Drupal Open Learning Initiative

From Open Learning Labs Wiki

There are many great Drupal learning resources, groups, and tools but they can be somewhat disconnected and spread out. Our goal is to unify and bring these efforts together to provide a complimentary program and platform that serves all Drupal learning initiatives needs and efforts.

Drupal Kata The Drupal Kata is a new project learning program that provides hands on training in a wide range of areas ranging from site planning, drafting proposals, project management, information architecture, development, design, infrastructure, to business and community. It does this by pairing apprentices with a mentor or mentors, thus gaining exposure to real-world scenarios and connections with the local and global community. The knowledge transfer allows apprentices to become proficient, contribute back to the community, and retain the skills for gainful employment in the field of their choice.

Drupal Dojo The evolutionary stages of the program seeks to follow through with the Drupal Dojo 2.0 vision by building off complimentary sites and collaborating with existing teams. A collaboration with the Open Media Project will provide a unique opportunity to craft a custom program to provide development help, training, and documentation and marketing on a regional level.

Contents 1 Program Goals 1.1 Sustainable project learning and training program for Drupal 1.2 A Drupal based learning and collaboration platform 1.3 Complete set of training materials and documentation 2 Program Benefits 2.1 How does this compliment related Drupal learning initiatives? 2.2 How will this benefit the Drupal project and economy? 2.3 How will this benefit individuals and users? 3 A capstone project 4 Milestones 4.1 Phase 1 - DrupalKata.com 4.2 Phase 2 - DrupalDojo.com 5 Project Implementation and Distribution 6 Budget estimate 7 Support and Funding

Program Goals

Sustainable project learning and training program for Drupal

Our primary goal is to create a sustainable project learning and training program for Drupal. We will provide hands on training in areas ranging from site planning, drafting proposals, project management, information architecture, development, design, infrastructure, to Drupal workflows and community.

• Create a curriculum and complete set of training materials
• Define Kata roles, responsibilities, and benefits
• Define how individuals and companies can support the long term sustainably of Drupal learning and training

A Drupal based learning and collaboration platform

An effective platform to provide free online training, mentoring, and a showcase for Drupal (drupaldojo.com), and ultimately a customizable installation profile freely available on drupal.org.

• Centralized repository for learning materials (video, audio, slideshows, documentation)
• Forum to attract, accept, and direct contributor time and resources
• Easy to use platform for real-time online mentoring

Complete set of training materials and documentation

Create a curriculum and complete set of training materials derived from the process of building a website.

• Establish a process for open collaborative development
• Create guidelines on how to define and scope out projects and tasks
• Production guidelines for live sessions and lessons
• Production guidelines for educational videos

Program Benefits

How does this compliment related Drupal learning initiatives?

• Open and agile - The program is open to anyone with a desire to learn and contribute.
• Continuous and sustainable - It will do this by allowing multiple stakeholders to support development projects they care about. Allocating funds to administrators and mentors will ensure stability and a high level of training. open to anyone who wants to receive hands on training (i.e. it is not an internship just for students).
• Local - The program strives to match apprentices with mentors in the same geographic area. This will enable interaction with each other, local Drupal groups, and companies who would like to provide on-site mentoring.

How will this benefit the Drupal project and economy?

First and foremost, the program will address the increasing talent shortage on multiple levels. The emphasis on local outreach will strive to identify and attract students, hobbyists, professionals in other fields, and those looking for new career skills. The continuous nature of the program will allow for increased collaboration and relationships between developers working on similar projects. With all code, documentation, and training materials freely available, there will be increased collaboration between users and stakeholders with similar goals. The Drupal Dojo will provide an effective platform to for real-time collaboration, mentoring, and a showcase for Drupal learning and marketing materials.

How will this benefit individuals and users?

Providing open source code, training, and documentation allows open access to powerful tools for digital publication but also the knowledge how to use them.

A capstone project

Our initial goal is to create a curriculum and complete set of training materials derived from the process of building a website.

Milestones

The initial phase of the project will be considered complete when the program is sustainable and the capstone project is complete. We expect this to happen in phases over a three month period.

Phase 1 - DrupalKata.com

Phase 1 will create a site to facilitate collaboration and documentation of our project and curriculum. It will also serve as conduit to collect funds and credit sponsors. This phase can be completed in a sprint by building off the site developed for the CMS Showdown, and potentially collaborating with their project team.

Phase 2 - DrupalDojo.com

Upon completion of Phase I (drupalkata.com) we will set up a project to facilitate collaboration and documentation of Phase 2. Instead of reinventing the wheel, we will again be building off a complimentary project, but also interfacing with their team to provide development help, training, and documentation and marketing on a regional level. In collaborating with the Open Media Project, we'll be building off a product that's already received a great deal of financial and time investment.

Project Implementation and Distribution

• The Drupal Kata site will be hosted externally (www.drupalkata.com)
• The Drupal Dojo site will be hosted externally (www.drupaldojo.com)
• Install profile and configuration patterns will be available on drupal.org
• The collaboration portal will be available as a hosted solution (TBD)
• Any new modules, themes, site recipes, and documentation developed will be available on drupal.org
• All learning materials, curriculum, courseworks derived from the development will be in the drupal handbooks, drupaldojo.com, and distributed around the web.

Budget estimate

The goal is to raise enough funds to accomplish what's needed to make the overall program sustainable. We estimate is a total of 60 man hours/wk over a 3 month period would be required.

$24k/monthly / $72k for a 3 month period

• Marketing and communications: 80 man hours at 100/hr: 8,000
• Program development: 80 man hours at 100/hr: 8,000
• Production and documentation: 80 man hours at 100/hr: 8,000

Support and Funding

The program will be supported by volunteers, mentors, apprentices, and by the generous support of individual donors, sponsors, and other stakeholders.