STUDENTS TAKING THE PLUTUS PLB

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

Gimbalabs is a project born in Cardano, which over time has excelled in building a quality technical, educational and community infrastructure for people who want to show the world what Cardano can do.

In the educational area, since its founding, Gimbalabs has been characterized as a teaching center that has always had an open door to student developers and non-developers who wish to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to build in Cardano. Quality educational content with a pedagogical approach that prioritizes hands-on, project-based development connected to real-world problems, and a talented and experienced team that collaboratively assists new students and guides them through their learning path, have allowed us to forge an outstanding record of results that speaks for itself of our work. Some of the projects we have supported:

• Loxe Inc (https://loxeinc.com/)
• Martify (https://martify.io/)
• jpg.store (https://www.jpg.store/)
• Rarety (https://rarety.io/)
• Gods of Block NFT (https://www.godsofblock.art/)

The Plutus PBL (Project-based Learning) program, whose second version will be launched on June 18th, is our latest effort to provide equal opportunities to young people and adults who want to make their contribution to the Cardano ecosystem while exercising the most genuine of rights: the right to create for themselves a fulfilling life. At Gimbalabs we put that mix at the service of innovation and creativity that leads to the solution of the most pressing problems in our society. Progressively, with each student, we put Cardano at the service of a better world. 

At its core, Plutus PBL is a teaching program that offers students the opportunity to gain hands-on experience with Plutus by working on real projects. It is divided into four main sections:

• Onboarding
• Building Background Knowledge (BBK)
• Specialize
• Contribute

The details of the program and the whole process of its conception can be consulted in the following Miro board: https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVO4u0254=/

From this second version it is worth noting:

• It contemplates and includes the Plutus updates resulting from the Vasil Hard Fork. Therefore, it is a really updated Plutus teaching piece.

• Once the program is launched, the first students to enjoy this new version will be those at Oxford University, who have organized a summer workshop starting on July 19.

• Other study groups have started to form, coming from the organizations as: 

• EMURGO Academy
• Konma (https://www.konma.community/ - project funded by Project Catalyst)
• others.

• In addition, other blockchains have begun to show interest in how our Plutus PBL can guide their engineers in acquiring Cardano development skills. This is the case of Everscale (https://everscale.network/).

Our success cases have proven that our methodology is able to build solid development skills in Cardano. Therefore, every student that is part of our Plutus PBL program is a potential Cardano developer, therefore, a potential solution builder, a potential contributor to the increase of activity on the Cardano blockchain.  

With Cardashift we primarily want to build a collaborative relationship that allows us to leverage our educational work inside and outside the Cardano ecosystem. Our experience clearly informs us of the great contribution we can make in the area of interoperability and cross-chain collaboration by providing the practical knowledge that engineers and developers of other blockchains require to build on Cardano, while providing our own community with the tools they need to play a more active and productive role.

On the other hand, the requested budget will be destined to support and promote our Plutus PBL program: tutor incentives, creation of additional material for workshops and hackatons formats (we will soon be giving a series of workshops and hackatons at EMURGO Academy), translation into languages other than English ( Japanese being our most immediate stop to assist the Everscale blockchain engineers and students of the Japanese Cardano community).   

[IMPACT] Please describe how your proposed solution will address the Challenge that you have submitted it in.

Our proposal is in line with the characteristics of the impact projects described in the Challenge. On a practical level, we have demonstrated our ability to generate real value for the Cardano ecosystem while as an organization we represent its principles at their best.  

Following the perceived value - captured financial value rationale, outlined by the Challenge in its "Why is it important" section, we can highlight our proposal and our work in the educational area as a value-generating impact project in the following terms:

• Perceived value: Our Plutus PBL (Project-based Learning) program as a practical skill-building tool for development in Cardano.

• Financial value captured: Startups and projects created in the Cardano ecosystem by our students, jobs created by those startups and projects, business volume created, incremental activity generated by our students through their startups and projects. Our students create value for the ecosystem: Loxe Inc, Martify, jpg.store, Rarety, Gods of Block NFT, among others.

[IMPACT] What are the main risks that could prevent you from delivering the project successfully and please explain how you will mitigate each risk?

In our official website https://gimbalabs.com/gimbalgrid you can carry out a generalized consultation of the tangible, real products and services that we have built in the areas of infrastructure and education, Dandelion being one of our most notable and recognized achievements at the level of distributed infrastructure development. In the educational area, with the construction and implementation of the first version of Plutus PBL, we gave evidence of our ability to generate an educational product that delivers tangible results to the ecosystem.  

The second version of Plutus PBL, the subject of this proposal, is in its final stage of development, ready to be launched on July 18th and delivered to Oxford University students on July 19th in workshop format (see attached promotional image).

The main risk we could see in the way forward would be related to the teaching process itself, which, let's be clear, is a natural part of the business of teaching: some students will need more assistance to assimilate and appropriate specific topics, for which we will have to make available additional technical and human resources. 

To counteract this situation, we have been prepared from the beginning: Live Coding sessions on Wednesdays and Thursdays every week, special sessions, study groups around a specific topic, tutors with development experience ready to assist students. In short, we have the infrastructure, the methodology, the staff and the purpose to make our students the best version of themselves.

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed plan, including timeline and key milestones for delivering your proposal.

Main activities to be conducted: 

• Tutoring

• Creation of additional material for workshops and hackatons formats: we will soon be giving a series of workshops and hackatons at EMURGO Academy.

• Translation Plutus PBL into languages other than English: Japanese being our most immediate stop to assist the Everscale blockchain engineers and students of the Japanese Cardano community. 

 

Note: Each of these activities begins to be implemented consecutively and independently, once the budget request is approved.

Tutoring:

Month 1 

Projected days of live sessions/week : Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday-Friday-Saturday

Duration of each session: 2 hours

Number of tutors needed per session: 1

Number of weeks/month: 4

Month 2

Days of live sessions/week projected : Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday-Friday-Saturday

Duration of each session: 2 hours

Number of tutors needed per session: 1

Number of weeks/month : 4

Month 3

Days of live sessions/week projected: Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday-Friday-Saturday

Duration of each session: 2 hours

Number of tutors needed per session: 1

Number of weeks/month : 4

Creation of additional material for workshops and hackatons formats:

Month 1

Planning and creation of academic and methodological material to deliver short workshops and hackathons.

Translation Plutus PBL into Japanese:

Plutus PBL is divided into four main sections:

1. Onboarding
2. Building Background Knowledge (BBK)
3. Specialize
4. Contribute

Each of these sections defines the translation stages of the program. 

Month 1

Stage 1: Onboarding section translation

Month 2

Stage 2: Building Background Knowledge (BBK) section translation

Month 3

Stage 3: Specialize section translation (1 month)

Month 4

Stage 4: Contribute section translation (1 month)

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown.

Tutoring:

Number of tutors required per week = 1 tutor

Number of sessions per week = 6 days

Duration of each session = 2 hours

Number of weeks per month = 4 weeks

Project duration = 3 months

Cost per tutor hour = $30 usd

Budget Month 1 

Total tutoring hours = (6 days/week) x (2 hours/session) x (1 tutor/session) x (4 weeks/month) = 48 hours/month

Total budget Month 1 = (48 hours/month) * $30usd/hour = $1440usd

Budget Month 2

Total tutoring hours = (6 days/week) x (2 hours/session) x (1 tutor/session) x (4 weeks/month) = 48 hours/month

Total budget Month 2 = (48 hours/month) * $30usd/hour = $1440usd

Budget Month 3

Total tutoring hours = (6 days/week) x (2 hours/session) x (1 tutor/session) x (4 weeks/month) = 48 hours/month

Total budget Month 3 = (48 hours/month) * $30usd/hour = $1440usd

Subtotal = $4320 usd

Creation of additional material for workshops and hackatons formats:

Subtotal = $1000usd

Translation Plutus PBL into Japanese:

Translation work: ~20 hours/month

Verification work: ~10 hours/month

Correction work: ~10 hours/month

Total hours/month = 40 hours/month

Total months = 4

Total hours project = 160 hours total

Hourly rate = $30 usd/hour

Subtotal: = $4800

---------------------

Total Budget: $10120 USD

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide details of the people who will work on the project.

Gimbalabs. Gimbalabs builds technical, educational, and community infrastructure for people who want to show the world what Cardano can do. We believe that people learn best by doing things. If you've been looking for an entry point into how you can participate in Cardano, we think you might find it here. We are piloting a "Plutus Project-Based Learning" (PPBL) team that gives developers a chance to gain hands on experience with Plutus by working on real projects. One outcome of PPBL is that we are creating documentation and task suggestions for additional developers to learn Plutus by using it. Another is that we will apply what we are learning about Project-Based Learning to other tools, like Atala Prism and Dandelion. https://gimbalabs.com/gimbalgrid

[FEASIBILITY] If you are funded, will you return to Catalyst in a later round for further funding? Please explain why / why not.

No. We will not seek further funding from Cardashift under Project Catalyst.

[FEASIBILITY] Are you or any member of your team working on any other proposals in this Fund9?

Yes

[FEASIBILITY] Are you or your team working on any other proposals from previous Funds?

Yes

[AUDITABILITY] Please describe what you will measure to track your project's progress, and how will you measure these?

Tutoring:

We keep track of the tutoring hours provided by our tutors in the accomplishment of their service, through a system of Bounties: the budget provided by Catalyst will be paid directly to the general treasury of Gimbalabs (in the Gimbalabs wallet), bounties will be created corresponding to the tutoring service, consequently, the tutoring hours assigned per tutor and the corresponding payment made will be properly recorded. 

Our main goal is to be at the service of our students while providing our tutors with a fair payment for their work.

We can track the proposal through the following KPIs: 

• Number of tutoring hours provided in the month (based on assigned and released bounties) / Number of tutoring hours projected in the timeline

• Budget spent per month (based on assigned and released bounties) / Budget allocated per month

Creation of additional material for workshops and hackatons:

The same bounty system applied to tutoring activities will be applied to creation of educational material activities.

At the end of the month given as a time limit to develop the material required, we will evaluate the quantity and quality of the material designed and provided to the students in the framework of the workshops and hackathons of short duration to be held.

Translation:

The same bounty system applied to tutoring activities will be applied to translation activities.

The greatest measure of progress will be the monthly completion of each stage of translation described in the timeline of the Feasability section. At the end of the 4 month project duration, the greatest measure of progress will be to have the Plutus PBL translated into Japanese on our educational platform https://gimbalabs.instructure.com/, ready to be accessed by Japanese students.  

[AUDITABILITY] What does success for this project look like?

• Cardashift and Gimbalabs forging a mutually satisfying relationship in which the two companies become strategic partners. 

• Our tutors will see a fair financial reward for a job they are currently doing without remuneration. 

• Our students in the second version of Plutus PBL will enjoy the support they need to assimilate the practical knowledge of the program and progressively improve their development skills. 

• Increasing participation of the Everscale blockchain in the creation and building scene of Cardano.

• Increasing participation of the number of students of Japanese origin in the creation and building scene of Cardano. Strengthening of the Cardano Japanese community in the area of development.

• As a collateral effect we seek with this proposal to permanently open a gateway to Cardano for the Japanese development community in general. 

[AUDITABILITY] Please provide information on whether this proposal is a continuation of a previously funded project in Catalyst or an entirely new one.

It's completely new.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Rating

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

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