Ledger Developer Onboarding Course

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

Through a collaboration between Ledger, Gimbalabs, and Bridge Builders, we will design and create a project-based learning course where developers can learn about how to integrate with Ledger devices and build modules for Ledger Live so they can integrate Ledger with their own dApps and integrations, increasing the security of their platforms.

Both Ledger and Gimbalabs are dedicated to supporting and building open-source ecosystems, and this PBL will take students through learning the basic knowledge required, simple hands-on projects to build real integrations, and enable students to create open source modules and integrations on the Ledger Live platform.

This proposal is for this team to design and build out an MVP of the course and offer it to a small cohort of students.

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

Number of developers actively building on top of Cardano

By combining both, Gimbalabs Cardano development insights & Ledger’s general outreach, we aim to build a product which is able to onboard & educate effectively developers to both the Cardano blockchain from the Ledger ecosystem, but also bring Cardano developers to build upon and add to Ledger’s growing suite of integrations.

Number of repos on Github using the tooling. (Month over month increase)

The PBL course and the written code are stored on Gimbalabs GitLab repositories (https://gitlab.com/gimbalabs).  As developers learn to integrate with Ledger, they will add more GitHub/GitLab repositories containing their integration code and projects.

A sense of community and conversations. Having people around to talk with.

The Project Based Learning experience is based on public working sessions with groups and a facilitator, group forums on Canvas, as well as 1:1 support sessions to satisfy individual needs. The PBL format naturally builds community (see Gimbalabs PBL offerings for examples), and brings developers together to work on a common hands-on project to learn, make friends, and build stronger relationships with like-minded people.

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

Risk: Low participation in the PBL course.

Mitigation: We will engage with the Gimbalabs student population and use Ledger’s marketing power to ensure we attract a quality set of initial PBL students to the first cohort. We coordinate with the Ledger marketing team to organize & announce effective marketing campaigns.

Risk: We do not have enough qualified resources to teach/run the PBL on time

Mitigation: We will start with Ledger in-house experience for the technical knowledge and expertise, and combine that with the Gimbalabs experience with running project-based learning programs for Plutus and Tokenomics, and adopt that experience to create a Ledger Integration PBL.

Risk: We do not have strong enough coordination between the three parties to create an effective course in the PBL model.

Mitigation: We will set up regular meetings between Ledger, Gimbalabs, and Bridge Builders to ensure that we plan and execute with a high level of communication and coordination. We will focus on strong project management and high alignment.

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

Q2 2022 - Initiation

Kicking off Communications & coordination between Gimbalabs & Ledger to collaborate on the here presented proposal & idea

Q3 2022

• Setting up Project Management structures, communication mechanisms, and high-level project plan 
• Implementing Treasury & Accounting system to track & document the spending of funds and distributing Gimbal participation tokens
• Implementing gimbal token recognition for participating students
• Initiating a first pilot process for the Ledger PBL Course in collaboration between Gimbalabs & Ledger. 
• Identifying best practices & concepts to improve and evolve the initial pilot from the existing Plutus PBL and Tokenomics PBL programs
• Preparation & announcement for Ledger PBL #1

Q4 2022

• Executing Ledger PBL #1. 
• Motivate, Onboard, and Educate Cardano developers about how to develop and integrate their dApps and products with Ledger.
• Reflect and seek feedback on the course from students so we can iterate and make it even better for cohort #2

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown.

Course Development

Developing student learning objectives, building course materials with Ledger, creating Canvas units and modules, and coordination/communication with Ledger.

$2500 per module * 6 modules  = $15,000

Course Facilitation

Executing Ledger PBL #1. Onboard, educate & motivate developers on how to develop on the Cardano Blockchain and integrate their dApps and integrations with Ledger. Run weekly PBL modules, facilitate student meetings, and help students with homework and questions.

$2500 per module * 6 modules = $15,000

Bridge Builders Proposal Stewardship

Coordinate and steward the proposal to successful implementation and make sure that everyone has what they need to succeed. Manage agendas and facilitate meetings with Gimbalabs and Ledger to coordinate course material development, skills and knowledge transfer, and record weekly updates. Submit monthly IOG progress reports and create and submit the close-out report and video. Overall project management and proposal stewardship.

$10,000 for 4 months of proposal stewardship

Treasury and accounting systems

• Implementing Treasury & Accounting systems ( Treasury Guild ) 
• Implementing Dework & Discord Integrations for project management
• Implementing Gimbal token - contribution tracker to recognize students thru their PBL

$1000

Infrastructure and contingency budget

$2000

Total budget: $43,000

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

Gimbalabs

James Dunseith - Co Founder at Gimbalabs

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

Juliane Montag - Co Founder at Gimbalabs 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/julianemontag/ 

Ledger

Rodrigo Carraresi - Head of Developer Relations at Ledger

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rodrigocarraresi/ 

Bridge Builders

Nori Nishigaya

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

Dean Taylor

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rdeantaylor/ 

Felix Weber

https://www.linkedin.com/in/felix-weber-339590209/

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

If this project becomes a success, we will most likely return in a future Catalyst Funding round to initiate next steps and to improve & further develop the here presented Idea

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

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

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

• Number of development of Canvas PBL modules
• Number of developers enrolled in cohort #1 of the Cardano Ledger PBL
• Number of Ledger PBL Canvas modules completed by students
• Show case of completed integrations with Ledger Live by Cardano projects
• Implementing Treasury & Accounting systems ( Treasury Guild ) 
• Implementing Dework & Discord Integrations for project management
• Implementing Gimbal token - contribution tracker to recognize students thru their PBL

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

10 developers are onboarded and educated thru the Ledger PBL course through Q4 2022. A vibrant and growing developer community who are able to develop Cardano integrations on Ledger Live.

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

This Proposal indeed relates to previous Proposals from Gimbalabs around Project Based Learning however, it is not directly related to any previous or current proposals