Andamio platform: Open Source Educational Revolution

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Sebastian Pabon

[GENERAL] Email address of main applicant

sebpabon@gimbalabs.io

Additional applicants

Gimbalabs Team, Andamio Team.

[GENERAL] Please specify how many months you expect your project to last (from 2-12 months)

5

[GENERAL] Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated into English from another language.

No

[GENERAL] Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?

No

[GENERAL] If YES, please describe what the dependency is and why you believe it is essential for your project’s delivery. If NO, please write “No dependencies.” .

No dependencies.

[GENERAL] Will your project’s output/s be fully open source?

Yes

[GENERAL] If NO, please describe which outputs are not going to be open source. If YES, please write “Project will be fully open source.”

Project will be fully open source.

[METADATA] Category of Proposal

Dev Ecosystem Collaboration

[METADATA] SDG rating

SDG goals:

Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all

SDG subgoals:

By 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship

By 2030, achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including for young people and persons with disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal value

Key Performance Indicator (KPI):

Proportion of youth and adults with information and communications technology (ICT) skills, by type of skill

#proposertoolsdg

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

“Most of our current education systems were designed during the Industrial Era. Education that emphasized compliance and competition supported the needs of industry. Systems to maximize compliance and competition no longer serve us, and yet they remain the most common model for education. For example, consider any school where students must obey teachers for 6 hours and where students are ranked, publicly, according to achievement on exams.

As a result, too many students struggle to find meaning and relevance at school. Students become less engaged in learning, which limits the effectiveness of education. At the end of the industrial education pipeline, organizations struggle to find people who are prepared to contribute to real problem solving.”  The Education Problem - Andamio White Paper

Gimbalabs exists because we want to help as many people as possible solve problems and build using the tools that Cardano provides. Since before our birth as an organization, learn by doing, collaborating with others and contributing to solve big problems has been a process we've been closely studying and experimenting with since we first set foot in Catalyst at Fund 1. Since our time as Workshop Maybe in 2020 (https://github.com/workshop-maybe/csk-002, https://www.youtube.com/@WorkshopMaybe/playlists) where we promoted through our Cardano Starter Kits (CSK) the great potential of Cardano tools in improving results for small businesses and local communities; to our current third version of the Gimbalabs Plutus Project-Based Learning 2023 (https://plutuspbl.io/) whose objective is to support people like you

to become Contributors to real Projects; traces of the same phenomenon have consistently emerged to shape the conclusion we can now clearly visualize: access to education is not enough. Learn by doing -> collaborate with others -> contribute to the solution of hard problems (at a local and/or global level) is a process that must come alive in the learner at an instinctive level. To do so, like trees, these three concepts must be nurtured and cultivated equally in a space conducive to the search for meaning and purpose, intertwining naturally to build the foundation for students' future career path, in a future where they are their main resource.

While we have certainly not reached the final frontier of education and development at Cardano (our explorations will take much of our lifetime while our purpose will remain the same: helping as many people as possible to solve problems and build using the tools Cardano provides), we have certainly accumulated a respectable amount of knowledge and expertise that has brought us closer than any other organization in the Cardano ecosystem to building what we could define as an efficient learning space with the right environmental conditions for the process of learn by doing -> collaborating with others -> contributing to the solution of hard problems to grow organically in the midst of an ever-changing reality. A space being implemented successfully in our Gimbalabs Plutus Project-Based Learning 2023 (https://plutuspbl.io/), described in general terms in Figure 1 below, explained in detail at https://plutuspbl.io/get-started/framework, and open to be experienced by enrolling as a student (with a simple click on the "Get Started" button at https://plutuspbl.io/). Just as easily, its results can be evaluated at https://plutuspbl.io/contributors. In short, a one-stop-shop for all possible community concerns.

The key element of this proposal is centered on the Contribution module (pink box). While Learn by Doing -> Collaborate with Others -> Contribute to solving hard problems begins to be stimulated from the beginning of the student's journey in the Onboarding module (yellow box, where the seeds of the Learn-Collaborate-Contribute trees are planted and begin to grow), this process reaches its maturity stage at the arrival to the Contribution module, where a window of opportunity opens up in front of the student's eyes. The Student Contributor Treasury will be an integrated piece to that module as an engaging component in solving hard problems. The ambitious task of solving hard problems (climate change and environmental protection; bank the unbanked; access to health, education, jobs, welfare; equality; social justice, dignity; defense of those who cannot defend themselves; in other words, the problems that matter) is possible as long as the student builds a frequent relationship with problem solving and connecting with others for that problem solving.

Opportunities where the student achieves such a cumulative relationship with solving hard problems:

• Giving lessons to others (teachers and students) in Gimbalabs Live Coding Session format (https://plutuspbl.io/live-coding): these lessons can be given by the student to his own community, in his/her native language. Plutus PBL 2023 is in the process of being translated into 5 different languages.  

• Claiming rewards stored and managed by the Treasury management system provided by the Gimbalabs Andamio platform (see below section "Student Contributor Treasury based on Gimbalabs Andamio platform"). 

• Creating teaching modules for Gimbalabs Plutus Project-Based Learning and other future Project-Based Learning courses: DevOps PBL, Tokenomics PBL, Dandelion PBL(https://gimbalabs.com/gimbalgrid/11), others.   

• Creating their own teaching programs globally: as is the case of the successful "Cardano Sin Tecnicismos" program of former Gimbalabs student Roberto Mayen (https://twitter.com/cardano_st) and today committed Gimbalabs instructor and Gimbalabs Andamio platform team member (https://www.andamio.io/). His program has contributed to advancing the understanding of the Cardano technology fundamentals in Latin American communities and connecting ecosystem projects such as GameChanger Wallet (https://twitter.com/GameChangerOk) with these communities in developing countries.

• Being part of Gimbalabs' Andamio platform team (https://hackmd.io/@andamio/B1_gJMDvn/%2FKNDmpf44T--Ix_Kwj7_nYQ, https://www.andamio.io/) and contributing to solving big problems, problems that matter. 

• With a growing awareness about the importance of the documentation's role in the growth of the ecosystem, producing improved documentation for existing systems or projects, and robust documentation for systems or projects under development (e.g. https://gimbalabs-docs.vercel.app/).

• Others.

Note 1: The incentives transferred to the student from the treasury as recognition for their contributions will be managed by the Gimbalabs Andamio platform (see below section "Student Contributor Treasury based on Andamio platform by Gimbalabs"). 

Note 2: the treasure money will not be a lead element in creating engagement in problem solving, it is a real-life component that will become incorporated into the scaffolding that supports students' search for meaning and connection. 

Along with the impact of seeing:

•  that what they learn is applicable in reality (learn by doing), 

• that their ideas can coincide with those of their peers and grow together (collaboration),

• that together they can improve an existing system or create a new one (contribution), 

the incentives managed by the Gimbalabs Andamio platform will complement their vision that it is possible to create for themselves a life of meaning and purpose.

Student Contributor Treasury based on Andamio platform by Gimbalabs

Gimbalabs technology is a work of constant experimentation and progress. As the Cardano blockchain is an essentially human technology, since our early years we have sought to create a learning experience with long-term impact that captures the fundamentals of human nature: problem solving, meaning seeking, project contribution, skill accreditation, emergent reputation. Our work in this area has led to the creation of the Andamio Platform.

The Gimbalabs Plutus Project-Based Learning 2023 (https://plutuspbl.io/) is hosted on the Gimbalabs Andamio platform.

The Gimbalabs Plutus PBL - Student Contributor Treasury will be hosted on the same platform, incorporated into the Plutus PBL 2023.

The Andamio Platform by Gimbalabs:

1. Provides a Learning Management System (LMS) for onboarding new contributors to your project/organization.

1. Is built on Cardano with Plutus smart contracts and UI components for treasury management, skill accreditation, project contribution, and emergent reputation.

You can find an introductory overview of the Andamio platform here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/12VLfrZVaqLqzRCv_4ME78t4JERxeCLN8/view?usp=sharing

You can find the Andamio white paper here: https://hackmd.io/@andamio/B1_gJMDvn/%2FKNDmpf44T--Ix_Kwj7_nYQ 

Andamio official website: https://www.andamio.io/

A high level overview of the backend that supports the Student Contributor Treasury can be found in this video (the Treasury mechanism has been a Gimbalabs technology in constant refinement, however its first principles are still valid): Gimbal Treasury + Escrow Intro for A0 Working Groups

"We envision a world where people are inspired to solve big problems, audacious enough to know they can, and empowered enough to take action." Andamio White Paper

[IMPACT] How does your proposed solution address the challenge and what benefits will this bring to the Cardano ecosystem?

In its core, Gimbalabs is a school for teaching and promoting Open Source development principles under high standards of collaboration and contribution. Gimbalabs community services such as Dandelion (https://gimbalabs.com/gimbalgrid/11, https://developers.cardano.org/docs/get-started/dandelion-apis/) and the PBL framework (https://plutuspbl.io/get-started/framework, https://gitlab.com/gimbalabs/ppbl-2023/ppbl-front-end-template-2023) have contributed to the open source work of former and current students and collaborators on projects such as: jpg.store, Gods of Blocks, Martify (today Mesh), Loxe inc, WADA, Oxford University, Bonfire - Scheduling dApp, Ekival, GameChanger wallet, DCypher, and the list goes on. Therefore, the premise of the OSDE: Open Source Dev Ecosystem challenge of "providing a stream of resources to teams that want to develop their projects and contribute back to the community by sharing part of their efforts in terms of open source projects, open-source frameworks, and accessible knowledge" is fully supported by our purpose as organization. Our work in building development and education infrastructure will continue to contribute to the growth of the Cardano open source ecosystem, as our track record evidences.

[IMPACT] How do you intend to measure the success of your project?

"In the Cardano ecosystem, Gimbalabs is the best place to learn". Adriano Fiorenza - Founder of GameChanger Wallet 

Gimbalabs has seen some of its students become high-level developers. It saw them launch their own projects. It saw them contribute to the ecosystem on their own, with their own genius. In our experience as educators, one thing is clear to us: education creates superstars, the kind of superstars that take an ecosystem to the next level.

Along with creating an efficient network of spaces (Gimbalabs Playground https://gimbalabs.com/pbl/playground, Gimbalabs Live Coding Session https://plutuspbl.io/live-coding, Gimbalabs Carnival https://gimbalabs.com/gimbalgrid/14) with which we attract unexpected talent (no barriers to entry, no gatekeepers), we have created a measurable educational experience that allows the student to track their growth. 

Creating a long lasting educational experience requires constant measurement for decision making. Our obsession with obtaining information from our educational work, represented in the progress of our students, has led us to build our own information system, which we have incorporated into the Andamio platform. This information system provides data mainly in the following formats (check it in https://plutuspbl.io/contributors):

• Visual format: charts, plots, images

• Metadata registered through contribution tokens.

The incentives resulting from student contributions will not only be managed directly by the treasury system of the Andamio platform, the occurrence of these incentives will be captured by the information system of the same platform, which will produce an interesting amount of performance information of this proposal in graphical and metadata format, publicly accessible.

How will the innovation affect Cardano’s productivity and growth, in both the short and the long term?

Again, education creates superstars. In our Learn by Doing -> Collaborate with Others -> Contribute to solve hard Problems process, we have seen it happen time and time again. As an organization, we have a strict policy of zero talent retention and zero tolerance for denying students the opportunities that the Cardano ecosystem and the world can offer them (students who have chosen to join our organization have done so voluntarily, finding affinity with our mission). Our educational process is a tunnel whose exit ends directly in the Cardano development ecosystem. Therefore, providing human talent with a strong mindset of collaboration and contribution will continue to be our commitment to the ecosystem and the world.

[IMPACT] Please describe your plans to share the outputs and results of your project?

Creating a long lasting educational experience requires constant measurement for decision making. Our obsession with obtaining information from our educational work, represented in the progress of our students, has led us to build our own information system, which we have incorporated into the Andamio platform. This information system provides data mainly in the following formats (check it in https://plutuspbl.io/contributors):

• Visual format: charts, plots, images

• Metadata registered through contribution tokens.

The incentives resulting from student contributions will not only be managed directly by the treasury system of the Andamio platform, the occurrence of these incentives will be captured by the information system of the same platform, which will produce an interesting amount of performance information of this proposal in graphical and metadata format, publicly accessible.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability?

• Since Catalyst Fund 1, we have accumulated a wealth of knowledge and experience that has established our reputation as leaders in the areas of education and infrastructure development for individuals, entrepreneurs, small businesses and communities.

• Supported by evidence, we have been and continue to be in all 5 continents facilitating educational and infrastructure development processes.

• Our progressive level of immersion in Cardano's technology and contribution to the ecosystem has led us to understand and assimilate the benefits of incorporating tools developed in Cardano in our day to day work as an organization, to the point of developing our own tools. Our Andamio platform is the most recent example. Like Dandelion (https://gimbalabs.com/gimbalgrid/11) and the PBL framework (https://plutuspbl.io/get-started/framework), Andamio is an Open Source resource made available to individuals, entrepreneurs, small businesses and communities, including Catalyst Fund 10 proposers seeking to incorporate onboarding, education, treasury management, skill accreditation, project contribution, and emergent reputation features into their proposals (see Andamio Partners Template Information - Fund 10: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1h8EGSW01IIGJxeyrmH9tC_o-AY1Vl4ptDiIzd7Wg-Vk/edit?usp=sharing). Andamio's Treasury Management and Activity Monitoring features puts us in a good position to guarantee the community an adequate use of the funds allocated to this proposal. The funds provided will be placed in the custody of the Andamio platform's treasury management system. The charts below show in general terms the design principles of the treasury system:

A more detailed explanation of these design principles can be found in this video: Gimbal Treasury + Escrow Intro for A0 Working Groups

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] What are the main goals for the project and how will you validate if your approach is feasible?

Main goal: Increase the number of Cardano developers with a solid foundation in solving hard problems resulting from our Learn by Doing -> Collaborate with Others -> Contribute to solving hard problems, in an ecosystem with a serious shortage of developers.

How will you validate if your approach is feasible: measurements of the volume of activity registered by the Treasure management system of the Andamio platform during given periods of time (weekly, monthly) will allow to determine not only the feasibility of the treasure in terms of engagement, but will allow to measure trends of student contribution (e.g., concentrated areas of participation would indicate interest in mastering a specific skill).

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed breakdown of your project’s milestones and each of the main tasks or activities to reach the milestone plus the expected timeline for the delivery.

The following are the areas of student contribution that can be incentivized through rewards managed by the Treasury management system of the Andamio platform (taken from the section "[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution"):

• Commitment type a: Giving lessons to others (teachers and students) in Gimbalabs Live Coding Session format. Evidence of compliance: videos and documentation of those sessions, evaluation of compliance by assigned teacher.

• Commitment type b: Claiming rewards stored and managed by the Tresury management system provided by the Gimbalabs Andamio platform. Evidence of compliance: delivered product (front-end function, back-end logic, code snippet, etc.), evaluation of compliance by assigned teacher.

• Commitment type c: Creating teaching modules for Gimbalabs Plutus Project-Based Learning and other future Project-Based Learning courses. Evidence of compliance: module finished, evaluation of compliance by assigned teacher.

• Commitment type d: Creating their own teaching programs globally. Evidence of compliance: videos and documentation of those sessions, evaluation of compliance by assigned teacher.

• Commitment type e: Producing improved documentation for existing systems or projects, and robust documentation for systems or projects under development. Evidence of compliance: documentation finished, evaluation of compliance by assigned teacher.

Milestones:

1. Transfer of approved funds to the Treasury management system of the Andamio platform. Timeline: Month 1.
2. Assignment of "commitments" to students, after student-assigned teacher discussion. 
3. Delivery of evidence of compliance by the student.
4. Evaluation of the student's evidence by the assigned teacher.
5. Approval or disapproval of the results delivered by the student.
6. In case of approval, release of incentive via the Treasury management system of the Andamio platform.

Activities 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 describe a cycle that will occur for each "commitment" that is assigned and managed through the Andamio platform's Treasury management system. The amount of cycles occurring at a monthly rate will be analyzed and reported monthly throughout the duration of the proposal (5 months), supported by the Andamio platform information system (https://plutuspbl.io/contributors), which will provide data in the following formats: 

• Visual format: charts, plots, images
• Metadata registered through contribution tokens.

Of course, written activity reports will be provided when necessary to supplement.  

Note: the volume of commitments assigned to students will depend directly on the number of requests made by the students themselves. After all, it is about cultivating a behavior in which they themselves take responsibility for contributing. However, as mentioned above, our Learning by Doing -> Collaborate with Others -> Contribute to Solving Hard Problems process will constantly encourage them to take responsibility for contributing.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] Please describe the deliverables, outputs and intended outcomes of each milestone.

Deliverables: detailed monthly report of the volume of activity of the Student Contributor Treasury based on the cycles (activities 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 described in the "milestones" section) that take place, supported by the information system of the Andamio platform. These reports will be publicly accessible through the url https://plutuspbl.io/contributors, and other accesses that will be enabled for consultation and monitoring by the community. Such reports will occur during the duration of the proposal execution (5 months).

[RESOURCES & VALUE FOR MONEY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown of the proposed work and resources.

The "commitments" that students will have the opportunity to choose from, categorized by commitment type in the Milestones section, may vary in complexity. Commitments type a and d may be measured on a standardized basis at the rate of hourly session time. The cost of such an hour will be 50 ADA. 

The development of pieces of code (commitment type b), the creation of lessons or PBL modules (commitment type c), and the development of documentation (commitment type e), may require an investment of time and effort that cannot be standardized at a cost level and should be evaluated between the assigned teacher and the student at Milestone 2 of each commitment development cycle. However, as a treasury protection measure, the commitment assigned to the student cannot exceed 200 ADA (CIP-1694 style treasury protection measure).  

Budget requested for the proposal: 78960 ADA

Project duration: 5 months

Monthly budget for rewarding student "commitments": 15792 ADA

The following is an estimate of the minimum number of “commitments” to be assigned monthly:

Cost of the minimum number of commitments to be assigned monthly: 2000 ADA 

Allocated monthly budget: 15792 ADA

Difference: 13792 ADA

Conclusion: At the monthly rate described in the table above (in ideal conditions where the level of complexity of commitments of type b, c, e is around 100 ADA per commitment), we could allocate almost 7 times more incentives to students: by increasing the number of teaching hours taught by them to their peers and teachers, and the number of their commitments related to contributions in the areas of code creation, module and lesson creation, and documentation generation.

[RESOURCES & VALUE FOR MONEY] How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

The costs shown in the table above do not in any way aspire to correspond to salaries in the technology industry anywhere in the world. However, we believe that as a first MVP, they may be sufficient to generate an engaging effect in the Learning by Doing -> Collaborate with Others -> Contribute to solving hard problems process, that stimulates as many students as possible.

[IMPORTANT NOTE] The Applicant agreed to Fund10 rules and also that data in the Submission Form and other data provided by the project team during the course of the project will be publicly available.

I Accept