For the past several years NMC Audio Tech students have been building WordPress ePortfolios hosted at CloudAccess.net, a local web hosting provider. Students are building beautiful, contemporary websites showcasing their internship and apprenticeship experiences and featuring the technology and equipment they have become proficient in using throughout their program.
CloudAccess.net was established in Traverse City in 2010 and the company offers a Platform as a Service (PaaS) to anyone wanting to build their own website. Users can launch a free 30-day instance of either WordPress or Joomla, use training materials to learn how to customize and personalize their websites, and get help from the company’s outstanding support staff.
In full disclosure, I worked for CloudAccess.net for several years before joining the Ed Tech department in 2015. When I first joined the team at NMC I learned about the ePortfolio efforts that were already underway in Audio Tech. The platforms students were using to develop their sites at the time weren’t user friendly and the students’ products suffered as a result. I proposed that students use WordPress, and reached out to my former colleagues who were very willing to collaborate with us.
Instead of the free 30-day trial, CloudAccess.net offered us free hosting for an entire year. They also offered NMC students free application support and have gone above and beyond to help our students be successful. If we can’t help them answer a WordPress question, students have submitted tickets and have been given a great deal of support. It’s been a great partnership.
Patrick Niemisto, NMC Audio Tech Instructor, had this to say:
As part of our NMC Audio Tech curriculum, we ask graduating students to build a website which includes educational, practical application, and creative aspects of their experience in the program. This site is integral to the successful presentation of their capstone Final Project. Our mentor has been Ryan Bernstein, and he has guided us through the process of creating websites through CloudAccess, and has been a valuable resource for staff and students. We love the wealth of creative choice that the service provides, the proof being some of the remarkable sites that our students have produced on the CloudAccess platform. The tutorials are helpful, and the flexibility allows for users to make a unique presence. CloudAccess has been supportive of our program, and we are grateful for our continued collaboration. Many thanks to all on the CloudAccess team!
Jonathan Gafill, CloudAccess.net CEO, added:
CloudAccess.net is proud to provide free WordPress hosting and it is encouraging to see NMC students utilize the service. Learning how to build a website is a useful skill that we hope will benefit NMC students in their careers.
After the 365-day site expires, several students have elected to purchase a domain name and affordable hosting package at CloudAccess.net to keep their sites active. We’ve also received mini-grants from the Experiential Learning Institute to purchase an additional year of hosting for a few students. Below are a few student ePortfolio sites:
If you’re interested having your students create an ePortfolio please respond to this post or email me directly. We’ve got a lot of materials already set up to help our students be successful with WordPress and CloudAccess.net.