Idea: Courses

[pugman]

Some different/modified software would be needed. The existing threads structure is not at all suitable. Neither are wiki pages, since they're too easily messed-with. Maybe some suitable online-course software already exists. It'd be cool if the courses were internally gamified a bit, maybe with "achievements" and stuff. And it could be integrated with the main forum, eg. giving you badges on your profile if you completed a course.

Have you contacted slickage for ideas on this? Aren't they designing the new forum and they only helped with the merit source issues. They would have better ideas than anyone else because they have more experience on softwares.

A real challenge, which I'm not exactly sure how to solve, would be to keep them up-to-date, accurate, and unbiased. 99.9% of introductory cryptocurrency info on the Internet is basically an advertisement for something, and therefore not very useful. If anyone could create a course and publish it on equal standing with the other courses, then we'd end up with a huge pile of altcoin-pump courses, "how to make money using totally-safe HYIPs", and stuff like that. But if courses are only written by trusted & competent people after significant mod review, then only a limited number of courses could be created, and they'd probably quickly become outdated. Perhaps it'd work to do a github-style pull-request format led by some trustworthy editors. (Github could even be used, though that's pretty difficult to use for people not already familiar with git.)

Simple. Editing privileges should only be given to mods or sepcific trustworthy people. The people who write the articles/courses can't edit it but can always update the mods with new information which can be cross checked. Or before the content is published, post it before hand, discuss with the community and confirm the changes and then do what'd be the best.

And maybe to make this a little more interesting, maybe the writers of these courses could be paid? They could be given custom titles. And more perks? And how about having a secret board only for content writers, they could discuss among themselves and could help correcting the content,everytime the answers can't be right because the internet is that badly screwed.theymos, I would love to help people out with the courses. I already have a thread for self-teaching people about bitcoin, and a few people have learned a lot of new stuff, including me. So, if at all anything is required, I am there to help out.

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[LeGaulois]

The idea itself is looking good however when you mention

Introductory cryptocurrency investing

It's already misleading people. Cryptocurrencies are not supposed to be an investment and a speculative asset. This is not the ideology of the cryptocurrency. Otherwise, I should be super rich already.
If you're specifically referring to ICOs, then it should not be called cryptocurrency most of the time. A lot of them don't have any product, or don't use anything using the cryptography

[Welsh]

I like the ambition that you are showing at the very least. I don't see this being implemented any time soon unless, there's an open source software already out there that is suitable then this is likely going to need a bit of investment, and time to not only make the content, but the software also. Besides that I'll encourage any type of content creation which will help better others peoples judgment/knowledge on Bitcoin, and this forum.

Consider drawing up a wire frame, and presenting it here. Possibility, we could then have a little more insight, and add to it. Fundamentally, the idea is a good one. Also, how are you going to deal with course details/answers being leaked? I'm assuming that these would have to be changed frequently to avoid this issue.

I'm guessing your going to be the one overseeing this? Haven't you got got enough on your plate already?

But if courses are only written by trusted & competent people after significant mod review, then only a limited number of courses could be created, and they'd probably quickly become outdated. Perhaps it'd work to do a github-style pull-request format led by some trustworthy editors. (Github could even be used, though that's pretty difficult to use for people not already familiar with git.) Quite like the idea of the forum etiquette, and possibly going into depth on the ins, and outs of the forum.

You've probably got the contacts, and the drive in order to get the most competent people. Even, if it's to initially write the content up, and then using a pull request system to keep things up to date. I don't think it will be a problem for you to contact some of the people who are specialists in the areas that you want. However, they might be able to provide the knowledge, but putting that into an itinerary, and course format might not be the strongest area. You'll likely need to draft in several people for one course where they all provide different inputs.

I think getting the foundations down is going to be the priority. I think you might agree that updating it should not be as difficult as the initial content in terms of updating the content itself. Finding the people capable, and willing to do this could be a little more difficult. However, I think we have more than enough able, and committed members to update topics on Bitcoin, and the forum.

Simple. Editing privileges should only be given to mods or sepcific trustworthy people. The people who write the articles/courses can't edit it but can always update the mods with new information which can be cross checked. Or before the content is published, post it before hand, discuss with the community and confirm the changes and then do what'd be the best.

Mods shouldn't have automatic editing privileges. Of course, if they have the skills, and knowledge then sure. Initially, I think selecting a few "experts" or those capable of creating the content would be the better choice. Then finding a few users who can transfer this into a course structure. Finally, allowing pull requests as mentioned by Github to allow for editing/correcting mistakes.  

And maybe to make this a little more interesting, maybe the writers of these courses could be paid? They could be given custom titles. And more perks? And how about having a secret board only for content writers, they could discuss among themselves and could help correcting the content,everytime the answers can't be right because the internet is that badly screwed.theymos, I would love to help people out with the courses. I already have a thread for self-teaching people about bitcoin, and a few people have learned a lot of new stuff, including me. So, if at all anything is required, I am there to help out.

A custom title should suffice. Something along the lines of "Content creator". I have no qualms of paying the writers either as this is a fairly ambitions project. However, I would be interested in how many people would voluntarily be willing to do this. Especially, considering the limited amount of people who are able to create worthy content, and discuss in depth, and at the same time convey the information clearly.

Especially, in terms of Bitcoin, and the technology behind it.

Introductory cryptocurrency investing

It's already misleading people. Cryptocurrencies are not supposed to be an investment and a speculative asset. This is not the ideology of the cryptocurrency. Otherwise, I should be super rich already.
If you're specifically referring to ICOs, then it should not be called cryptocurrency most of the time. A lot of them don't have any product, or don't use anything using the cryptography

Why is this misleading? Cryptocurrency is what you make of it. Whether, you are investing in it for short term gain, and with the ultimate goal of withdrawing, and transferring that back into fiat or your goal is to use Bitcoin as a currency. They are both investments. Plus, investments don't mean a guaranteed profit so it doesn't mean that you would be rich already. I feel for the person that has to write up the investment course, though. Quite a tough subject to tackle that one.

I like the idea a lot. The challenge as I see it is less in creating the content, however, and more in getting people to use it.

Of the topics you've listed a number of them already have guide threads stickied in various places. People don't read them.

Having said that, if we are looking at this not just as a way of improving the forum, but also as a way of improving the entire crypto community, it's a great idea.

You'll be surprised how many people will be willing to do it just to get a badge on their profile. That's enough of an incentive for them alone, and of course they pick up some knowledge on the way, and hopefully put that into practice. It's exactly why sticky threads aren't looked at or adhered by. They don't really offer any real incentive to those that read it other than gaining knowledge, and following etiquette. It doesn't mean that offering an incentive via badges would get them to intake the information they are going through, unless you have to demonstrate what you've learned in the course via a quiz or something along those lines.

¹ I do not advertise the mentioned above website, I just want to share my experience with you. If you feel that is not acceptable,I'll just delete my post.

² With "free" I mean you have access almost all the courses and at the end you can decide by yourself if you want to pay for certificate or not. There are some professional courses where you have to pay to enroll like this one, but still it is a good opportunity.

Edx is something we should be looking to emulate. However, I quite like the idea of this Bitcoin forum being the forefather for information about Bitcoin, and therefore hosting it via this site would be the best option. I've used Edx, and in fact a few universities actually recommend it, however I don't think they have a platform that can hosted elsewhere, and tied into here on the forum.

[seoincorporation]

What a beautiful idea, even if it doesn't help those who are not willing to learn, there are others (included me) that will appreciate this. Some basics:

- The domain  Bitcointalkcourses.org is not taken. Maybe to create a website (official) it the best way to manage this.
- We can create a board in which the contents of the courses are divided and everyone can participate in a thread, for instance, in order to generate a good article about a specific theme, once the article is approved, then determinate people can shape it and upload the approved content into the website. This board needs to have some rewards, of course, in order for the people to try their best. Also, the users that created the thread will have some recognition in the course's website.
- If you want to take a course, you will need to use your same account name, it is important due to the next point:
- We can implement a system  of achievements, and organize the courses step by step, with a final trivia, for those who achieve a complete course, we can implement here in the forum a tool that shows it, for instance (trainee, first level, second level, tech expert, graduate, bitcoin genius...), it can be under the actual rank of the user, for instance: Newbie/trainee  /Newbie graduated/ Hero/teacher...and it will help the people to rank-up, in case they achieve the graduate level, for instance, and as well as their participation in here is a good quality one, he can rank-up, I don't know, to full member as much, maybe. It will encourage the people to participate and, probably, help the forum to, at least, knowing who has made the effort and who doesn't.

In order to make this a reality, I think the best path can be:
- Buying the domain, and making it look pleasant, nice.
- Open a full contest of teachers in here, as well as the new board (maybe can be restricted, I don't know, maybe global, for there are also good newbies in here).
- Organizing the web by themes and achievements, and launching contests or information in here, once a course is completed, we can make an official announcement in the forum and encourage the people to take that one.

I do believe that the system of achievements and titles can really encourage the people to be a part of this. Also, if, by learning, they will change something in their profile information, as described, it probably will be a success.
What happens with the shitposters? Well, if someone just inscribes into a course and don't make their best, then they will remain in here as trainee forever, and it is going to be as remaining as newbie forever, so they need to try harder.

A practical example:

I am a Newbie, and I decide to take an English course at the Bitcointalkcourses.org, so in my profile, once I'm inscribed, it will appear something like this: "English trainee" on my BT profile. Once I get my first grade (lets say we can manage 5 grades of English), in my profile will appear: English level 1!!
Suddlenly, I decide to take the course of "Basic programmation", so it will appear in my profile: Basic Prorgammer trainee, and then, once achieved, it will change to "Basic programmer".
By taking a look at my profile, the people will know that I'm trying my best, so I try to take as many courses as I can.
Once completed all the levels, for instance in my profile will appear: English graduated, or English genius, if we want this to be a little funnier.

That's just an idea. My girsfriend teachs in the university and she's standing by my side know telling me what to write  

[Welsh]

- Open a full contest of teachers in here, as well as the new board (maybe can be restricted, I don't know, maybe global, for there are also good newbies in here).

theymos likely has some decent contacts outside of the forum which would be willing to contribute, and write some of the content. Some well respected ones at that. Not all of them are here on the forum anymore unfortunately. I'm not sure what you mean by contest, however its likely not the best option. What would be better is if anyone has an interest in writing some of the content or contributing other ways such as proof reading they could contact theymos privately, and he could then approach these users if he deems them capable. If we introduce a contest where people can vote etc then I fear the it would just turn into a popularity contest, and not who is the best option. In fact, theymos could probably draw up some questions or ask the applicant to demonstrate how they would explain certain aspects. By this he should be able to gauge the technical ability, and knowledge of the user. Maybe, he could pass the responsibility of this onto some of the mods that are knowledgeable in the specific subject. For example,  achow for subjects relating to Bitcoin.
 

What happens with the shitposters? Well, if someone just inscribes into a course and don't make their best, then they will remain in here as trainee forever, and it is going to be as remaining as newbie forever, so they need to try harder.

I don't think implementing another restriction via requiring users to take a course in order to rank up is the best idea. The merit system is already in place for doing just that. Courses should be optional, and have no bearing on rank. Instead, you get a cool badge to display that you've successfully completed a course!

However, having said that there's been talks about requiring a user to complete a mini quiz to complete registration. I guess that might be able to tie into this idea, possibility.

[Jet Cash]

I think bitcointalkcourses is too long. I'm also a fan of .coms. If Theymos wants a domain name, I'll hve a look to see what I've got, or I can look for one.

The other alternative is to use a subdomain like courses.bitcointalk.org. If you do that, then make sure you pick up the name without the dot to avoid it getting into scammers control.

[seoincorporation]

- Open a full contest of teachers in here, as well as the new board (maybe can be restricted, I don't know, maybe global, for there are also good newbies in here).

theymos likely has some decent contacts outside of the forum which would be willing to contribute, and write some of the content. Some well respected ones at that. Not all of them are here on the forum anymore unfortunately. I'm not sure what you mean by contest, however its likely not the best option. What would be better is if anyone has an interest in writing some of the content or contributing other ways such as proof reading they could contact theymos privately, and he could then approach these users if he deems them capable. If we introduce a contest where people can vote etc then I fear the it would just turn into a popularity contest, and not who is the best option. In fact, theymos could probably draw up some questions or ask the applicant to demonstrate how they would explain certain aspects. By this he should be able to gauge the technical ability, and knowledge of the user. Maybe, he could pass the responsibility of this onto some of the mods that are knowledgeable in the specific subject. For example,  achow for subjects relating to Bitcoin.
 

I think this is a Babel tower problem, sorry about that. English is not my first language and I am kind of asleep today:
- By "contest" I was meaning just to encourage the people to write useful things. For instance, if you an English teacher, then you will write something and, in the case to be good enough, well, it could be a part of the site. "Contest" is definitely a word I misused.

What happens with the shitposters? Well, if someone just inscribes into a course and don't make their best, then they will remain in here as trainee forever, and it is going to be as remaining as newbie forever, so they need to try harder.

I don't think implementing another restriction via requiring users to take a course in order to rank up is the best idea. The merit system is already in place for doing just that. Courses should be optional, and have no bearing on rank. Instead, you get a cool badge to display that you've successfully completed a course!

However, having said that there's been talks about requiring a user to complete a mini quiz to complete registration. I guess that might be able to tie into this idea, possibility.

I neither meant the courses to be obligatory, but a "plus" also in here. For all those willing to learn, it will appear in here that that are already taking the courses. That's all. Of course, it must be optional, but with a "reward" in here, so they want to work harder.

About the mini quiz, I totally agree, it could be about the forum rules.

Thanks for the quote, sometimes I find difficult to express myself in English, I must take the English course, if created  

I think bitcointalkcourses is too long. I'm also a fan of .coms. If Theymos wants a domain name, I'll hve a look to see what I've got, or I can look for one.

The other alternative is to use a subdomain like courses.bitcointalk.org. If you do that, then make sure you pick up the name without the dot to avoid it getting into scammers control.

Jejee. Totally agree. It was just an idea, but you are the domain master in here 
A subdomain sounds great.

[krishnapramod]

Accepting Bitcoin payments and other basics are detailed in bitcoin.org, IMO it would be the perfect website to add up and implement the idea of additional courses. Yeah, using English naturally online only stands out, but I guess it could be added up with other informational/educational material.

Being a constructive bitcointalk.org member, if it gets fixed rest of all falls in place. Engaging the users to be more contributing and constructive to only learn, but getting rewarded with achievements/merits at the end would encourage them to keep learning and making constructive posts at the same time if it's on the same domain, user engagement.

[theymos]

A particularly simple way to do it might be to use Twine. Twine creates completely-client-side HTML+JavaScript pages. It's intended for interactive fiction, but I don't think that it'd be much of a stretch to use it for courses. Then the course construction could be done on github, and the github work could be automatically compiled into HTML+JS and dumped on courses.bitcointalk.org with some server-side integration added in.

It seems that there is an open-source EDX platform which could be used, but it seems really complex, and especially difficult for many people to create/modify a course collaboratively.

I'm guessing your going to be the one overseeing this? Haven't you got got enough on your plate already?

Yeah, I'd like to write some of the technical material, but I won't have time to oversee it properly. I also don't know much about the science of pedagogy. I'd be nice if someone with some teaching experience would volunteer to oversee the whole thing.

[Jet Cash]

There are some educational CMS packages in Softaculous. I'm happy to provide a domain name and hosting, and I'll install the CMS. I can cover the cost with ads for my domain registrar and the hosting company, so it wouldn't cost the forum anything. I won't have time to administer any of the courses, so that would be down to you guys.

If there is any interest, then I'll post a list of suitable CMS for you guys to choose the best. I think some of the packages allow for integration with outside sites.

http://www.softaculous.com/apps/educational

I found a list of the educational CMS packages

[o_e_l_e_o]

Twine is actually a great idea. With Sugarcube you can easily go forward and back through the material, link to extra or external resources, use multimedia files, etc. as well as allowing users to save their progress to return to at a later date.

In terms of having real life educators involved - I have postgraduate teaching qualifications, regularly teach at both the undergraduate and postgraduate level, and am regularly appraised and evaluated on my teaching to keep my methods and skills up-to-date. However, I have no qualifications in tech, computing, or anything even remotely related to Bitcoin or blockchain technology. I'm not sure how helpful I could be in overseeing material that I potential don't understand myself, and I'm sure the same applies of others. I think you might need to find someone who educates specifically in the tech field to take this on.

[JohnTycoon]

I would appreciate these courses really, I am still a bit lost in the forum, even if I am not a newbie in crypto, there is a lot in here to explore and too much misinformation.

[paxmao]

I think that is a good idea to generate resources for learning.

My main observation is that the task is much more difficult than it looks and an effort is required to keep it as simple as possible.

Sorry to disagree on the way of doing it, I think that the Forum is more than enough to generate and host these learning resources and it has some clear advantages:

It is probably more than enough for the first "editions" to use PDF, diagrams and (only maybe) videos hosted in public file hosting sites. Creating a full course with interaction, tests, discussions, etc... requires quite a long time and effort and it may be much better to start small and then grow, taking into account that this would be mostly voluntary work.

This initiative could and IMO should increase the value of this forum. Including the resources and links in the forum, even creating and specific section, would effective contribute to its utility and to the expansion of the user base.

Regarding the issues of governance and management, each topic on a thread, each thread with one "owner" that moderates and updates the content and possibly a specific sections for the guides. This way you have clear accountability. If one of the "topic managers" cannot continue doing a proper work, it would have to be replaced.

Each topic thread will probably have more than one contributor and possibly this contributions could be done in shared docs (typically google docs) before having the first versions available in the forum.

Personally, I have been playing with the idea of creating and ICO analysis document, but I have tons of work at the moment, so it would have to be at a very slow pace. I may be able to translate some of the materials, again as long as speed is not of paramount importance.

P.S. I need to understand better what is "Using English naturally online", perhaps because I can´t use English naturally online.

P.S.S. A question: As it is described, is the idea of these materials to discourage investing in altcoins and speaking mainly of bitcoin?

P.S.S.S I recently reached the l33t post. Good pun.

[Anduck]

The problem with these ideas, as with everything, is that people don't read.
People google up whatever they want to find and skim over words to find what they want as fast as possible.
And so people get scammed and learn untrue stuff.

If someone wanted to learn something, it should be pretty straightforward and simple to catch those people. They're the same who most often get scammed. I'm afraid some content that's trying to stay as neutral as possible, without mentioning any services and so on, will get skipped by big majority of those who would get scammed i.e. the target.

edit:
Something that was planned earlier elsewhere: Quiz must be passed before access is granted. Then the Quiz would also educate people and one would need to answer correctly to the Quiz questions. It would be quite simple, but still something that requires attention as it has to be passed in order to access whatever resources. E.g. such kind of quiz could be used before one can access marketplace section here.

[suchmoon]

I'm quite skeptical of this idea and not so much on the implementation side, which is a challenge for sure but I've seen plenty of bright and enthusiastic people on this forum who could make it happen and would probably welcome a chance to build something inherently positive. To me the more important question is - already expressed by some other posters above me - how do we (or do we even attempt to) entice those who really need that education? We could build the nicest tastiest most beautiful carrot but seeing how many newbies here have a complete disregard for the rules of their "workplace" - how do we get them to eat their veggies without a big-ass stick? If there is one thing we learned from the merit system it's that even when their source of income is threatened (and that's a pretty big stick) some/most folks actively resist any chance of improvement but rather whine and moan about some perceived unfairness.

The idea itself is looking good however when you mention

Introductory cryptocurrency investing

It's already misleading people. Cryptocurrencies are not supposed to be an investment and a speculative asset. This is not the ideology of the cryptocurrency. Otherwise, I should be super rich already.
If you're specifically referring to ICOs, then it should not be called cryptocurrency most of the time. A lot of them don't have any product, or don't use anything using the cryptography

Perhaps not the best title, but the concept is good. It could be focused on what NOT to do, due diligence, risks of irreversible pseudonymous payments, lack of legal recourse etc. Let's face it - people are already being misled in so many horrible ways that any education on the topic would be an improvement.

[verita1]

Regarding the existing online courses I can suggest EDX¹ as a platform.
Just to add here that edx is free² platform for online education and certification provided by the world leading universities and organisations like MIT, Boston university, Linux Foundation etc.
Most of the courses are free, you pay only for certificate /world wide accepted/ if you want one.

Great! Thanks for this information, I have completed courses in edX, I stopped studying for a while and I am not updated with these courses, but it is worth checking out. The platform is easy to use and it is a great achievement to complete a course of prestigious Universities and Institutions such as The Linux Foundation.

The idea of theymos is pretty good and really he is right, the community needs education in cryptocurrencies. Perhaps a news bulletin or articles in Medium and Steemit reporting on these courses could give positive results for the community and it is in the interest of the members to take the courses, improve the quality and skills of their jobs.

Among the concerns of theymos is to use some platforms like GitHub I could confess that it is not so difficult I learned to use the platform with this course Html CSS Javascript for Web Developers and I also think that GitHub has an easy tutorial to learn.

I applaud this initiative because you all know more about our needs because you have more time in bitcointalk it is good to recognize that it is a feeling, so that our community improves in quality.

[o_e_l_e_o]

To me the more important question is - already expressed by some other posters above me - how do we (or do we even attempt to) entice those who really need that education?

This is something I've been thinking on for the last 24 hours. The best I could come up with is to disable signatures unless a required selection of courses has been completed. However, this will just create a bigger market for account farmers, and I can't see a way to prevent that.

[paxmao]

I'm quite skeptical of this idea and not so much on the implementation side, which is a challenge for sure but I've seen plenty of bright and enthusiastic people on this forum who could make it happen and would probably welcome a chance to build something inherently positive. To me the more important question is - already expressed by some other posters above me - how do we (or do we even attempt to) entice those who really need that education? We could build the nicest tastiest most beautiful carrot but seeing how many newbies here have a complete disregard for the rules of their "workplace" - how do we get them to eat their veggies without a big-ass stick? If there is one thing we learned from the merit system it's that even when their source of income is threatened (and that's a pretty big stick) some/most folks actively resist any chance of improvement but rather whine and moan about some perceived unfairness.

The idea itself is looking good however when you mention

Introductory cryptocurrency investing

It's already misleading people. Cryptocurrencies are not supposed to be an investment and a speculative asset. This is not the ideology of the cryptocurrency. Otherwise, I should be super rich already.
If you're specifically referring to ICOs, then it should not be called cryptocurrency most of the time. A lot of them don't have any product, or don't use anything using the cryptography

Perhaps not the best title, but the concept is good. It could be focused on what NOT to do, due diligence, risks of irreversible pseudonymous payments, lack of legal recourse etc. Let's face it - people are already being misled in so many horrible ways that any education on the topic would be an improvement.

About the carrot and the stick: The stick is that you may loose your money if you don´t bother to read. The carrot is saving your money, but let´s sweeten the deal by using merit to those "students" who prove themselves worth of it.

And I would not go further than that. We can teach those who are willing to learn, that is, I can help someone who doesn´t know, but I not willing to motivate someone who doesn´t care (even about their own money). I you are not even willing to read I can´t help you. That doesn´t mean that the material has to be boring or picture-less, but difficult things are difficult.

Investing is not equivalent to speculation. I can invest to speculate or I can invest to generate a new business, create new jobs and generate something worth for the world. But I think that the title is not really the main issue.

ICO analysis should include Due Diligence for non-professionals, Business Analysis, Technology Analysis, Economic model analysis and many more topics.

Most of the people in the forum don´t grasp simple concepts such as the Market Cap, the value of a token, the real legal implications of an ICO, their rights (or the lack of these more precisely).

As for the the "white papers" that are normally published, most would not even pass the minimum filter of a half-witted accredited investor.

This is not about discouraging people to invest, but about discouraging poor projects to snatch the funds from the users of this forum and create a bad image for the sector, the forum and the senior members.

I think this is a very healthy discussion.

[Ucy]

giving you badges on your profile if you completed a course.
Great idea. Sorry for my short reply.

I don't have any concrete plans for this at all, but I've been thinking recently that the Bitcoin community desperately needs some high-quality, unbiased online courses, and perhaps bitcointalk.org would be a good place to host such a thing. This is just a brainstorming thread.

Example courses that come to mind:

Introductory cryptocurrency investing
 - The main focus would be not getting scammed and not losing all of your money.
 - It would be very careful not to endorse any particular sites, investments, or trading methods.
 - Overall extremely conservative, to balance out all of the pump around here.
 - It might be similar to the sort of material on investor.gov, but less authoritarian (eg. no "only trust SEC-approved things") and with more cryptocurrency focus.
 Using English naturally online
 - Tips targeted at non-native English speakers for acting naturally online.
Being a constructive bitcointalk.org member
Making money online
 - SANE tips for making money, especially for people in less-developed countries. No unwise things like gambling or high-risk investing, and no non-constructive things like spamming the forum with garbage.
Basic cryptocurrency concepts
Accepting Bitcoin payments
Implementing Bitcoin
 - A long & advanced course on implementing a Bitcoin-like cryptocurrency largely from scratch in Python or another easy language. (Some of my best courses in university had this model, where you're provided a bunch of library code and then you glue it together by writing a few hundred lines for each assignment, at the end of the course getting some sort of complete thing.)
 

Some different/modified software would be needed. The existing threads structure is not at all suitable. Neither are wiki pages, since they're too easily messed-with. Maybe some suitable online-course software already exists. It'd be cool if the courses were internally gamified a bit, maybe with "achievements" and stuff. And it could be integrated with the main forum, eg. giving you badges on your profile if you completed a course.

A real challenge, which I'm not exactly sure how to solve, would be to keep them up-to-date, accurate, and unbiased. 99.9% of introductory cryptocurrency info on the Internet is basically an advertisement for something, and therefore not very useful. If anyone could create a course and publish it on equal standing with the other courses, then we'd end up with a huge pile of altcoin-pump courses, "how to make money using totally-safe HYIPs", and stuff like that. But if courses are only written by trusted & competent people after significant mod review, then only a limited number of courses could be created, and they'd probably quickly become outdated. Perhaps it'd work to do a github-style pull-request format led by some trustworthy editors. (Github could even be used, though that's pretty difficult to use for people not already familiar with git.)

Thoughts?

giving you badges on your profile if you completed a course.
Great idea. Sorry for my short reply.

[DdmrDdmr]

Just a few thoughts on the matter at hand:

The online courses would certainly be nice to have around, since they are better suited for the visual kind of person who dreads taking on the challenge of reading books on the topics at hand, and should be an easier resource to tackle for those that have language difficulties.
Each course would probably require having a structure broken-up by levels to facilitate focusing on one subtopic at a time, thus easing the learning curve.
Whether the courses end up with an online exam or not (per course or per level) depends essentially on the reward that is on the other end. That is, is Bitcointalk Course badges a part of the outcome, or merit, or prestige, then some sort of control needs to be implemented to verify the knowledge acquired. If not, then examless courses are a viable option.

I’ve got conflicting thoughts on the idea of getting badges for taking (and passing) the different courses if integrated on Bitcointalk: on the one hand, it should incentivize people to perform the courses mainly to acquire the underlying knowledge but also as a sense of pride. On the other hand If the number of courses is high(ish) with time, some user profiles could look like decorated generals with uncountable little icons under their profile like a wall of medals. If the badges stand out a lot it could look a bit awkward.
Also, if exams were to be part of the deal, I’m not sure how the qualies should be managed. Perhaps a simple pass/no pass should suffice to avoid a back-to-school habit of comparing qualies and creating visions on people based on their grades.
 
I would favour the courses themselves being tied as much as possible to the forum itself, being a proprietary feature, since it could help to boost it’s profile and position as well as to underline it’s mission.
There are multiple technological challenges associated to the idea itself, that multiply I guess if you try to perform the integration in the current Forum software, whilst having the new Forum software on the roadmap at the same time. Perhaps an external online course platform would give you better functional feasible options that trying to embed it all to the Forum´s software, although some sort of integration would ideally exists (to control user access, rewards and so on). 
Regardless, implementation one way or another will always be feasible, but I figure at this stage that brainstorming at all levels is part of the idea (concept, scope, format, reward, technology, integration, cost, roi, etc.)

I figure that the "Accepting Bitcoin payments" chapter is where the concepts and case examples of how to use bitcoin in day to day activities would be explained. This could ideally be a good booster to bitcoin acceptance and usage (provided network transaction speed and cost improve in the short term). If would be brilliant if multiple real case applications were set here as examples and build a base of cases to help people understand how to do it.

Deep down I do have the feeling though that those most interested in the online courses, if tied to the Bitcointalk Forum, would be a largely a subset of the merited users. I believe the strategical goal is greater than that nevertheless…