update on P2PU - first set of courses launched on 9 September 2009
Philipp Schmidt
The sails were set and on 9 September 2009 P2PU got on its way and
launched a first set of 7 courses. We have been stingy with updates,
so this one is a little bit longer than usual - so much has happened.
We hope to send you more concise updates more regularly in the future.
Get the updates on our blog - http://blogs.p2pu.org/blog/2009/09/01/update/
* Who signed up?
227 people completed the sign-up form for our 7 pilot courses. A
little more than half are based in the US, but we have had sign-ups
from 35 different countries. We ended up accepting about 90 students
into the first round of courses, but kept everyone's contact details
on file for the next round. A few nice graphs and maps of our sign-up
cohort can be found here: http://p2pu.org/Application-Statistics
* Getting credit where credit is due
The first P2PU student managed to get official credit. Tom Caswell
writes: "I am a lifelong learner, but I am also a full-time PhD
student at Utah State University. (BTW, I was able to get independent
study credit for this course through USU.)". And participants in the
land restoration course are taking the course as part of their formal
studies. Looking ahead, Chris Geith is doing amazing work linking us
to various organisations that might be able to accept P2PU students
for assessment and accreditation in the future. Thank you Chris!!!
* Our good vibes are popular
We received over 11,000 visitors to our web-site during the first 4
weeks. And more than 300 people have bookmarked our site on
del.icio.us. 11 even bookmarked the old concept document (all of you
of course). We haven't finished analysis of our first participant
survey yet, but more than half of the respondents said that they liked
the "good vibe" of the project.
* We are having loads of fun while everyone is learning - quotes from
course organisers and participants
"It was a great chat, very interesting, and fun. People are really
engaged and we had some really nice themes that came up. And they're
all really nice to each other too. ... And jeez but they're all
frikken smart and know their stuff. I'm super impressed with them all.
They totally underestimated their own levels of expertise." Bekka Kahn
(Cyberpunk course)
"Just sharing some thoughts: I don't know what were your expectations,
but I must confess that I'm impressed and delighted with students'
level. Their contributions are amazing: very informed, intellectual,
always pointing a distinct angle from which to analyse problems... I
am Learning with them, and I think this is the whole point... Thanks
for the opportunity, Guys!" Ana Rosa Amorim (Neuroethics ccourse)
"It's kind of like self-study, but you have someone to hold you
accountable ." (Participant in the copyright course)
* Riding the waves
Some of us received Google Wave accounts and we are experimenting with
it as part of a P2PU technology solution. If you have contacts into
the Wave community or are interested in Wave development in education,
let us know.
* P2PU goes Berlin
We are using our Hewlett Grant money to bring all the course organiser
volunteers to Berlin for a P2PU workshop from 11-15 November. If you
are around, drop us a note, we'd love to meet you in person. 9
November is the 20th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall in
case you needed another excuse.
The P2PU Team!