What are some of the platforms in this space we should learn from?

And yes – just platform isn’t enough. We originally agreed on three core values for P2PU: open, community, peer learning. I think the platform idea is related to the original thoughts about open and peer-learning, but the community aspect is crucial and needs to be front and centre.

And I’m not sure that “platform” is really the right term. I think you and I have a similar understanding of what a platform is, but I find myself having to explain it to people outside of the tech-world. I’ll do a follow up post about reframing it slightly.

An open platform for peer-learning? Maybe. A community? Definitely!!!

To be a top-rate peer learning environment in the way I think P2PU construes seems integrally tied to content and methodology and even worldview. In peer learning, all of this may be more important than “platform.” If you have a great platform but don’t monitor content and it turns into a giant Pokemon site, you probably haven’t won. So how do content, community, and methods tie into this? Perhaps this relates to the “one great product” you talk about? I’m not sure, but it seems to me that P2PU needs to be more than a platform.

How does being a platform help with sustainability? Will you sell or license the platform to organizations? If that is the plan, see paragraph #1. For organizations I work with in education, I am highly recommending free, open platforms, because a) many are superior to propriety/fee-based platforms and b) most organizations I work with can’t sustain paying for platforms. (Even if they could, they’d be better off spending money on people and content.)

Just my thoughts. It will be interesting to see how this moves ahead. These are critically important issues.