Open Source Ecology Shuttleworth Foundation, 31 May 2012

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From YouTube: P2PU

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With founder, Philip Schmidt

A

We're here in berlin, with philip from p2p university, okay, so philip tell us the essence of the functionality of p2p university. What's what's it's like quickly what the history is and what the present platform is, because I heard there's a lot of evolution going on in the project. If you could basically describe what it is right now how how could an organization like open source ecology get involved using it creating materials sure.

B

It's a lot of questions so uh essentially peer university is a community of people who are building a new type of university. Where you know anyone can participate in building it and it's it's underpinned by three values: openness, so that anyone can participate and that all the materials that we produce all the source code we produces, you know, can be reused by others. Community.

B

We do everything on a public mailing list. We, you know, there's a lot of uh kind of deliberation.

B

People from all over the world are part of the kind of the peer to peer feels like a community and then peer learning, because we believe that learning with other people who are not necessarily exactly at the same level as you, but who are consider themselves, learners as well, is the best way to learn.

B

So our platform supports uh essentially allows anyone to create a course for other people. Okay,.

A

So, nuts and bolts of it, how does that work yeah so.

B

There's two models: one is a more traditional model where you're a facilitator and you create the course materials online and then you can have people. You know sign up for the course.

C

B

You can walk them through the you know, weekly readings. You can kind of set the pace or set the rhythm uh and and support them through the course and everyone works together and then there's various variations of that some of the courses are more predefined. Others are more creative, as people go through them, so they decide what they want to do. You know as a group, so that's the more traditional course model and then we introduced about six months ago.

B

We introduced something we call challenges which are designed to deal with the a problem with courses where, if a course runs at a particular time with a facilitator- and you come two weeks too late- then there's nothing for you to to do it. You have to wait until it runs again, and some challenges are the idea that you take a course and you redesign the content so that anyone could start learning on their own, but because they're all doing it in the same space.

B

They start forming a community of peer learners around that piece of content and the content is designed to facilitate a review of each other's work, and each challenge has some kind of a making aspect. So, in the.

C

B

You have to make something.

C

You have to share it.

B

With other people, you have to put it on the web.

C

B

And you know there's a kind of a peer review in helping helping each other ethos.

A

C

B

A

Are the quality control means to for the course material itself? Do you? How do you address that.

B

So we don't filter at the, so I think there are two generally two models right. You filter what can come into the platform or you try to surface quality, we're very strongly on the surface quality.

A

B

A

B

Try to make it easier for people to. First of all, I think people want.

C

To create great courses right so.

B

I think that's the first kind of you have to make that switch so.

C

We try to support.

B

C

If someone creates.

B

Of course we contact them, we say hey, do you need help? Here's.

A

Some guidelines.

B

Here's some handbooks look at.

A

The courses you've got how extensive is your guidelines handbook standards for this platform very.

B

Minimal very minimal, because the the reality is that people don't read handbooks okay,.

C

B

We've created, actually what we've done is for challenges which is kind of a more unusual model and people, I think, need more background on what it challenges. We've created, a challenge that you can work through to create your own challenge.

C

Because we figured.

B

That might be a good way right, rather than telling you. This is what a challenge looks like.

C

Well, why don't you.

B

Do a challenge: okay,.

C

B

At the end is your own challenge. You know on any topic, so so maybe that comes back to your original question. You know: how could we work together if.

A

We generate instructional materials.

B

You could work through those challenges like that challenge and see what how you would frame the content that you're developing. I wouldn't so, I think, there's a difference between a challenge, or course, and a handbook or reference material. I think those serve very different purposes.

C

B

Is when you already have a need to build something and you're self-motivated, and you just need to kind of to refer to something if you get stuck, whereas a course or a challenge is much more helping. You understand why this is something you want to do, maybe framing the context um and- and I think in europe. In your context, it would be more interesting to apply the co p2p. You model to the broader ideas you have around. How civilization is changing.

A

B

Just a simple build: attractor, okay.

C

I mean, I think we could talk.

B

We could try both. It would be interesting, but I suspect that build a tractor would be a like the people who would take that challenge be.

C

B

Be very narrow, and I would suspect that the people who want to go through those steps like they already know why they want to build a tractor they're already highly motivated, and they.

C

A

They want to kind of.

B

Get there as quickly as they can yeah.

A

B

If you can give them like here, are the seven steps to building a tractor? Here's the plan, you know, then the the tractors, the outcome yeah.

A

B

You don't necessarily want them to spend a lot of, or they probably don't want to spend a lot of time thinking. What does it mean to be building your own tractor yeah.

A

But those are the kind of questions I think.

C

That you're interested in.

B

Which would lend themselves more to.

A

A more high-level course yeah, excellent by the way, there's already a course on open source organizational scaling on at p2pu.

B

A

C

I had no idea after talking to claire.

A

Okay, well, philip thanks so much so look forward to see how we can work together, great.

B

Me too, and thank you thanks, phil maxine.