Study projects: overview
The study projects turn reading into working results. Each one builds something small but real on your study installation, uses only features the help documents, and ends with a set of things to hand in and a grading rubric. Do them alone, in a study group, or as assignments from a teacher.
Note
These projects and their grades are practice for you, your study group or your teacher. They are not an official certification and are not issued or endorsed by 7x or the Exponential Foundation; official certifications are planned but not available yet (Certifications and certificates).
Contents
- The ten projects
- How every project is built
- What you hand in
- How projects are graded
- Rules for every project
- Projects and the trainers' assessments
The ten projects
| # | Project | Level | Time | Main features |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A content class of your own | Beginner | 2 h | Content classes, attributes, datatypes |
| 2 | A small site structure | Beginner | 3 h | Folders, articles, media, versions, trash |
| 3 | A template override | Intermediate | 3 h | Designs, override rules, the template language |
| 4 | A page with layouts | Beginner | 2 h | Exponential Layouts: layouts, zones, blocks, mappings |
| 5 | A multilingual site | Intermediate | 3 h | Content languages, translations, SiteLanguageList |
| 6 | Search that finds the right things | Intermediate | 2 h | Searchable attributes, the search index |
| 7 | Reading content over the REST API | Intermediate | 3 h | ezprestapi, personal API keys, curl |
| 8 | Your first extension | Intermediate | 4 h | Extensions, modules, views, templates |
| 9 | Roles for a restricted editor | Intermediate | 2 h | Users, groups, roles, policies, limitations |
| 10 | Capstone: a complete small site | Advanced | 2 to 4 days | All of the above |
Times are for a learner who has finished the steps of the matching learning path. Which projects belong to which path is in Choosing a learning path.
How every project is built
Each project page has the same parts:
| Part | What it gives you |
|---|---|
| At a glance | Level, time, prerequisites and the learning path |
| Goal | What you will have at the end |
| Before you start | What to read and prepare |
| Tasks | Numbered tasks, each with what you should see |
| Hand in | The list of things to deliver |
| Rubric | How the work is graded |
| Stretch goals | Optional extras for a higher mark or for fun |
What you hand in
Unless a project says otherwise:
- A short report (one or two pages, Markdown is fine): what you built, the pages you used, the problems you met and how you solved them. Your study journal is the raw material.
- Screenshots of the result, with no passwords, keys or personal data on screen.
- Files you wrote (templates, settings, PHP, scripts), in a Git repository of your own
(Using Git as a student). Never commit
settings/override/, passwords or keys. - The release you worked on (the first line of
php bin/php/console --version).
How projects are graded
Every project uses the same four criteria, scored 0 to 3, plus project-specific checks. The full method is on Grading your own work.
| Criterion | Asks |
|---|---|
| It works | Does the result do what the goal says, on the release named? |
| It is built the documented way | Overrides instead of edited core files, settings in the right place, roles instead of shared accounts |
| It is safe | Escaped output, no secrets in files, only invented data, access control where needed |
| It is explained | Can a reader follow the report and repeat the work? |
Rules for every project
- Work on a study installation, never on a live site or a site with real data.
- Use invented content and test addresses at
example.invalid. - Cite the pages you used, by title and link.
- Do not copy another learner's work. Helping each other is fine; say who helped.
- If a step on a help page is wrong, report it (Improving the help as a student). That counts in your favor.
Projects and the trainers' assessments
The trainers have their own assessments: written tests, practical tasks with rubrics and capstones, written for courses they teach (Assessments and practical exercises). The study projects here are written for self study and cover similar ground. If you take a course, your trainer's assessment counts for that course; the projects are good preparation for it (Taking a course with a trainer).
Related pages
- Grading your own work
- Building a portfolio
- Student checklists
- Free documentation: this page is free to copy, translate and improve under the GNU FDL 1.3.
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