While a quick mockup was completed last year, the actual implementation has begun. I had about 3 weeks over break to begin, including the following initial steps:
- Researched hosting companies
- Researched necessary services needed to host (hosting, site lock, site privacy, SSL and certificates, security, backups, etc.
- Attempted to purchase hosting but of course without a department P-card, it became very complicated. Because Ms. Dickerson was paying with a personal card, we got hung up in a verification process. Eventually I paid for the services myself (I hate having to deal with purchasing paperwork), but still took a few attempts to get Hostgator support to verify and open the account.
- Initial setup and install of WordPress, the Thimpress Education Theme (including Learnpress, Buddypress, TinyMCE, Contact Form, mp_events_manager, Mailchimp, Paid Memberships Pro, SiteOrigin, Woocommerce), Thimpress Template, Backwpup, and Bulletproof security.
- First general setup and editing, creating mock menus, planning basic navigation, Creating User (Membership) Levels and planning capabilities and functions for each user level.
- Began on Community experience. Added pages for each function, learned and setup Mailchimp integration using their API and altered language for use as an email mailing list.
- Researched and chose WP Job Manager as the best way to create a ‘gig’ board that could be utilized by the community to post gigs for musicians to view available gigs and respond.
- That was as far as I could get for the community experience at this time.
- Began work on Prospective Student experience.
- Installed Moodle and created entire Music Theory Placement Test. This involved importing 1000’s of questions (which were created in the past couple of months in another Moodle installation). This took hours of initial creation but at this point was much faster. It still involved about 20 hours of work to import the categories and create the banks and the quiz itself.
- Installed Edweiser Bridge to connect WordPress with Moodle. This allows prospective students to register and signon with the SCFMusic website and take the theory placement test without even knowing they are working within Moodle.
- Worked through all of the Moodle files to match the style to our WordPress template so that the experience is seamless for students.
- Installed and setup the Moodle progress bar so students (and faculty) can see an overview of their progress towards entering the music program.
- Installed “Coming Soon” page and setup to keep bots from searching before the site goes live.
