Peer 2 Peer University, also known as P2PU, is a non-profit online education company. Launched in 2009, three years before the MOOC moment, the company’s name is a reference to peer-to-peer networking, which divides the responsibilities of a particular task among different group members. The available materials on P2PU are available at no charge to use. However, students who complete courses on the website will not receive any college credits for their achievements.
While P2PU does function in a similar way to Massive Open Online Courses, the company’s primary focus, as its name suggests, is on the collaboration and interactions between different users. As a result, P2PU classes are not necessarily even courses. Simply put, the website functions more as a learning platform than as a MOOC provider.
Company Values:
Peer 2 Peer University lists three values that guide the company’s efforts:
- openness: free content, the ability to experiment, accountability
- community: driven by volunteers, tolerance and respect for other perspectives, community review and revision
- peer learning: contributions from all members, all participants are teachers and learners
Experience:
Unlike other MOOC providers, which stress anonymity and often only passively encourage collaboration between other parties, Peer 2 Peer University encourages the formation of learning communities and groups. An effort is made to ensure that participants in a P2PU learning environment are comfortable and willing to work together to reach a goal that would otherwise be unreachable through the solitary pursuit of a topic.
Peer 2 Peer University holds that while the Internet may be the medium of a learning revolution, the true “future of learning” comes through collaboration. As a result, the website encourages the sharing of learning materials and the offering of feedback between learners. Additionally, learners on Peer 2 Peer University can come from all walks of life. Participants can be as different as a learner and an educator, or a thinker and a practitioner.
Instructors:
Courses on Peer 2 Peer University are not necessarily led by a university professor or subject expert. In fact, a P2PU “course” does not even necessarily feature hierarchal construction present in college classrooms. Instead, the course’s leader or starter simply chooses a topic of study for a group to pursue. As a result, anyone can make a course, or study group, on Peer 2 Peer University.
Courses:
Course offerings on Peer 2 Peer University are categorized into six “Schools”, listed below with sample course offerings:
- Social Innovation: Humanitarian Engineering, TimeBanks Governance Discussion, Design Thinking Calisthenics, Wiki Wu Wei
- Mathematical Future: Technology for Mathematics Education, Fractal Geometry, Fraction interactives seminar
- Webcraft: Programming with the Twitter API, HTML Hunting in the World Around You, Learn Drupal, CSS Bliss & Beyond
- School of Education: Learning Creative Learning, Student Grant Writing, Connected Learning with Youth Voices
- School of Open: Copyright for Educators, Intro to Openness in Education, Get CC Savvy
- School of Data: Use data to show how your country is unique!
Languages:
Peer 2 Peer University provides users with the functionality to offer courses in over 40 different languages. Such a wide range of languages suggests that Peer 2 Peer University desires to create a diverse environment that connects individuals from around the world.
Supporters:
The Mozilla Foundation has provided $25,500 in funding to Peer 2 Peer University in an effort to support Webmaking 101 and the School of Webcraft.