Running an Exponential training course
This page is for trainers at partner companies. It walks through preparing, running and following up a course.
1. Define goal and audience
Write one sentence: "After this course, [audience] can [task] in Exponential without help." Everything else follows from it. Keep audiences separate: editors, administrators and developers need different courses.
2. Prepare the environment
- One installation per participant, or one shared installation with one account per participant.
- Use the current release of the line the participants will work with.
- SQLite is the default database and needs no database server, which makes training installations simple (Database support).
- Use test accounts only; never real customer data or the customer's live site.
- Reset the environment between courses.
3. Agenda templates
Editors, one day
| Time | Topic | Help page |
|---|---|---|
| 09:00 | Signing in, the administration | Accounts and sign-in, Admin tour |
| 10:00 | Creating and editing content | Editing content |
| 11:30 | Images and media | Images and media |
| 13:30 | Publishing and versions | Publishing and versions |
| 14:30 | Languages | Languages |
| 15:30 | Layouts | The layouts editor |
| 16:30 | Finding help, keyboard shortcuts | Searching, Keyboard shortcuts |
Administrators, one day
| Topic | Source |
|---|---|
| Requirements and installation methods | doc/eng-us/install/02-requirements.md to 07-console-install.md |
| Serving the site, engines | doc/eng-us/install/08-serving-the-site.md |
| Security hardening | Security hardening |
| Passwords and accounts | Change the admin password |
| Upgrading | doc/eng-us/install/11-upgrading.md |
| When something goes wrong | When something goes wrong |
Developers, two days
| Topic | Source |
|---|---|
| Git workflow | Develop with Git |
| Extensions by hand and with the RAD tools | Extensions |
| Releasing an extension | Extensions, "Release it" |
| Contributing back | CONTRIBUTING.md, Contributing code back |
4. Exercises
Make each exercise a real task with a visible result: "Publish an article in two languages with an image", "Add a setting to an extension and read it in a template". Give a solution sheet afterwards.
5. Material and licenses
Material adapted from the help stays under the GFDL 1.3 or later: keep the notices and pass on the same freedoms (Free documentation). Your own original slides may be under any license, but a free license helps the community and earns points as published material.
6. Evaluation and follow-up
Course evaluation
1. Can you now <goal task> without help? yes / partly / no
2. What was most useful? ______________
3. What was missing? ______________
4. Pace: too slow / right / too fast- Send participants the links to the help pages used in the course.
- Log the course for points (Logging your partner activity).
- Turn repeated questions into improvements of the documentation (Contributing documentation and translations).
Related pages
- Training partners
- Student and education partners
- Free documentation: this page is free to copy, translate and improve under the GNU FDL 1.3.