Posted by webbywe on August 12, 2011 at 9:11pm
The idea was floated at last night's meetup (Th 8/11) about possibly doing a book study group out in the Inland Empire (in Ontario) for Drupal Education.
This discussion thread is to keep that idea rolling in terms of interest, topics, format, and book selection. All those who are interested are more than to welcome to comment as they so wish on any topic relating to the study group.
Some Books Ideas?
- Beginning Drupal 7 (http://amzn.to/pzTb1x)
- Drupal 7 Module Development (http://amzn.to/pXNdMC)
- Definitive Guide to Drupal 7 (http://amzn.to/qsUKUm)
Locations?
- HMC
- Bookstore
- Other area in vicinity
Frequency?
- Bi-weekly
- Monthly
The consensus was that weekly would be too difficult for those interested so X that one out.
Format
- Is the book done chapter by chapter, groups of chapters (say 3 at a time) ?
- At meetup, are chapters done step by step together (possibly a longer meetup each time) or everyone reads in advance and injects input on discoveries and/or difficulties throughout the process (possibly not so long of a meetup)
Comments
Definitive Guide to Drupal 7
That looks like a quick read.
My vote.
I vote for Definitive guide to drupal 7 (DGD7)
Location: Anywhere we can discuss, even remote using something like google groups.
Frequency: Bi-weekly
Format: a chapter a week.. so 2 chapters each meet up based on bi-weekly.
You read on your own and discuss any questions you have or if the book has problems you give out the solutions. Or any issues you come across.
Like for DGD7, how would I setup MAMP on MACOSX or how do I setup Git. "I have a problem with installing Git from source, can someone help?" type questions.
Thanks for vote on study group
Thanks Meng for the vote. Still waiting for more feedback from others that expressed interest to get this thing going. We can put this on the agenda to further discuss at the next IE Drupal meetup (which I believe is Thurs Sept 8th).
Co/Organizer @ Orange County PHP | OC Drupal | Inland Empire Drupal
or maybe google+ ?
The reason I mention google+ is that they have this thing called hangouts that can accommodate up to 10 people. I been thinking that it would be a great way to have a virual study group.
btw I think Definitive guide to Drupal 7 is a good choice.
The DropLabs Book Study forum and wiki page might help?
Hi,
While I live south of LAX airport, too far to drive to IE, I'm thinking the issues the Droplabs Book Study group has addressed, might be of "planning" interest to you. I've posted a ton of stuff regarding logistics, book evaluation for scheduling, and other stuff that I typically do for any project. I posted in the hope that other Book Study Groups might be bootstrapped to the fast track. Let me know what parts you find of value, or not, so I can hone the wiki, or admin minutia pages:
Planning: http://groups.drupal.org/node/154494
Learning Content: http://groups.drupal.org/node/158514
Yes, two pages, one for planning and administration, the other for posting content that should be learned. Having them separate was felt a service to those just following the content portion.
Also, the http://drupalistas.ning.com/ Drupal Module Study Group, which is virtual, using a weekly Skype group call, might be a model of your infrastructure, if you go virtual. You could join and see how they do it.
I will say that learning Drupal in a book study group is great. The more the merrier. I've gotten over several learning curve steep parts with discussions with group members. Weekly does not seem often enough, to me.
Peter
LA's Open Source User Group Advocate - Volunteer at DrupalCamp LA and SCALE
Boston Study Group
We've formed a study group in Boston, using the Definitive Guide to Drupal 7, and it has worked out quite well. We've adopted a very aggressive schedule, meeting 3 times a week, once face to face, and studying 3 chapters per week. We have four members, and may take on a fifth, but no more, which allows us to be flexible with both meeting times and pace through the book as needed. So far, it's been a good formula, although we aren't very far into the book yet, and everyone is happy with the choices we've made. You might consider the first meeting or 2 to be devoted to pace of reading, and whether to set up a common development environment. We chose to use the Acquia Dev Desktop, since we get the benefit of all being on the same page (pardon the pun) for environment and it places nice and doesn't interfere with any individual environments people may already have set up. The only issue we've run into is that it is multisite and the book assumes single site. So things like where to put the Git repository(page 42) required a little further research.
We also agreed to contribute back by using the website www.dgd7.org both to ask questions that come up, and to answer questions we've resolved amongst ourselves. We've also decided to be generous about giving feedback on the book, making suggestions both for future additions, and possible supplemental eBook topics that aren't covered in the book in as much depth as our individual needs or just curiosity demands.
Good luck with your endeavor, and please feel free to contact me with any questions, or just let us know how you're doing. We are happy to share any issues and resolutions we come up with, especially if you go with DGD7. By the way, if you buy book through it's website, http://dgd7.org/buy, the referral bonus is donated to the Drupal Association, which we thought was a nice touch.
Happy Drupalling!
www.EcoBoro.com
New study group this time online (mostly).
Kathy Chavez (kappaluppa) and I are forming a new study group.
As she already was in such a group last year let me pass her the mike:
"Last year a group of us started a virtual study group to learn how to make custom modules. We had a handful of people join the group. It was fun and I, personally, learned a lot. I'm still not an expert, but I know more than I did then.
I'm getting another group going and wanted to share the information. I learned a lot from that first go around and have changed some of dynamics to make it more focused and streamlined. You can read about it here: http://groups.drupal.org/virtual-drupal-co-learning-group. I'm waiting to hear back from the rulers of the groups realm to decide whether or not we will be a sanctioned group. But in the meantime, I've set the first meetup for next Monday.
As this is a new group we are thinking about doing custom modules again as the first go round, but of course, we are open to suggestions. The decision will be ultimately made by the group in the direction of the greatest interest."