Please describe your proposed solution.
Too much education is done online these days. This might be ok for experienced developers and established communities - but online is not the right way to form new developers and create communities.
Cardano has a lot of documentation online but very few in-person courses. This can be seen, for example, in the lack of regional CIP-1694 workshops, despite increasing adoption rates, which indicates a need for more dedicated onboarding.
The pandemic has forever altered how people learn and work. A lot of the education sector moved online out of a need to keep students protected and has never come back. Although remote learning has been widely used, it is undeniable that in-person learning offers distinct advantages.
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In-person learning enables superior communication and collaboration. When individuals meet face-to-face, they can pick up on nonverbal cues like body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice. This ability helps prevent misunderstandings and miscommunications when relying solely on email or video conferencing. Moreover, in-person learning fosters more productive discussions, and brainstorming sessions as participants can spontaneously exchange ideas;
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In-person learning provides a more engaging experience. Attending conferences or trade shows in person lets attendees immerse themselves in the event. They can interact with fellow attendees, explore exhibits, and participate in workshops and seminars. Consequently, this leads to a more enriching and satisfying experience, enabling attendees to acquire new skills, expand their knowledge, and establish new connections;
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In-person learning contributes to the development of stronger relationships. Meeting face-to-face enables individuals to connect deeper, establishing trust and rapport. This is particularly crucial for networking, where relationship-building is essential for business success. Additionally, it provides opportunities for attendees to socialize outside the professional context, fostering personal connections and creating a sense of community;
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In-person learning can positively impact mental health and well-being. Social isolation has been linked to increased levels of stress and anxiety. In-person interactions offer an opportunity for people to break out of their routines, interact with others, and engage in activities that promote mental health;
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In-person learning can have a positive effect on the economy. In-person events offer businesses opportunities to discuss their products, services and career opportunities, network with other companies and the potential workforce.
While online has its advantages, there is no substitute for the benefits of in-person interactions.
<u>Solution</u>
To address the lack of in-person learning for developers, we have created a Dev Course geared towards giving the general public an overview of what blockchains are and then diving deep into the Cardano stack for those interested in developing on Cardano.
We now want to use that content, translate it into Portuguese and organise in-person Dev Courses to form new Cardano developers in Angola and put them in touch with local businesses.
The educational material has been written by the team at Dynamic Strategies and is available at this link in English: <https://dynamicstrategies.io/docs/workshop-content-guide/>
The Dev Course is split into 2 parts. The first part runs over the first 2 to 4 days and covers the basics of the blockchain and how Cardano fits into it. This part is particularly useful for local businesses. The second part runs over the second 2 to 4 days and is more hands-on and geared towards forming new developers - it teaches them how to interact with and build on Cardano.
We propose to deliver the following:
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Translate the Dev Course into Portuguese and open-source it;
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Organize an in-person Dev Course in Luanda, Angola, over 4 to 8 days;
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Attract local businesses to learn the basics of blockchain and network with Dev Course students.
The project will be delivered by Dynamic Strategies in partnership with two local businessmen. Dalmo and Ricardo are local businessmen with over 20y experience in the fields. Over the years, they have accrued contacts in Telecoms, Natural resources, the Financial sector, Big 4 Consultancies, and Marketing. They will use their contacts to engage local businesses to participate in the Dev Course through local social media and existing contacts on the ground.
How does your proposed solution address the challenge and what benefits will this bring to the Cardano ecosystem?
This proposal addresses the following questions in the challenge settings:
Q: How do we attract developers from outside of our current community to participate in Catalyst?
A: We are proposing an in-person training course to train developers in isolated regions in their language. This will help onboard new developers into the Cardano and create a local developer ecosystem.
Q: What do developers want, and how do they get it from the Cardano dev ecosystem?
A: A section in the training course provides the new developers with an overview of how they can find help independently and participate in Catalyst.
Q: What are enterprise dev managers looking for to be able to build out enterprise projects - either internal or commercial?
A: The first part of the education program invites local businesses to learn the basics of blockchains and what commercial problems blockchains help to solve. This allows them to interact with the new developer community and the potential for employment opportunities
This proposal also aligns with more than one Direction in the challenge setting. Specifically:
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It increases the “Knowledge base & Documentation” by creating a structured education program for developers in their mother tongue;
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Provides “Samples, recipes and templates” by giving new developers examples of how to get started with the Cardano toolset;
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Organizes a “Hackathon” where on the last day of the education program, the students are encouraged to experiment with smart contracts and interact with the local business community on commercial use cases.
Delivering the Dev Course increases the awareness of what blockchains are in general and Cardano in particular. The first 2 days of the proposal give a general introduction to blockchains and Cardano, and the second 2 days give a hands-on experience of interacting and building on Cardano. This Dev Course gives the tools to participants to start exploring and further progress their knowledge of Cardano. This paves the way for increased adoption.
The training will be organized locally and delivered by a professional with over 20y professional experience in the tech and finance industries. A local company will support the course delivery, it will arrange the logistics, marketing, and engage local sports to provide additional support for the event and longer-term engagement.
Engaging the sponsors early in the process, we will aim to demonstrate the capability of the Cardano blockchain to solve business use cases and connect the participants in the Dev Course with potential employers. A physical course will demonstrate the presence of a Cardano community in the local economy to the large corporations.
This will increase the adoption of Cardano in Africa by discussing the use cases for blockchains and Cardano with participants and local businesses.
How do you intend to measure the success of your project?
The Dev Course will onboard new developers into the Cardano ecosystem and create a base of local experts that local businesses and consultancies can rely on.
Project Catalyst will be discussed during the course and the opportunities that exist within for the locals to participate as proposers and/or accessors
The second part of the Dev Course is a hands-on experience to launch a cardano-node, interact with it, create NFTs and interact with smart contracts. This forms the basis for the participants then to go and launch their own projects. Dmitry Shibaev, who will deliver the course, has projects funded through Catalyst and, therefore, will be able to give practical guidance.
Our two local partners will engage local businesses, large corporations and institutions well ahead of the event. Dalmo Silva and Ricardo Silva have deep connections in large corporations and local institutions gained over the decades by running their businesses and operating the local economy
A report with the following KPIs will be produced at the end of each month
Documentation KPI
- The number of teacher notes topics translated
- The number of slide topics translated
Event KPI
- Event location identified and booked
- Number of registered for the first 2 days
- Number of registered for the second 2 days
- Number of businesses attending the event
Post Event KPI - collected via a poll of participants 1 month after the course
- Number of mainent wallets registered
- Number of new subscribers to Plutus Pioneer
- Number of new SPOs
- Number of participants who gained employment
Please describe your plans to share the outputs and results of your project?
The translation in Portuguese will be published on our website and will be free for the community to use. It will be distributed under the Creative Commons License (CC BY 4.0) that allows copying and redistributing the material in any medium or format, as well as remixing, transforming, and building upon the material for any purpose, including commercial as long as attribution is attribution to the creator is made.
The material will be made available on our website alongside the English version of the text <https://dynamicstrategies.io/docs/workshop-content-guide/>
We will also share updates on the planning and during the Dev Course on our twitter account https://twitter.com/dynamic_io