Anyone interested in a study group of sorts?

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kappaluppa's picture

Recently Katy of SeascapeWebdesign.com, katy5289 on d.o, posted a question about learning how to write modules, http://groups.drupal.org/node/112609. I too want to learn more about writing modules, and php, and jquery, and and and... It is so vital to keep skills up. It seems my skill set was sufficient about 4 months ago, and now I need to step it up some.

We are both starting to read through Pro Drupal Development book that Elaine (epersonae) recommended. I'm starting to put together a list of tutorials and lessons, planning out my own "training course" for PHP and module development to help me reach my goal. I thought it might be good to have an "accountability partners" on the journey. Sort of like a book club/study group. I was thinking we could plan out some study plan for the week and then meet either by chat, skype or forum and share or ask questions.

Knowing that I will be held accountable to someone else to have read or done some sort of work will help to ensure I complete the task. (I think that's why its so hard to carve out time to work on my own projects.)

One of the first things I'd be interested in knowing is "how do you study/learn?" Do you have certain days/hours that you devote to increasing knowledge? Do you read something if it happens to just come up? Do you take formal classes? As for me, I'm trying to set aside an hour or two to do tutorials, read blogs, practice, etc. And then within those couple of hours figure out what I'm going to be focusing on first.

Let me know if this is of interest to anyone. And even if you are not interested in this idea, maybe you have some resources, like the book, that you can recommend for the rest of us.

Thanks!
K

Comments

I'd be interested :} We could

ashedryden's picture

I'd be interested :}

We could meet to talk over Skype, too, as a group discussion.

Great!

kappaluppa's picture

So if anyone else is interested why don't we list days/time general or specific that would work for you. I posted this at Drupalchix but of course open to all...

interested as well

kbrinner's picture

I'm definitely interested too. I have found the best way for me to learn is to really commit to a certain amount of time every couple of days to focus on any given task - if I'm not consistent I forget what I've learned and have to go back to relearn things which is a big waste of time. I work from home (San Diego) on my own schedule so I'm open to chatting whenever others are free. I also mentioned this in the thread by Katy as well, but I'm trying to work through the Pro Drupal Development book as my main tool.

Times that work for me (I am

ashedryden's picture

Times that work for me (I am CST)
Monday after 6pm
Wednesday after 6pm
Friday after 6pm
Saturday & Sunday - 8-noon

How does everyone feel about a kind of homework + skype meeting kind of thing? We decide what we'll work on, work on it for a week, then get together once a week to talk about how we did, questions we had, etc?

Great Idea

Cody G's picture

I hope this starts up in January as my December is totally booked atm.
I'm on Pacific time and I work from home. So, hours are flexible as long as it's not 6am EST. ;)

I will also be interested in

kgoel's picture

I will also be interested in this. Although my schedule isn't same every week but I will try to work out something.

I have subscribed to drupal dojo group. They have training session (not really a training but more like talking on one topic) every Tuesday.

Anyone interested can join their group .

http://groups.drupal.org/drupal-dojo

Pro drupal book is a very good resource but just reading book and following along can be very long path so I am glad someone started this thread.

Me too

mollyavalon's picture

I'm also interested. I work from home (CST) and so am pretty flexible.

I always do better when I am accountable to a group for my progress.

Count Me In

webwriter's picture

I'd be very interested. I've been reading the book and trying to figure it out for more than a year and haven't made much progress.

Me too

erikao's picture

I am also interested, schedule pretty flexible. Ditto the remark about starting in January. Great idea!

I suggest we put together a

ashedryden's picture

I suggest we put together a google group (or d.o group) to keep all of the info together:
-what we are working on this week (be able to comment on the node/thread with questions, etc)
-when/where we are meeting (make sure this has the time listed with the time zone)
-how other people can join

IRC?

miche's picture

Should there be an IRC channel for this study group? I have never created one, but someone must know how.


Michelle Lauer
michellelauer.com

I can put one together. What

ashedryden's picture

I can put one together. What do we want to call it? Drupal-studygroup ?

This sounds good. I am with

kgoel's picture

This sounds good. I am with the name ... Drupal-studygroup.

Sounds good! Just set it up.

ashedryden's picture

Sounds good! Just set it up. #drupal-studygroup on irc.freenode.net

Drupal Group

ashedryden's picture

I've also submitted a group to g.d.o that is in moderation, called StudyGroup. When it's been approved I'll post the link here.

Drupal Dojo could help accommodate

gusaus's picture

Hi there - What you're describing here is similar to some of the community based training activities that occur in the Drupal Dojo (http://groups.drupal.org/drupal-dojo). It's a pretty established group (over 2500 members) with an irc channel (#drupal-dojo) and a good setup for virtual training and collaboration. We're also making an effort to help facilitate and promote local Drupal Dojos (http://groups.drupal.org/node/64153), or working and study groups.

Although the Dojo has many members, there's still a big need for more study groups such as what you're suggesting. Myself and the other Dojo organizers would be happy to help facilitate if you'd like to use the group, irc channel, webinar space, and other resources.

Cheers

Gus Austin

This is awesome!

kappaluppa's picture

The group has taken on a life of its own. This is great! I think starting in January is a good idea - especially since we are nearly there! Once the group is approved then we should add a schedule. I think homework is a great idea. If we post the schedule of homework, reading suggestions, etc. for each "class" then different groups within the group can start at different times and not have to worry about catching up. Plus they will have the advantage of seeing what worked and didn't work with the groups that went before them.

Thanks @gusaus for the info. I think those hack nights sound great. I'd be interested in setting up one in Denver. It would be awesome if down the line we could incorporate our study group with any hack nights that are going on at the same time. I think being able to use the webinar space is a great option as well. I'm sure we will need to show each other process or steps. Please let me know how we would go about that.

I would also be interested.

tinem's picture

I would also be interested but my time is danish.

Starting in January...

kappaluppa's picture

I'm so glad there are many who are interested in this type of group. I'll be planning our first meeting for the second week of January, then from then on the group can set the pace.

I'm usually on IRC/Skype all day. Also the room @ashedryden set up in IRC is alive. When I sign on to IRC I automatically log on to that room as well. Please join! Most of the time I'm the only one there! LOL But I'm also in #drupal-suppport. I heart IRC! :p

Also waiting to hear about the group on g.d.o that @ashedryden set up and what the status is on it. If we can't get a group of our own, then I think we consider working from within DrupalDojo as @gusaus suggested, or the Drupal Training group. I'm not sure if we really need a separate group at this point. We can see how it goes and then decide from there.

Let's all make sure we have the Pro Drupal Development book and have taken a look at Chris Shattuck's website www.buildamodule.com. Eventually we will have to decide what we want to build as our first module. Please submit ideas! And it doesn't have to be anything we'll publish, just something we can practice on, share and use for trial purposes.

However, I think it would be awesome if we can come up with an idea or a module that we'd like to contribute. Having said that, we need to beware of the commitment required when making a module available. Just take a look at issue queue's for Views & WYSIWYG! And many others! oy vey!

Finally, I'm going to review everyone's available times/days and make a suggestion for our first meeting!

Thanks!
K

Thanks, Kathy, for organizing

katy5289's picture

Thanks, Kathy, for organizing this study group.

I recommend going to www.buildamodule.com and create an account. This way you can view the FREE video: http://buildamodule.com/drupal-video/build-your-first-drupal-module-video. It's a great introduction to Custom module building.

Katy :-)

www.seascapewebdesign.com

I'd be interested, too

mlangfeld's picture

Hi kappaluppa,

Thanks for working on this. Count me in, please. I'm in the DC area. I'll probably just follow along, since I don't know any php to speak of, but I get concepts, so will give it a try.

Best, Marilyn

Tutorial: How to Build Your First Drupal Module

katy5289's picture

Hello Study Group,

I wrote a tutorial on How to Build Your First Drupal Module. You can find it here: http://www.mydrupal.ca/how-build-your-first-drupal-module
Let me know your feedback.

Katy :-)

www.mydrupal.ca
Drupal Training Tutorials

www.seascapewebdesign.com
Drupal Web Development

Hi kappaluppa Are we going to

kgoel's picture

Hi kappaluppa

Are we going to start our first study session soon?

Also in preparation for the module development I suggest to have some good text editor which can color code the syntax and has good search and replace. It will also be beneficial to install Acquia drupal stack on local machine (its free) so we have something running on our localhost that way we can add custom module and get our hands on that.

about PHP development servers

katy5289's picture

I've had problems with Acquia Drupal Stack on Windows 7. it doesn't work on PC with Windows 7. I recommend installing the Xampp bundle from www.ApacheFriends.org. Drupal 6 works best with PHP 5.2 so be sure to download Xampp version 1.6.8 or 1.7.1 and NOT the latest version. The latest version contains PHP 5.3. I use xampp 1.6.8. you can find it here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/xampp/files/XAMPP%20Windows/

Zend has a free community server that is a one step install. http://www.zend.com/en/products/server-ce/index
They also have an editor and PHP debugger with IDE (development environment). http://www.zend.com/products/studio/

Pantheon = awesome dev environment

kbell's picture

You should all look into Pantheon if you haven't already - http://getpantheon.com. So awesome and fun - and built to Drupal best practices (Varnish, Hudson, Solr, NGinX, Drush, SSH keys, PHPMyAdmin, etc). Accounts are in beta right now, but should be free for developers last I heard (client production sites will be paid, but reasonable). It's a little like Webenabled, but totally Drupal-focused, and way cooler (IMHO). Check it out!

I use DAMP with it, so if anyone is interested in talking about working with a DAMP or MAMP local integrated with Pantheon, let me know. I'm working on a screencast for this as well (not that you need a local with Pantheon).

Full disclosure: I'm an enthusiastic fan, not in any way materially participating in Pantheon, and gain no benefit from talking them up. I just really enjoy what they're working on.

--Kelly Bell
Gotham City Drupal
twitter: @kbell | @gothamdrupal
http://drupal.org/user/293443

Hello everyone, Kappaluppa

katy5289's picture

Hello everyone,
Kappaluppa asked me to post this for her since she's busy launching a huge website for a new client.

Let's have a Skype meeting on Tues January 18th at 6pm MST/ 5pm PST
Does that work for you? If not please post the times you are available.

Is it possible to do a doodle

ashedryden's picture

Is it possible to do a doodle for everyone's availability? That way we can have it when the majority are available. I'm personally not available Tuesday nights after 7pm CST

I am available after 6pm MST.

kgoel's picture

I am available after 6pm MST. Actually it is perfect for me.

When are you available?

ashedryden's picture

Here is the doodle for everyone's availability. We will close the poll tomorrow at this time. (1/12/11 at 10:30 CST)
http://doodle.com/7u3g8is8nwn7m3ic

Doodle

skygal's picture

What came of the survey? Anything final yet?

There were two days/times

ashedryden's picture

There were two days/times that had a tie for the number of votes (both with 5 votes)
Monday 7pst/8mst/9cst/10est
Thursday 6pst/7mst/8cst/9est

my oar in rather late -- kinda shy

webmamma5000's picture

Both are good for me though Thursday a little better. Please let me know how I can log/skype in. Also are those pm times?

Ariel Jensen-Vargas

These are PM times. To log in

kgoel's picture

These are PM times. To log in skype download the app and create your account.

Since the doodle results are in so can we decide on one time in order to make it on Monday or Thursday.

How do we find the group on

skygal's picture

How do we find the group on Skype? What was the name?

If you're looking for a tiebreaker...

fureigh's picture

Didn't respond to the doodle in time, but if you're looking for a tiebreaker I'd vote strongly for Monday. :)

fureigh.com
fureigh on twitter and g.d.o.

Monday for me

jengraph's picture

I'm with fureigh, I lean towards Monday as I have class Thursday but might be able to get on, not sure.

Let's set it for Monday PM (

ashedryden's picture

Let's set it for Monday PM ( 7pst/8mst/9cst/10est) then, since we have two extra people that want Monday.

My skype name is ashedryden. If you don't want to publicly say your skype name, feel free to send me a message on Skype and I'll add you.

Skype or IRC?

kbell's picture

morpheusathame on skype, kbell on IRC

--Kelly Bell
Gotham City Drupal
twitter: @kbell | @gothamdrupal
http://drupal.org/user/293443

I'm skygal.linda on SKYPE

skygal's picture

I'm skygal.linda on SKYPE

I am kalpana.goel on skype.

kgoel's picture

I am kalpana.goel on skype.

I'm fureigh on Skype.

fureigh's picture

I'm fureigh on Skype.

fureigh.com
fureigh on twitter and g.d.o.

I'm SeascapeWebDesign.com on

katy5289's picture

I'm SeascapeWebDesign.com on Skype

@seascapeweb on Twitter
katy5289 on g.d.o.

Here we go

mlangfeld's picture

I'm marilynsview on Skype
@marilynsview on Twitter
mlangfeld on g.d.o.

Mondays are fine for me, except once a month (usually 2nd Monday) I'm out at the Washington DC Drupal meetup. I usually don't get home til after 10pm. S'okay though.

Best, Marilyn

The group for this topic

ashedryden's picture

The group for this topic hasn't been approved yet, but you may be able to access it by going here: http://groups.drupal.org/studygroup

We are on ning

kappaluppa's picture

Since we could not get approved by groups.drupal.org, we started a group on Ning...
Please feel free to join !

http://drupalistas.ning.com/

We'll keep updates about our meetings and things we are working on. We have a forum for discussion and also blog posts for recaps.

See you there!

Study group last week's assignment

kgoel's picture

Last week's assignment was create a contact us module.

I have posted blog post how I wrote module and explaining which function is doing what.

http://drupalistas.ning.com/profiles/blogs/last-week-contact-us-form

We're rolling along...

kappaluppa's picture

This thread seems to just keep going...

We had another great meeting tonight, as we are working on our latest project, creating a module with a form. woo hoo! We are going to continue working on our tasks from last week as we were not all able to finish them up. The last task list was to build out our form module further to include:

more fields + 2 fieldsets
name a template file for the module
create the install that will generate the db
valdiate a field or fields
add the info to the database.
generate a new thank-you page, with summary of information
admin - overview of submissions

If we finish up the project we can add some extras as we feel led. I will be incorporating BeautyTips into my module.

I got stuck on getting my form to display in my template, but Carolyn came to the rescue (again!) and helped me put in the missing piece. I was not able to create my install file yet and I'll be working on that this week, as well as validation, theming my template, generating a thank you page and an admin side overview of submissions...whew! No World of Warcraft for me this week! lol

We've uploaded our working files to the forum on the Ning site: drupalistas.ning.com, if you need some help as you move along with the project. Please also feel free to add your files and comments. Also post if you have questions. Currently my project is residing at: http://kappaluppa.com/drupalistas/lead-form However, be warned! You never know what its going to look like since it is a work in progress!

Our group is very informal and very supportive, so I'm hoping you can join us next week Monday, 2/28, 6pst/7mst/8cst/9est. If anyone would like to have a quick get together on another day or time, let me know and I'll do my best to accommodate the request. Also, I try to have our IRC channel open when I'm online, #drupal-studygroup. Its never crowded! lol

Thanks so much to everyone who has been participating! Its great to have you there, and it is doing for me what I hoped it would - encouraging me to get my work done and be prepared for our next meeting!

Until next week....

K