Using Edublogs/WordPress for Department Websites

As many users of this blog platform know, we are hosted by Edublogs, but our platform is the open source application WordPress. This article from the Professor Hacker blog at the Chronicle for Higher Education, discusses the usefulness of a WordPress site for departmental web presence beyond the traditional format. Read on for more information —

Hacking an Alternative Department Site with WordPress
May 20, 2010, 10:00 am
By Jeffrey W. McClurken

From ProfHacker/Chronicle of Higher Education…

The department website, standardized across an institution, has become a common feature of the digital landscape of higher education. Although it is possible to create something useful with a great deal of work, passionate advocates, and skilled people, in most cases the static, limited department site, often with a single gatekeeper or two, restricted formatting options, and limited multimedia usage doesn’t do a good job of meeting the main goals of a department site.

These sites should, at a minimum, allow faculty of a department to share disciplinary resources, practical announcements, and student/faculty accomplishments with current students. These sites should also increase interaction with the faculty of the department (preferably by doing more than just including email addresses/phone numbers/office hours). Ideally these sites should facilitate communications with alumni and advertise the department to prospective students, the school, and the outside world.

One Potential Solution: WordPress

As you may have noticed, we here at ProfHacker like WordPress. No really; we really, really like WordPress.

http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/hacking-an-alternative-department-site-with-wordpress/24151