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Build my own website? Yes I can!
Those who know me from my PhD journey will likely have encountered one or more posts from my blog sandraflynn.com with the username ‘pathwaytophd’. The blog helped me in a number of ways. It allowed me to capture my own notes from experiences with various tools and technologies, including the time I ‘lost’ my EndNote library! I didn’t make the mistake of tidying up my desktop again when the moving of the library caused this problem and if I ever find myself heading in that direction I can easily refer to my post.
As Learning. Digital. Together. finds its place in the world of lifelong learning, it is my hope that a collection of stories on this page, mine and others’, will help and inspire older adults to maintain our current digital literacy skills, and learn new ones. As stated clearly by many of my PhD interview participants, lifelong learning takes place from cradle to grave.
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In this first story I share my experience of learning a new digital skill, my efforts to build a website. My goal is for the website to be the front door of a social enterprise that is based on my PhD research (Flynn, 2023).
Subsection 6.3.3 provides a basis for informal learning as a mode of digital skills development as stated on p. 207:
Digital skills development for adults in Ireland is over-reliant on the government-provided ETBI service and NGO sector for classroom-based learning and ironically, online learning.
This study has shown, however, that processes of informal learning, both intergenerational and amongst peers, are more beneficial to many. This extends beyond learning and development of digital skills to wider benefits of lifelong learning, in turn improving quality of later life.
I was fortunate enough to pitch successfully for a place on the Ideas Academy programme from Social Entrepreneurs Ireland. It started in July 2023, and runs until September, a short programme but lots to learn from and with everyone involved. I had the opportunity to avail of a 1-1 consultancy session to help me with the question that was nagging me regarding the design and build of my website: ‘What would the programme team advise in the decision to figure it out myself by going it alone or to hire professional services?’
There was however, one more option that Renée, PR & Digital Communications Executive, suggested: do it myself using the Elementor plugin for WordPress. And just like that, the decision was made. I had played around with WordPress themes for my blog over the years, but to me it always lacked a professional look and feel. This was okay since it was really for my own use but now I wanted a professional looking website with a header, footer, policies, statements and the rest.
I departed the consultancy session armed with a page full of suggestions from Renée, Éabha and Lucy, and the enthusiasm to take the next step. I list my key takeaways from the session so that I and others can reference them in the future:
– Yes, I can build a business website myself using WordPress and plugins.
– Yes, I can upskill with free training from Hubspot Academy and other options (personally I consider Aviva from Elementor to be my new best friend with her guided Getting Started course!).
– Next, I plan to look at SEO (search engine optimisation if you didn’t know either!) for my website and other popular plugins for WordPress.
Since I already had wire frames (mock ups of the website pages and associated content) drafted for the website, it was simply a question of navigating through the training and investing in a WordPress business plan so that I could avail of the recommended plugins. Over a period of 15 hours in just one week, and an outlay of €369 including VAT for the business plan, I had the foundations of a website.
Using Elementor with WordPress is a new digital experience for me and while I have loads to learn, I now have the confidence and support to move forward, make mistakes and most importantly, learn from them. After all, life is for learning and digital literacy is an ever-evolving goal.
Can I build my own website? Yes, I can!
Until next time, Sandra
References:
Flynn, S. (2023). Ireland and the lifelong learning curve: The intergenerational contribution to digital literacy for life. [Doctoral Thesis, Lancaster University]. Lancaster University. https://doi.org/10.17635/lancaster/thesis/2034
Sandra Flynn 