University Star

THE GIST

John Britton, a self-proclaimed developer evangelist, spoke about his project, Peer 2 Peer University. P2PU is a free, online website that allows user to learn just a wide range of material from people who design courses to share their knowledge. P2PU partnered with Mozilla to offer certification from their new School of Web Development.

Britton said the website is non-profit and currently sustaining themselves on grants. He is looking into partnering with outer organizations who are experts in their field. For example, he said he would look into partnering with The Knight Foundation to offer a School of Journalism.

P2PU is run by a staff of volunteers and courses are taught by people who design and implement a system for taking classes. In the classes there are “challenges” that when completed you earn a badge.

Britton said he started the site after dropping out of college after feeling like he was going through the motions and not learning what he wanted to. He said he got the idea while traveling and Couch Surfing and wanted a site where he could meet people based on what they could teach him.