I am compelled to share my journey in NEM.
When I joined NEM in late June 2018, I was tasked to create syllabus to train developers to be familiarised with NEM. I was given 6 months to do that. After the framework was drawn and before the syllabus was completed, there were requests from universities in the Philippines for help in setting up blockchain elective course. The PH team and I jumped right into the opportunity. Since then, I was on steroid to complete the syllabus in order to start training the lecturers in Nov 2018. It was a day and night, 7 days a week kind of battle. Luckily, I have my teammate, Shin Tatt and Anthony, who tirelessly answered to my questions and gave me comments about improving the materials. The syllabus was completed within 4 months and expanded to fit the requirements of higher education, and since then it has underwent few rounds of review.
Came November 2018, Ateneo De la Manila and Lyceum of the Philippnes were trained and they both rolled out the elective course in January 2019. About 40 students enrolled in the elective course. As of today, 7 universities/colleges (total of 17 branches) and about 70 lecturers have been trained. 4 universities/colleges (14 branches) will start to offer blockchain courses in June 2019.
In December 2018, realising that there were 8 universities interested in offering Blockchain courses, we saw the need of having a proper planning to capitalize on the syllabus built and create streams of income. Hence, I prepared a proposal for a global education unit and a certification system. The updated proposal and the initial proposal are available here.
It was a wrong timing. NEM Foundation went on restructuring. However, requests from universities and colleges never stop and we continue to fulfil the promises made earlier in training the universities and colleges. In view of the urgency of sustainability, in my humble opinion, certification and membership are the least investment needed, and fastest way in generating income. There are 2 reasons behind this. First, as I went around conducting trainings, there are multiple requests for certification. Though they may not represent the majority, there is no harm in offering it. Second, certification and membership may seems not generating huge income, however, it is a recurring and rolling income that in a long run, may snow ball.
Education is the inseparable twin of certification and membership. I think, I need not further explain on this obvious point. The syllabus is available here. I hope it is of some value to you too.
I must admit that I learned a lot more while I was sharing in the trainings. Not only I learnt more about blockchain, but also about the education system in the Philippines, how to train better and how to work as a team globally. A shout out to the PH team who without them, we wouldn’t have this report card. Appreciation to Richard who willing to exhaust his network to bring in the education institutes, and the team members, Emerson, Julius, Alex and Danrei in handling the ground works and help with the trainings. There are other unsung hero who have lent us their helping hands in one way or another. The following is the list of education institutes that the team has engaged (7 more shown their interest earlier this year):
Trained:
Lyceum of the Philippines, manila
Ateneo De la Philippines
Asia Pacific College
ICCT Colleges (8 branches)
University of Makati
Jose Rizal University
Our Lady of Fatima University (4 branches)
To be trained:
Holy Angel University
As of now, to fulfil the promises, we are training the remaining universities on our own accord. The proposal and the syllabus are far from perfect, I know. However, we do not need a perfect product to act, so we did. And I must say, we should give ourselves a pat at our back. If in any way you find that the plan and the syllabus are something that you are looking for, feel free to use it and share with me of any improvement you make on them. Though many may say that syllabus covers mostly on NIS1, in my opinion, some parts of the knowledge about NIS1 still apply in NEM2.
I strongly believe that certification shall come from the NEM Foundation. I hope one day I will be able to help escalate the education and certifications to a global level, starting from the Philippines. Till then.