In this post I'm going to share my progress thus far!
Before I begin, I will say up front that at this time I am looking for an initial sponsor to delegate SP to this project. Thus, if this project idea interests you and you can help in that way, scroll down to learn about why and how it adds value to Steemit!
Where Did This Idea Come From?
Last week I created a viral post that laid out my theoretical visions for the classroom of the future.
After receiving a wealth of positive feedback, I realized that it would be even cooler if I actually attempted something like this in the real world.
I realized this was very doable as I organize an Improv organization in downtown Austin called "Improv Connection". We currently have over 1,100 members on Meetup and have hosted well over 300 classes, workshops and events. We offer free improv classes, 2-3 times per week, free of charge to the community of Austin.
So I asked myself: "What If I Could Integrate Steemit With One Of Our Improv Classes? What Might That Look Like?"
And thus, I've been working to answer those questions ever since!
The Idea In A Nutshell
For those that are just seeing this idea for the first time, here's the idea quickly laid out for you in the form of a scenario. We'll follow "Jimmy" as he experiences Blockchain Improv:
Jimmy joined Improv Connection a week ago and just heard about the Blockchain Improv class.
He attends an orientation meeting that explains cryptocurrency, blockchain technology, the Steemit platform, and how this all relates to the classroom experience.
Jimmy decides to opt-in to Blockchain Improv by registering an account with Steemit, joining the Improv Connection Discord group, and RSVPing for next week's class.
The next week, Jimmy attends a free improv class where he learns a variety of new things.
The next day, Jimmy authors a Steemit post where he shares his experiences in the classroom. He utilizes the photos and videos that were uploaded in the organization's Discord media channel to enhance his post.
Jimmy shares his Steemit post in the promo discord channel so other students can read, upvote, resteem, and comment on it.
The organization or facilitator of the class (whomever has delegated SP) upvotes Jimmy's post.
The organization or facilitator of the class authors a post that shares a summary of the class experience with the photos, videos, and GIFs collected that day.
Payouts from this class summary post are split between the organization and facilitator, for their services in organizing the class and leading the class experience.
Why Would This Be Beneficial?
Benefits For Steemit:
Participants have a tangible reason to join Steemit.
Participants learn about Steemit and experience it firsthand.
Participants enhance their real world connections via the Steemit platform.
Benefits For Participant:
Participants are incentivized to attend class.
Participants intentionally recall their experiences and reinforce what they learned in class.
Participants receive SBD via an upvote for attending and sharing their experiences.
Benefits For Organization/Facilitator:
The organization's class attendance increases.
The organization receives free and authentic promotion via each participant's Steemit post.
The organization receives value in SBD for organizing the class.
The facilitator receives value in SBD for facilitating the class experience.
My Current Progress
At the end of our regularly scheduled improv class on Wednesday I briefly shared the Blockchain Improv idea and invited the group to the upcoming orientation class.
A few individuals came up to ask me more about what it was and how it worked.
After sharing it with three seperate people, I realized that people were not following me. It's one thing to explain cryptocurrency, and another thing to explain Steemit and how that relates to an improv class.
I plan to host an orientation meeting for this very reason, but either way, that night I most definitely started to see where there were holes in my idea and where I needed to simplify it for easy comprehension.
Blockchain Improv As A Meta-Program
My original idea was to have a seperate class, just for Blockchain Improv. However, I ran into issues due to classroom space limitations as well as time. We already host 2-3 classes a week and hosting another each week seemed to be a bit too much, let alone, unviable since we have a limited amount of space to use each month.
But then it hit me...
What if Blockchain Improv was not a seperate class, but rather, a virtual program that can be integrated with any physically based class?
Essentially Blockchain Improv would serve as a meta-based participation program that can work on top of any classroom setting. It's a similar concept to building a software program to run on ethereum or EOS, except we're running Steemit on a real world class.
This would essentially solve all the problems I mentioned earlier as participants could merely attend an orientation meeting and opt-in to Blockchain Improv whenever they attend a class at Improv Connection.
Changing Payouts Structure
In my original post I stated that the payouts from the summary post that was created by the organization or facilitator would be split up between the students, facilitator, and organization.
After discussing this with other organizers, I realized that splitting the payouts with the students might not be a good idea.
One of those reasons is that if we are directly paying students, then this could cause tax issues in the future.
Secondly, they are already receiving a ton of value by receiving FREE improv classes and upvotes from the organization. Splitting the post payouts will likely end up being overkill and an additional layer of meticulous work.
Lastly, it seems more sustainable for the facilitator and organization to receive that value to pay for miscellaneous expenses and as a means of giving back for the time and energy spent organizing and facilitating the classes.
In the future, we could just host contests or collaborative challenges that DO offer payouts to the students. This, however, will not be included within the daily classroom experience.
Improved Logo
As much as I wanted to include Ethereum into the design (since it's more widely known), I decided against it because, 1) it makes the word "IMPROV" hard to read, and 2) Verge's logo is much easier to read as a "V" and 3) I could replace the EOS logo with Ethereum but I'd much rather promote EOS!
My Current Obstacles & Needs
Steem Power Delegations
I could most definitely run this class without much Steem Power and it would likely work fine, however, it would be really exciting if I could find someone (or a myriad of individuals) who would be interested in supporting and adding Steem Power to this project.
In my opinion, if I were a participant in this class and I received close to $1 in value just for sharing my experiences, I'd be pretty stoked about that.
I want these participants to have a very solid first impression of Steemit, and if I received support from the community to create that experience, then heck - that just adds to my argument!
Right now, I have almost 500 SP, and I will be delegating at least 50% of that to this project.
My ultimate goal is 4000 SP as this would mean that each 100% upvote would be worth $1.
That would be the most ideal and an incredible delegation.
This could even be delegated for a limited time. 1-2 months of delegation would be enough time to give the program a thorough test as we would host about 16 classes within that time frame.
4000 SP would be ideal and would be a great way to display the value and power of Steemit, but obviously any sort of delegation would be greatly appreciated.
Side note: since I'm new to doing anything like this, feel free to provide any constructive criticism or suggestions to help me improve my approach here!
Explaining This Project
My plan is to create a powerpoint which logically runs through the concepts of cryptocurrency, the blockchain, and the Steemit platform, but I'd like to get better at explaining how Steemit works and how it relates to the class while on the run (as like an elevator pitch.)
Currently, I'm a total newb at this but I do realize that one of my main issues with Steemit is explaining where the money comes from.
I know that the money on Steemit is essentially coming from a loan that is based on digital assets, but I'm curious if any of you have come across any great analogies or explanatory articles that really would help myself (or someone hearing this for the first time) to really get it?
I'm going to be looking more into this. Part of my reasons for starting this project is to become more fully educated in the world of Steemit anyways, so this will be a great start!
The Future Classroom Is Coming!
I'm so excited to have this opportunity to experiment with Steemit and explore the possibilities that it offers.
I really do feel that this could be the beginning of a really great thing and a completely different approach to education, marketing, and social media.
I'll be sure to keep you all in the loop as I go. Your support is greatly appreciated so if you have any thoughts or ideas for me, I would absolutely love to hear them! (Oh and @sndbox, if you have any ideas or people to get in touch with, I'd love to hear your thoughts!)
@axios
