work in a way that can be experienced directly in the CMS. I realize that in-post coding is not the most common scenario, but am I missing obvious something in WordPress? Should I be considering something else (that will also be useful to students)?

   BTW, the overall objectives for the course are to have them develop strategies for solving programming problems and to gain experience building dynamic websites. Many will be starting with little to no programming experience.

   Any insights or advice would be greatly appreciated.

   Signed,

   Pedagogically Conflicted (again)

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   Posted 2 years ago Permalink
2. 

   Joe Gilbert
   Admin

   Hi Stéfan,

   While page templates and plugins are the "natural" places to write PHP in WordPress, there seems to be a plugin to add code within posts.

   You might also consider whether a filters-and-hooks style of coding is best for your teaching goals (as opposed to something like an MVC structure). If you are mainly interested in having your students post the end products of platform-agnostic programming exercises, though, this might not be an issue.

   Posted 2 years ago Permalink
3. 

   Dorothea Salo
   Member

   Might it make sense to add a pastebin or even a code repository (a la Trac) alongside the CMS?

   Posted 2 years ago Permalink
4. 

   Stéfan Sinclair
   Admin

   Joe: you're right to ask if the CMS approach is the most appropriate, and there are definitely pros and cons. The biggest factor in my mind is that these are generally beginners and they're not all necessarily that interesting in coding (unlike first year CS students, presumably) – programming is now a requirement for Multimedia (I pushed for that, and I think it's the right approach, but I realize that it's also an uphill battle to get some students motivated).

   When I've taught programming in the past I've always struggled with making the basic building blocks (variables, control structures, functions, etc.) concrete and relevant (as opposed to working on contrived examples that only use what's been covered to that point). I've also taught Rails, and it's true that the scaffolding can help provide students with a more immediate sense of what they're doing and why, but the skills required to tweak a CMS just seem much more relevant to our students than building a web application for scratch. The CMS provides immediate gratification and context (at least in theory).

   Thanks for the link to Exec-PHP; I'd seen it, but it didn't seem clear if it would work with WordPress 3 (I guess I'll just have to try).

   Dorothea, a code repository is a great idea, and I'd probably do just that if it were a programming elective or more advanced course, but as it is, I'll probably just talk about version control later on in the course. I will probably encourage them to use Gist they want to share code and/or request help.

   Posted 2 years ago Permalink
5. 

   John Fink
   Member

   I'd be wary of leaving version control to later on in the course -- I'd want it front and centre so that fledgling programmers get it right out the gate. Version control is sort of a mild pain in the ass to grasp (especially if you haven't programmed) but I think it's so completely *essential* to programming that it'd be a shame to have it considered an afterthought. If you're encouraging them to use Gist, I'd just go whole hog and ask them all to register github accounts and push code up. You could even make a Github organization just for your class.

   Posted 2 years ago Permalink
6. 

   Patrick Murray-John
   Member

   I'd lean toward Drupal, for a couple reasons. First is that the complexity of a Drupal site is really a function of how you build it. Probably I wouldn't want students building it from scratch. Instead I'd set up permissions and modules and content types to guide students toward what they should concentrate on. Doing it that way would, I think, make it simpler than WP in some ways, and would use the tool to focus the pedagogy. If they have their own installations, maybe that would mean an installation profile.

   Second is that having students start writing PHP code would just be a matter of flipping on the PHP filter for students to use.

   Third, and maybe the biggest one, is that I find Drupal's API documentation to be way easier to dig through and figure out how things work. I think that might save a lot of student frustration.

   (I use GeSHi Filter on my Drupal site for code highlighting)

   Posted 2 years ago Permalink
7. 

   Dorothea Salo
   Member

   For the heck of it, I looked, and discovered that WordPress has a pastebin plugin. What I'm not clear on is whether pastebin=post, or whether you can have a codepaste plus commentary in a single post.

   Posted 2 years ago Permalink
8. 

   Stéfan Sinclair
   Admin

   @John: I wholeheartedly agree with you about the significance of version control, but I'd still be worried that having them understand and use version control from the start would be a distraction. Maybe in version 2.0 of this course :)

   @Patrick: I'd probably opt for Drupal if editing themes were as straightforward and embedded as WordPress. But you're right, the power and flexibility of the input formats mechanism of Drupal is appealing. I still find installing and maintaining Drupal more complex than WordPress, and so less of a draw for beginners.

   @Dorothea: thanks!

   Posted 2 years ago Permalink

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