I mention three metaphors in the article, RPGs, MMORPG, or having feet in both worlds, or ladders for learners. Anything ring a bell?<br><br>- Heather<br><br>Learning Drupal <br><p>There is a huge demand for training in Drupal; for more skilled
developers and even end-user training. At DrupalCon San Francisco, I
started an open-space discussion about Learning Drupal. Having just
started at Acquia as Manager of Learning Services, I sensed that there
were more than a few things people wanted me to hear. I had lost my
voice a few days earlier, which was timely, as it forced me to listen
more.</p>
<p>One of the most heated discussions was <em>curriculum</em>. Before
even clearly defining what curriculum was, the group passionately
debated instructional design, methods, and assessment. </p>
<p>To help develop the training ecosystem for Drupal, I'm looking more
closely at the learning ecosystem of other open source software
communities, both the open and commercial offerings. What can we learn? <a href="http://interact.webstandards.org/">WaSP</a> from Opera and <a href="http://www.drumbeat.org/project/p2pu-open-web">P2PU open web
degree</a> from Mozilla are two efforts to make a comprehensive open
source web curriculum. From just these, I can see that you can’t rush
into an open source curriculum.</p>
<p><strong>Learning Drupal, the MMORPG</strong></p>
<p>Since DrupalCon, <a href="http://groups.drupal.org/curriculum-and-training">we (in the
Curriculum and training group) meet once a week</a> to talk about
training and developing a common language around Learning Drupal. In the
very beginning, the discussion was unruly, meandering from
instructional design to syllabus. Finally we found the best place to
start: identify learning outcomes: what do you need to know to be a
Drupalista? (notice I said “be” and not “do”, more on the later). </p>
<p>We’ve recently<a href="http://groups.drupal.org/node/72288"> prepared
a survey</a> to find out what Drupal users actually do. We had a
hypothesis that we’d find people fit into certain ‘roles’, but even when
we pilot tested the survey, we found they were as platonic shapes &
ideals. Yes we all know what a square is when you talk about it, but
you won’t find it in the wild. Yet, we still use roles to describe
ourselves.</p>
<p>Training for hybrid roles, with multiple outcomes and end goals is
making Drupal look more to me like an MMORPG than a Lego set.</p>
<p><strong>Feet in two worlds</strong></p>
<p>Because our community is a flexible, extensible CMS we’re made up of
developers. Developers provide services to their clients, as well as
create unique products. They <em>extend</em> Drupal. Yet, because Drupal
is not strictly a framework, our community envelops more than
developers. These people are site builders and end-users, utilizing the
work of the developers; they evangelize Drupal, they create business
opportunities or advocate with Drupal. They <em>stretch</em> Drupal.</p>
<p>The tension in the community comes up sometimes. For example in <a href="http://groups.drupal.org/node/66353">discussions of a new slogan</a>:
are we aimed at attracting developers, or are we aimed at attracting
end-users? Drupal has feet in two worlds. This is why comparisons to
either Django or Wordpress are “apples to oranges” comparisons.</p>
<p>Training in that environment is a challenge. Becoming a Drupal user,
and having a valid full role seems to centre around the notion of being a
core-committing developer. But is everyone aspiring to be a developer?</p>
<p>There is an implicit notion in discussions of curriculum in Drupal
that ‘beginner’ stuff is that clicky stuff you do in the interface, and
‘advanced’ stuff is the real coding. But not everyone is starting in the
same place nor pointed in the same direction.</p>
<p>Yet everyone needs to understand the fundamental principles central
to mastering Drupal. Because trust me, you *can* take down a Drupal site
with a mis-configured View. And everyone needs to understand how vital
contributions are, and how they can contribute in their own way, even if
it's not a core patch.</p>
<p><strong>Ladders for learners</strong></p>
<p>Understanding these different audiences also sheds light on why
training is so complicated. Often one's prior knowledge or imprinting
from other systems can create the most barriers to learning. It's not
one-size fits all with training.</p>
<p>As trainers, we need to help learners get into the Drupal community
and realize their own potential and make their best contributions. I
think we can spread best practice & open source spirit to End-users,
Site Builders and Developers. We can position learning ladders where
people are starting off, whether it’s someone coming from political
organizing or someone coming from Java development.</p>
<p>I think in that way, we’ll be able to have a really diverse, strong,
smart and flexible community. Which is actually how I think of Drupal
itself.</p><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On 8 June 2010 21:58, Libby Levi <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:llevi@redhat.com">llevi@redhat.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
<div style="word-wrap: break-word;">Hi Heather, <div><br></div><div>If you send me the text of the article, I can help you out with an image. </div><div><br></div><div>Of course, if you have something in mind, we can do that too!</div>
<div><br></div><div>thanks!</div><div><br></div><div><br><div> <span style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><div style="word-wrap: break-word;">
<span style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><div>
<div>.. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. .</div><div><br></div><div>Libby Levi</div><div><br></div><div>Red Hat</div><div>Brand Communications + Design</div><div><a href="mailto:llevi@redhat.com" target="_blank">llevi@redhat.com</a></div>
</div></span><br></div></span><br> </div><br><div><div><div></div><div class="h5"><div>On Jun 8, 2010, at 4:50 PM, Heather James wrote:</div><br>Hello all, <br><br>I submitted an article for review recently. This was the "background" post about what we're doing in the Drupal community. What do you all think?<br>
<br><a href="http://opensource.com/education/10/6/learning-drupal" target="_blank">http://opensource.com/education/10/6/learning-drupal</a><br> <br>Should I gather an image for this? <br><br>I'd like to submit another article, but I didn't want to deluge the system. <br>
<br clear="all">Heather James<br>Manager of Learning Services, Acquia, Inc. <br><a href="http://acquia.com/training" target="_blank">http://acquia.com/training</a><br> p: +1.781.995.2776<br>e: <a href="mailto:heather.james@acquia.com" target="_blank">heather.james@acquia.com</a><br>
t: <a href="http://twitter.com/hjames" target="_blank">twitter.com/hjames</a><br> <br><br></div></div><div class="im"> _______________________________________________<br>Osdc-edu-authors mailing list<br><a href="mailto:Osdc-edu-authors@redhat.com" target="_blank">Osdc-edu-authors@redhat.com</a><br>
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