Over the years I’ve taught more than 5,000 beginners WordPress.
Workshops, courses, WordCamps, training sessions, the lot.
And over the past year I’ve also built a slightly alarming number of things with AI. Apps, tools, experiments, websites, and various bits of creative nonsense that probably should not exist, but do.
That combination has made me think a lot about one question:
How do we actually scale WordPress education?
Historically we’ve mostly tried to do it through:
- tutorials
- documentation
- workshops
- WordCamps
- courses
All useful. None especially scalable.
And the reason is simple:
the best way to learn WordPress has never been watching someone build a site.
It has always been building one yourself.
That is why AI feels interesting here.
Instead of starting with a tutorial, a user can start with intent.
Build me a photography website.
Now they have a real starting point. A layout. A structure. A working thing.
And then the product can teach inside that process:
- here’s how this section works
- these are the blocks being used
- want to change the layout?
- want to add a shop? here’s WooCommerce
- want a contact form? let’s do that next
That is the shift.
Education moves from outside the product into the act of building.
And in my experience learning with AI this past year, that is exactly how it works. You make something, tweak it, ask questions, break it slightly, fix it, and keep moving.
Progress first. Understanding second.
If WordPress leans into that, an education flywheel starts to form:
1. More people build their first site
AI lowers the blank-page barrier.
2. More beginners become confident builders
Because the system explains what it is doing.
3. Builders share what they make
Templates, patterns, starter sites, tutorials, videos.
4. Shared examples attract more learners
5. More learners become professionals, creators, and teachers
And the loop repeats.
Learn → Build → Share → Teach → Grow
That is why I think the real opportunity is not just “more education content”.
It is baking education into the product itself.
Because if more people can successfully learn WordPress:
- more sites get built
- more professionals enter the ecosystem
- more agencies can hire talent
- more companies grow on top of WordPress
So the most powerful education tool WordPress could build may not be another course.
It may be a product experience that says:
Tell me what you want to build.
Then helps users build it, explains what is happening, and teaches them as they go.
Curious what others think: what would “education baked into WordPress itself” actually look like in practice?
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