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The Catalyst School: what is it all about?

The Catalyst School is a place created to enhance the impact of Catalyst as a whole by improving the contribution of all its different players and roles. We onboard new members and help improving their skills along the way, in any way they decide to engage with Catalyst: as a Proposer, a Community Advisor, a Veteran Community Advisor or without any specific role within the process. In order for Catalyst to flourish and reach its full potential, all these roles need to give their best contribution within the process.

We understand that different people prefer different learning methods. Therefore, the School aims to help the community through:

• Live sessions and workshops.
• 1-to-1 and group support in many different languages.
• Interactive website.
• Other workshops related to Catalyst.

Today, the main topics covered by the Catalyst School today are:

1. Introduction to Catalyst
2. Proposing in Catalyst
3. How to be a Community Advisor
4. How to be a Veteran Community Advisor

What is the School already doing?

The Catalyst School is already helping the community since the beginning of Fund 6. We are doing that so we can receive feedback from the community and improve our teaching methods and content so we reach the highest Return on Intention we can.

You can check our announcement during a Catalyst Town Hall here:
https://youtu.be/josSLLQKZZ4?t=3874

We have already run several sessions about the main topics described above, and onboarded more than 200 new Catalyst members. Some of these sessions were recorded and are now available in our YouTube channel:

• Introduction to Catalyst:
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2-4--JHBEg
• Proposing in Catalyst:
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46yfQEIsEJA
• How to be a Community Advisor: 
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCssJGOWglU
• Catalyst School YouTube channel:
  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIPvRvMoxhmHLUuPPcsMmmg

We have also already ran workshops during the Catalyst Eastern Town Hall and the WADA Conference 2021.

And since the beginning of Fund 6, we are also providing support to the community through some different platforms:

• Telegram: https://t.me/TheCatalystSchool
• Discord: https://discord.gg/nqxRY59TSp
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/school_catalyst

Why do we need the Catalyst School?

Catalyst is not a traditional funding platform, it has its own protocol and method of functioning. Therefore, anyone who wants to join this experiment needs to learn about it first.

Until today, learning about Catalyst, how it works, its requirements and the criteria to succeed according to one's role is still not so easy because the relevant information and resources are not easily digestible and findable, in one hub known to newcomers and veterans alike.

There is also no platform to bring together those who are in the process of learning about Catalyst, be them newcomers or veterans, so they can exchange knowledge and help each other.

Our Partnerships

As the saying goes, if you want to go fast go alone, if you want to go far go together! With that in mind, Catalyst School will collaborate with other educational stakeholders in the Catalyst ecosystem, building bridges to maximize synergistic optimum impact.

The Catalyst School already has partnerships with:

• Gimbalabs ( https://gimbalabs.com/ )
• WADA ( https://wadalliance.org/ )
• Eastern Town Hall ( https://discord.gg/4xnCdV6Qrn )
• Tutorial for Community Advisors ( http://app.ideascale.com/t/UM5UZBiSh )

Our basic Website

The Catalyst School will include a basic website consisting of two main parts:

- Gitbook

• All the content and the resources used for the Catalyst School will be published in a public Git repository with an Open Source license and presented to the users through Gitbook (https://www.gitbook.com/), a platform for publishing documentation.

- Landing page

The landing page will include:

• A subscription form to collect students and engage them with periodical emails and resources
• A visual index to helps users navigating through all the resources published in the GitBook
• A basic quiz about the "Introduction to Catalyst"

Link to the Miro Board: https://miro.com/app/board/o9J_l-LVKTI=/?moveToWidget=3074457362364829276&cot=14

The Plan: Roadmap and Milestones

This proposal aims to provide the School sessions, workshops, 1-to-1/group support (in English) and a basic website. When funded, we will provide all these services for the next 2 Funds (Funds 7 and 8).

School Sessions and workshops are planned to be hosted during After Town Halls (every Wednesday) and during Swarm Sessions (every Saturday). Also, the sessions are going to be synchronized with each phase of Project Catalyst, so we increase the value delivered by them.

Our goal is to provide 20 sessions in each Fund, following the Project Catalyst schedule. Therefore, our roadmap (per Fund) is:

- Week 1 - Insight Sharing Phase:

• 2 x Introduction to Catalyst (After Town Hall and Swarm Session)

- Week 2 - Proposal Submission Phase:

• 2 x Introduction to Catalyst (After Town Hall and Swarm Session)
• 2 x Proposing in Catalyst (After Town Hall and Swarm Session)

- Week 3 - Proposal Refinement Phase:

• 2 x Introduction to Catalyst (After Town Hall and Swarm Session)
• 2 x Proposing in Catalyst (After Town Hall and Swarm Session)

- Week 4 - Proposal Finalize Phase:

• 1 x Introduction to Catalyst (After Town Hall)
• 2 x How to be a Community Advisor (After Town Hall and Swarm Session)

- Week 5 - Proposal Assessment Phase:

• 1 x Introduction to Catalyst (After Town Hall)
• 2 x How to be a Community Advisor (After Town Hall and Swarm Session)
• 2 x How to be a Veteran Community Advisor (After Town Hall and Swarm Session)

- Week 6 - Assessments Review Phase:

• 2 x How to be a Veteran Community Advisor (After Town Hall and Swarm Session)

Besides that we aim at providing 30 1-to-1/group support sessions in each Fund. Therefore, in total we will provide a total of 60 support sessions. Each support session will be 30 mins long, and we will encourage individuals who ask for support to make it a group support, so more community members can benefit from them.

-> This road map and sessions/workshops schedule can be adapted and changed based on community feedback and needs.

Therefore, our milestones and success definition are:

3 months after funded (end of Fund 7):

• Learning content created for the School sessions and workshops.
• School basic website up and running.
• 20 School sessions and workshops hosted.
• 30 1-to-1/group supports provided

6 months after funded (end of Fund 8):

• Further 20 School sessions and workshops hosted.
• Further 30 1-to-1/group supports provided.

Success metrics

We will track the success of this project by measuring the:

• Total number of community members who get involved with the Catalyst School.
• Number of proposers joining the sessions and workshops.
• Number of CAs joining the sessions and workshops.
• Number of vCAs joining the sessions and workshops.
• Number of 1-to-1 supports provided to community members.
• Number of new referees
• Number of new voters

The Team

We believe that collaboration is the key for the success of Catalyst… and it couldn't be different with this project!

We are a group of 11 people of diverse backgrounds, but two common passions: Catalyst and education.

Go on and get to know our team:

• Alejo Escrivá: Product & Growth Marketing consultor, business analytics MBA, Industrial Designer, and Entrepreneur with 8+ years shaping lovable products and communities. Founder @Cardano-Hispano.
• Dominik Tilman: Community Advisor, funded proposer, Catalyst Swarm core member, business background
• Felix Weber: enthusiast & community networker, T&M's elected representative for the 1st Catalyst Circle, co-founder of Catalyst Swarm, co-initiator & coordinator of the Eastern Hemisphere Town Hall, initiator of the Catalyst Alliance.
• George Lovegrove: Web / mobile developer, active community member and projectcatalyst.org creator that helps improve Catalyst resources and tooling.
• Kerstin Nobel: Digital education researcher, university lecturer for digital education in Germany and Luxembourg, academic peer-reviewer, Community Advisor (CA).
• Lucio Baglione: Web / mobile developer with 9+ years of experience. CA and vCA, co-creator of the Community Tools (Proposer/CA/vCA/Voter Tools).
• Raz Samsudin: Interdisciplinary trained academic, educator and mentor, sustainability professional with 13+ years of multi sectoral experience, experienced curriculum and course designer, independent researcher and writer, proposal mentor, UN SDG coordinator/education, curriculum advisor - WADA, co-founder - Sustainable ADA, education and sustainability lead - Global Policy House, founder and publishing editor - Bona Fide Info.
• Simon Fleck: Catalyst Swarm core member, Cardano enthusiast since 2018, IT background.
• Stefan Montalbetti: Certified Educator (Canadian B. Ed.), Facilitator (7+ years of experience), Disruptor - Member of the Catalyst Swarm with a keen desire to unlock the potential of individuals and bridge gaps to that potential. Foundations: Empathy, Inclusion, Communication, and Critical & Creative Thinking.
• Stephen Whitenstall: Stephen Whitenstall has 30 years' experience in organizing academic, community and business projects. He develops, maintains documentation and provides technical project management support for Catalyst Swarm. As QA-DAO he tracks and documents the Catalyst Circle and maintains 'Ekphrasis' a repository of academic content from across the Cardano community.
• Tevo Saks: I enjoy documenting systems and procedures that will achieve specific goals in an efficient way. Active participant in Catalyst since Fund 1, Catalyst Swarm core member, experienced Proposer and Veteran Community Advisor.
• Victor Corcino: Veteran Community Advisor (vCA), Proposal Mentor, CAs' elected representative for the 1st Catalyst Circle, co-creator of the Community Tools (Proposer/CA/vCA/Voter Tools), Catalyst Swarm core member, engineering/science/developer and 'hands-on' teaching background.

Budget breakdown

Our 6 months budget covers:

Sessions and workshops

• 20 events per Fund, 2 Fund: total of 40 events
• 2 hours per event
• Host: $60/hour (main presenter)
• Co-host: $30/hour (moderating the room, answering the chat, keeping track of statistics)
• Total: $7200

1-to-1 and group support

• 30 supports per Fund, 2 Fund: total of 60 supports
• 30 mins per support session
• Cost: $30/support
• Total: $1800

Learning content creation

• Sessions and workshops presentation slides
• Learning content to be distributed via our platforms
• Updating the content according to changes in Catalyst
• Total: $2000

Basic Website

• Creating a basic website to serve as a landing page and to host the main information about the Catalyst School
• Total: $500

Marketing

• Reaching out to potential students via different channels
• Managing the community platforms
• Total: $2000

Project Management

• Scheduling events based on Community interest
• Coordinating hosts, co-hosts (scheduling, backup plan)
• Coordinating with Community events (Swarm Session, After Town Halls)
• Coordinating with partners (creating bridges, realizing synergies)
• Controlling the project costs
• Managing YouTube channel
• Project documentation and housekeeping
• Total: $4000

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