S3PBL: Practical learning opportunities for governance and decision-making

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

N S Lanier

[GENERAL] Are you delivering this project as an individual or as an entity (whether formally incorporated or not)

Entity (Not Incorporated)

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

4

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

No

[GENERAL] Summarize your solution to the problem (200-character limit including spaces)

We will create a learning environment and opportunities for community members to build effective governance habits by practicing Sociocracy 3.0 patterns.

[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] Please provide here more information on the open source status of your project outputs

We will use the Creative Commons license - Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International.

We are committed to open-source principles. This license grants users the freedom to use, modify and distribute the project freely, provided that the modified works use the same license.

To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

[METADATA] SDG rating

Goal 4 - Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

4.3 - By 2030, ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university

4.4 - 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

Goal 16 - Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels

16.6 - Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels

16.7 - Ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution.

We will provide the community with a course to learn about governance in a project-based learning (PBL) environment. We will also provide the community with a space to practice governance through weekly live sessions.

Communities need tools to facilitate the practice of healthy and productive governance.

Sociocracy 3.0 (S3) is social technology for evolving agile and resilient communities of any size through collaboration. It is a comprehensive collection of tried and tested concepts, principles and practices for improving governance, engagement and wellbeing.

A major challenge for practice spaces is the tension between needing a safe, low-stakes environment for practice, vs having a meaningful topical space, in which true engagement and real impact makes the practice much more relevant and effective. Using Andamio’s learning tools, ODIN will provide a safe environment to practice while also exposing learners to decisions with real world impact.

Our project will do this by engaging members of the Cardano community who want to learn and practice collaborative & social governance, as an alternative to the one-coin-one-vote model.

Andamio is a course and project management tool that tracks skills and contributions of learners. In this way, we will provide an on-chain, auditable record of course participation and engagement.

To our knowledge, there are currently no educational initiatives providing the Cardano community opportunities to practice governance.

We will provide on-chain evidence of engagement and contribution throughout the course.

By using PBL methodology, we will offer learners an interactive and engaging experience.

 Sociocracy 3.0 is a tried and proven method for effective, healthy and productive governance. 

All participants, along with each of their decentralized organizations and the Cardano culture overall will benefit from this course.

Andamio is built on the assumption that the best way to learn is by collaborating on meaningful, high-impact projects. Andamio provides a set of tools that allow organizations to publish educational content and provide clear pathways from learning targets to opportunities for real contribution.

[IMPACT] Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community.

Through the Sociocracy 3.0 PBL, the Cardano community will learn and practice governance in a group setting and as a result, improve their collaboration and decision-making skills within a decentralized ecosystem.

We will provide the course on Andamio, a course and project management tool developed on Cardano. Andamio will create an on-chain record of the skills acquired through participant contributions. 

In this way we will be able to measure:

• Number of participants in the course
• Number of participants who completed the course
• Number of skills acquired
• Number of contributions
• Amount of rewards distributed to contributors

All this information will be available on-chain so that anyone can audit it. We will upload YouTube recordings of live sessions and provide written documentation of the process and results.

[CAPABILITY & FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?

ODIN, the Open Decentralized Innovation Network is made up of members of the Cardano community with a wide array of relevant expertise and experience (PBL methodologies, education, community building, facilitation of consensus processes and the Sociocracy 3.0 framework) dedicated to the study and practice of decentralized decision-making through consent mechanisms. 

PBL methodology is a tried and tested method; it is student-centered, allowing space for participants to explore the content and solve problems through collaborative peer-to-peer learning and critical thinking. The team has been delivering PBL courses and course design consulting for many months for Gimbalabs, Deep Funding, Governance Guild, and Mesh.

The PBL method takes advantage of our natural curiosity, presents real-world problems, and invites us to solve them creatively. This approach engages learners in meaningful work and creates a deep, long-term understanding of the subject. This approach is ideal when onboarding users into complex and sometimes difficult-to-grasp topics.

We are active practitioners of Sociocracy 3.0 and use it in our organizations to operate in a decentralized manner. With this proposal, we seek to create spaces to continue learning, practicing, and exploring Sociocracy 3.0 patterns together with the wider Cardano community.

Members of ODIN have actively participated within the Cardano community for years and have successfully executed Catalyst projects. To ensure transparency and auditability, the funds from Project Catalyst will be disbursed through an Andamio treasury, making every transaction auditable by the Cardano community.

(Spreadsheet with previously delivered project catalyst proposals)

[Project Milestones] What are the key milestones you need to achieve in order to complete your project successfully?

This milestone will focus on a series of team meetings to set up project management processes and everything necessary for the project to be fully operational.

Milestone outputs

• A document outlining the decentralized project management processes, roles, responsibilities, and workflows.
• A document outlining protocols, channels, and frequency of communication.

Acceptance criteria 

• Defined processes, roles, responsibilities, and workflow.
• Defined communication channels.

Info provided to verify the milestone achievement 

• Project initiation report.

This milestone will focus on the design and creation of the educational material. 

Milestone outputs

• S3 PBL course curriculum available on Andamio
• S3 PBL learning materials

Acceptance criteria 

• Modules, lessons, student learning targets, and mastery-based assessments for the program are available on Andamio.

Info provided to verify the milestone achievement 

• The S3 PBL course contract will include an outline of the content and be available on-chain for anyone to audit.
• The S3 PBL course will be available online to anyone who wants to participate.

This milestone will focus on marketing and communication.

Milestone outputs

• Two live sessions showcasing the course on Andamio.
• Digital marketing campaign promoting the course.

Acceptance criteria 

• Delivery of two live sessions showcasing the course.
• Delivery of a digital marketing campaign promoting the course. 

Info provided to verify the milestone achievement 

• Recordings of two live sessions will be available on YouTube.
• Digital marketing report.

Delivery of S3 PBL course.

Milestone outputs

• 1 live session where participants will be boarded to Andamio.
• 7 live sessions where participants will practice S3 decision-making methods.
• GPT assistant trained on live S3 literature and session material.

Acceptance criteria 

• 8 live sessions delivered, recorded, and available on YouTube.

Info provided to verify the milestone achievement 

• Recordings are available on the YouTube channel.
• Link to GPT assistant.

Finalize the project.

Milestone outputs

• Written close-out report.
• Video close-out report.

Acceptance criteria 

• The close-out report includes:
• Analysis of data collected and recommendations for further improvement.
• Insights, lessons learned. 
• Improvements and plans for further adoption.
• Close-out video includes:
•  A full walkthrough of the Sociocracy 3.0 course on Andamio. 

Info provided to verify the milestone achievement 

• Close out report submission.
• Closeout video submission.

[RESOURCES] Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

Nori Nishigaya

Nori is the Founder of the Salmon Nation Decentralised Alliance (SANADA), co-founder of Bridge Builders, and a founding member of Andamio. He organizes meetups and events as a Cardano Ambassador and is a serially funded proposer. Nori brings over 30 years of experience in software development, agile methodologies, leadership in managing teams, and founding and running technology startups. His passion is discovering and sharing governance and organizational best practices for radically decentralized and self-managed communities through experimentation and hands-on practice.

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nishigaya/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Xeeban

James Dunseith

James is a Teacher, Coach, Smart Contract Developer and Facilitator with extensive experience in creating engaging learning experiences and facilitating problem-solving. James has successfully implemented project-based learning and mastery-based grading methodologies. Additionally, he has contributed to developing gimbalabs.com, creating resilient and reusable components. James leveraged his expertise in learning design and community engagement for this project.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-dunseith-0135651/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jamesdunseith 

Harsha Gullapalli

Harsha is a seasoned UX researcher specializing in content, brand, and usability testing, with a diverse skill set encompassing reporting and analysis, cross-team collaboration, and user persona development. Having conducted impactful UX experiments and live reviews with stakeholders, Harsha excels in extracting key insights. They've demonstrated agility by spearheading organizational restructuring aligned with project needs. Beyond projects, Harsha actively contributes to the web3 community, imparting knowledge on groundbreaking social design methodologies, making them a valuable asset for innovative and user-centric experiences.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harsha-gullapalli-4b23451a/

Roberto Mayen-Hess

Roberto is a Business and Innovation Manager and brings a diverse skill set to the project encompassing software development, business, program management, and law. Roberto’s experience with early stage startups in Latin America allows him to offer a unique perspective on problem-solving and driving innovation. He’s also involved in leading efforts to bring Cardano to spanish-speaking communities through initiatives like Cardano Sin Tecnicismos and the Spanish translation of the Plutus Project-Based Learning program.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roberto-mayen-hess/

Newman S Lanier

Newman is a professional with a diverse background spanning various roles. Having worked as a Project Facilitator at Cardano's Project Catalyst, Newman contributed since Fund7. As an Educational Technology Specialist at Duke University, Newman designed, developed, and implemented online courses using Blackboard and Moodle Learning Management Systems. With international experience as an ESL Teacher in Taiwan, Newman has developed a global perspective. His skill set includes project management, team leadership, and meticulous project planning, positioning Newman as a versatile professional ready to drive innovation and streamline organizational processes.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/newman5/

[BUDGET & COSTS] Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources.

Budget spreadsheet

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

The costs associated with the project are easily justified by the opportunity to improve the governance culture in Cardano. A structured and comprehensive learning environment will be created for the community to experience Sociocracy 3.0 patterns. This strategic investment for Cardano ecosystem's growth, and the maturity of governance cultural using Sociocracy 3.0, with its emphasis on effective, decentralized decision-making and collaborative governance. 

It is crucial for fostering a community culture that is more inclusive, agile, and responsive.

Our team comprises seasoned professionals in social practices of collaboration, governance and educational design which ensures the content's accuracy, relevance, and instructional effectiveness. 

The Andamio Learning Management System provides a real use case for the Cardano network. Participants' contributions will be tracked and credentialed using wallets, transactions, and NFTs. This is an opportunity for building a collaborative culture and educational infrastructure in Cardano which will enable ecosystem growth and adoption.

[IMPORTANT NOTE] The Applicant agrees to Fund 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