Update on P2PU – We are on our way


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.

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!



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