Drumbeat/p2pu/one pager

Open web developer training for the world. Powered by everyone.

Mozilla and Peer 2 Peer University are creating the P2PU School of Webcraft, a great place to learn standards-based web development. Our goal: enabling people around the world to easily access and build careers on open web technology.

We're using Peer 2 Peer University's platform for "learning for everyone, by everyone" that is powered by learners, mentors, and contributors like you. P2PU School of Webcraft will offer online courses focused on practical, project-based developer training. Courses are proposed, developed and led by active web developers, which means they are always up to date and focused on real-world projects. And everything is globally accessible and 100% free and open.

Building careers on open web technologies

P2PU Webcraft will provide skills anyone can use to build web development careers. From static HTML sites to reading code to advanced social web applications, participants will learn to think and code like successful developers, understand how open standards and tools allow them to build a better web, and get practical experience working on their own projects. We will also offer badges and certificates that industry leaders will recognize and respect. Learners develop a portfolio to showcase their work and gain the practical open source experience employers want.

We believe technical training and certification no longer needs to be expensive, exclusive or proprietary. P2PU Webcraft invites the world to learn, share and participate in developing strong technology careers, self-empowerment, and a better web.

The problem: developer certification can be expensive, out of touch, and out of reach

Traditional developer training and certification is cumbersome, often different from what students and employers really need, and priced out of reach for too many. Certificate courses tend to focus on a single proprietary technology -- limiting student's exposure to a the broad mix of tools and platforms that are needed in the current web development climate. Access to this proprietary technology and software is also expensive, adding economic barriers to entry.

Many traditional accreditation programs ignore the fact that the best developers teach themselves. Even amongst developers with degrees, the most valuable learning is generally self-taught or comes from engagement with peers. This hacker attitude and ability to work with peers is crucial, since it's how the best developers learn and practise their craft in the real world.

The solution: learning with your peers and meaningful assessment of your skills.

P2PU School of Webcraft delivers peer learning on demand, with training that's responsive to the innovation of the open web. We're designing courses -- proposed by anyone, any time, anywhere -- that comprise a curriculum to give learners pathways from novice web developer to advanced web craftsman. The focus is on project portfolios, hacker attitudes, and developer challenges -- rather than hours spent in front of a book followed by an exam that has little relevance to the real world. We are also developing new ways of assessing and recognising skills and knowledge, through transparent certification and badges.

P2PU Webcraft takes the "do it yourself" ethos the best developers have already and turns it into a scalable way to teach and learn. Peer learners will not only gain technical skills, but also a certain attitude and approach to web development that we call "hacker's habits". Our online learning environment simulates actual working conditions and allows participants to develop communication, collaboration, and leadership skills. Learning at the P2PU School of Webcraft operates more like the open web itself: distributed, global, self-organizing, and constantly evolving. We provide the missing link in the between auto-didacts and institutions.

Democratizing web developer education.

Our long term vision is to build web development courses that progress beyond the expensive and outdated training options that exist today. We are establishing the P2PU School of Webcraft as a grassroots league of extraordinary open web developers. We are striving to spread opportunity and open standards that not only build careers on open web technology, but that also help build and improve the open web itself.

By training a new generation of developers in open source values and skills, we can can massively impact the open web's future. We seek to establish web development as a creative endeavour independent of a particular set of proprietary technological tools or platforms.

Project info-graphic

First-draft info-graphic. This is a doodle only -- NOT actual design.

Notes & Feedback

Moved all comments to the [[1]] page. --Philipp 10:17, 2 July 2010 (UTC)