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.

The Peer 2 Peer University 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 participants collect badges and certificates for their skills, which industry leaders will recognize and respect. Everything is globally accessible and 100% free and open.

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 tinkering attitude and the 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 to get the skills you really need.

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 gain the technical skills they need. We add peer- and project-based learning to existing open curricula and course materials, enabling participants to build up portfolios of project work and gain the practical open source experience employers want. In addition participants can collect badges and certificates, that industry leaders will recognize and respect.

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" - the way that great developers think, solve problems, and collaborate. That's why the focus is on project portfolios, soft skills and developer challenges -- rather than hours spent in front of a book followed by an exam that has little relevance to the real world.

Democratizing web developer education.

Our long term vision is to build web development training that moves beyond the expensive and outdated options that exist today. 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 Discussion page. --Philipp 10:17, 2 July 2010 (UTC)