---
title: "E: Ad hoc book clubs"
---

- #E #p #public<span id='bzjONIuro'/>
- What would it look like to pay someone to facilitate a ad hoc reading circle?<span id='D0Z5v1kTj'/>
- How much of a subject expert do you have to be to lead a productive class?<span id='opBkuGucH'/>
    - What if the participants know that you are another subject expert,<span id='CEm48NpRk'/>
        - link to the guy in Singapore where they have both the subject expert, nationalization expert in all classes?<span id='zkDvPXWpz'/>
- Are there things that we could automate, like the work that Ari was doing?<span id='GXyWltRap'/>
    - Where it automatically puts in different social problems and so on?<span id='6eOyUMyZp'/>
- **P2PU** video by **Philipp Schmidt** in 2010<span id='ztlKDwKdg'/>
    - https://vimeo.com/11158136<span id='8pszN7l1r'/>
    - The current model of higher education is broken.<span id='CRNN47VqM'/>
        - We're not getting the skills we need,<span id='xiYA4W2An'/>
            - especially in technical disciplines.<span id='DBHzjn4cp'/>
            - the important skills like leadership, collaboration, communication and attitude of curiosity and problem solving. those skills are really taught at universities,<span id='3rhDpMcYw'/>
        - we're paying too much money for it.<span id='NvVvdMvCX'/>
            - the cost is too high. If I graduate from a top us University today, I can easily be in debt more than $100,000. At that cost quality education does not scale.<span id='JLpEbOxjX'/>
    - And the model that we have today doesn't scale to meet the demand of tomorrow.<span id='GFK7yaTU4'/>
        - What we learn over the four year course of a bachelor's degree at the end of that degree is almost invariably outdated.<span id='6obflWW-U'/>
            - What that means is we need to keep learning for the rest of our lives, and ideally in small flexible increments.<span id='fA75CggyL'/>
        - We can't meet the demand,<span id='I28t6YuKk'/>
            - especially transition countries like India, China, Brazil, South Africa, will have millions of young people looking for higher education opportunities.<span id='trMn8NOiz'/>
            - The model where one person an expert stands in front of a group of people either in a room Virtually, there's simply not scale to meet this demand.<span id='hfTZQr-G3'/>
    - Enter Peer2Peer University.<span id='pY-k5dA1g'/>
        - Premise<span id='Y7O5O9E-p'/>
            - The idea that there's a wealth of educational content, high quality educational content available online,<span id='DXAJnr8zu'/>
            - that the internet connects us to millions of other people we can learn with.<span id='ktEGbqI1k'/>
            - And then we can design new ways of recognizing that learning that gives people the kind of credentials that they need to succeed in life.<span id='-mRVI6Ffj'/>
        - Timeline<span id='8ZIeJ5d3z'/>
            - A year ago, P2P University was just a hunch, we thought that there was room for innovation to make all this content that's out there more useful to more people.<span id='poxcz77Ey'/>
            - So a small group of us from all over the world volunteers mostly got together and tried it out.<span id='80ZBXVnw0'/>
                - We ran a pilot with seven courses with over 230 people apply. We could only accept 80.<span id='mlU4n3A1j'/>
                - But what we saw was there was demand there was interest. People liked the idea.<span id='OcedcoC-z'/>
            - Today, a year later, we know that the basic premise was valid.<span id='dVyuTVp6j'/>
                - We can see that high education is changing in fundamental ways<span id='F_KgmYkM2'/>
                - that there's room for disruptive innovation, and that's where P2P University fits in<span id='oJr4XwLgG'/>
        - P2PU does two things.<span id='NobWCti1x'/>
            - One, we create opportunities for peer to peer learning and online study groups.<span id='QFRs6A3_j'/>
                - The education research tells us that study groups are the most efficient way for students to learn, and that teaching someone else is the best way for us to learn something. So that's what P2P university does.<span id='hbJm-7Py_'/>
                - It brings together people in six week long courses where they work through a common set of course materials together and support each other<span id='HoMJ3NX0C'/>
            - Two: P2P University enables recognition of learning.<span id='JupgbpM8A'/>
                - Learning for learnings sake is a luxury, most people need a diploma or certificate of some kind to show other people what they've learned.<span id='sZKOllUn0'/>
                - We already have pathways to credit<span id='VmnWeWHk6'/>
                    - so one participant received for independent study credit that counted towards his PhD degree at a US University.<span id='3vw7amaL3'/>
                - However, real innovation this space means rethinking this whole accreditation and certification system all together.<span id='ZQkMEecaI'/>
                    - We're working with the Mozilla Foundation to try that out for web developers.<span id='A50S0P2M1'/>
                        - We're designing a curriculum of courses that are completely free and open.<span id='t0QTFtbEV'/>
                        - We are building a better assessment model that looks not only technical skills but also hackers attitude.<span id='vNo6Vfqrl'/>
                    - And finally, we're designing something that could look like a portfolio or some form of certificate that you can take at the end to an employer and get a job.<span id='nsDKymBS7'/>
            - P2PU is hitting a nerve.<span id='67Y47DQrS'/>
                - Demand for our courses has doubled.<span id='jV8Ybanux'/>
                - The community is growing at an exponential rate.<span id='4UbOJdE1E'/>
                - articles have appeared in print and online media all over the world in many different languages.<span id='tRyQ3rWH7'/>
                - We've been invited to universities to speak about the model.<span id='hSxf3Y5qp'/>
                    - They're interested how they could relate to it. And what's great is that a lot of these requests come from transition economies.<span id='oXnBWezcS'/>
                        - We not only speak at some of the best universities in the world like Yale and UC Berkeley, but we get invited to universities in India and China and Brazil and South Africa. It's in those places that we believe the possibility for disruptive innovation is greatest. And that's where we're focusing.<span id='91uzoKu7X'/>
            - What about sustainability.<span id='bIL6F-1P3'/>
                - P2PU been fortunate to get some grant funding to get off the ground.<span id='_wasPLcBB'/>
                    - We've had a small grant from the Hewlett Foundation<span id='Uxw9NuB4b'/>
                    - and the funds that I've been able to access to my fellowship with the Shuttleworth Foundation have allowed us to experiment and innovate very, very fast.<span id='07PxOAIai'/>
                - However, grant funding cannot be a long term sustainability strategy, three ideas,<span id='0k-I8vYUF'/>
                    - one, donations from participants,<span id='QsLmErKn1'/>
                        - people have indicated that they're willing to donate.<span id='heGlCVZjy'/>
                    - We're going to try it out to p2p use as a platform offering our services, the methodology, the community and the technology to universities and NGOs that need to run training courses, but don't have the capacity to do so in their own infrastructure.<span id='l3Ikcp_AI'/>
                    - And three, and this is the real area of opportunity. Open accreditation,<span id='3eFG96s7-'/>
                        - we thinking along a freemium model, with<span id='iSU2ytWwN'/>
                            - a basic recognition of your skills will always be free, but that we add<span id='HwFVTFBq5'/>
                            - premium services on top of that, which employers or employees might be willing to pay for.<span id='SZlu8WXUg'/>
            - This last year has been one crazy and exciting, right? We were focused on building, building, building,<span id='D5ZHapXBf'/>
                - building a community,<span id='Wd23rhxvn'/>
                - building a set of courses,<span id='1VISTD5Cd'/>
                - building partnerships,<span id='Wsv6ZNeX_'/>
                - building momentum.<span id='hNgMyCFN2'/>
                - Building a buzz,<span id='ejjqlkaUk'/>
                - building a new website,<span id='FPJDx3aGX'/>
                - building building building.<span id='XsENPZrhK'/>
            - Now it's time to step back and refocus. We know the basic ideas about it. But a lot of the details still need to be worked out. We can't do everything that's needed in the next year and become completely self sustainable.<span id='BCizVh2qr'/>
                - However, I think we can meet five important objectives in the next year.<span id='Aepe1d42g'/>
                    - 1 - P2P University will run courses with 1000 people based on a robust methodology for peer learning that maximizes learning for everyone.<span id='2aGjWtan0'/>
                    - 2 - And we'll be ready to scale up further to we will have the logistics administrative and financial systems in place that can support our expected growth.<span id='Z9yzcgx8G'/>
                    - 3 - P2PU will be a vibrant, open community of volunteers that are involved in all aspects of the project, including governance and strategy<span id='4-L4hDDrU'/>
                    - 4 - Mozilla open web certificate will be established as a top training and certification program for web developers<span id='5Vo673M6V'/>
                    - 5 - we will have a solid strategic and business plan in place that has community buy in, and that specifies how we're going to become self sustainable by monetizing aspects of the project.<span id='bIIy9cuFp'/>
- More thoughts<span id='kwMl873s0'/>
    - Also want ad hoc online book clubs... Like a community where I can say "I want to read this paper or listen to this podcast, who wants to discuss (sync/async) with me in two days"? Or see which content is already scheduled which you can join. Or even series, like "We will watch five Bret VIctor videos over five weeks, new cohort starting this Monday".. And people could curate playlists of content with discussion questions etc...  #**E: Ad hoc book clubs**<span id='YjL665KaR'/>
        - **Andy Matuschak** says that book clubs/seminars can be very effective if organized well (obvious question, what does well mean? What are good and bad ways of organizing book clubs? He does mention that it's less about debate and more about different perspectives).<span id='_RLlnYvxe'/>
        - that we could do something innovative around [[Awakening From the Meaning Crisis]],<span id='VxnG0jpRn'/>
            - Nice that you're enjoying Awakening. Let me know if you'd like to experiment with something social around that - sharing notes, book club etc.<span id='7kq7mYAI1'/>
        - **Peer2Peer University** that I worked on was kind of like that. I have a slow-burning idea that we need some kind of platform for "reading groups/study groups" - whether I want a cohort to watch a single John Vervaeke video with, or maybe there's a pre-made sequence of four videos on climate engineering, or maybe it's finding people to do a public MOOC with... not sure what the platform would offer - some social network (or build on Twitter etc?), easy mailing list, easy Zoom/Hangout integration? Wouldn't have to be tech heavy but just really low friction... Could also build on for example Interintellect community.<span id='xtw1ZAWj8'/>