Some thoughts about where to go with skill sets and open curriculum

Open Curriculum: Definitions – Scenarios – Roadmap – Skill sets – Open certification – References - Roles
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I'm really happy to see the work with Drupal skill sets have come this far, and I think that we – right now – have something that is actually useful. (I know the skill map isn't perfect, but it is still useful.)

I have some thoughts about where to go now, but I don't want to update the roadmap until these thoughts have been discussed a bit.

This is what I think:

Things we need to do

• Make any adjustments to the existing Drupal-related skill sets. This is probably most important for mobile and web services, but there are other skill sets that probably can be improved significanlty.
• Make richer descriptions for the skill sets. I envision this being done by people taking on a skill set they know much about, and find a way to describe it that matches that particular skill set (and, by all means, the people involved in the work). I don't think we should strive to make templates for describing all skill sets the same way – they are too different for that. Some skill sets will probably need "levels" you can achive, others have distinct sub parts, and some have very concrete resources that are essential (such as the Drupal coding standards).

Of these tasks, I think making richer descriptions easily is the biggest one. That process will also include investigating and scrutinizing the skill sets, which I am sure will lead to some changes in the bigger picture.

Things we can do

Apart from the necessary things, I think we can take the wider open curriculum project further in a number of ways. I think it makes sense to allow people interested in particular sub projects to take on tasks and run with them as far and wide as they want. (It is of course important to talk with stake holders and other people interested in a sub project.)

I suggest this because I know that I care a lot about fleshing out site building skill sets and, for example, link to good learning resources – while others care more about describing roles for Drupal professionals, building open certification frameworks, doing badges and achievement lists, and what not. All of these are great, and I don't think we need to focus on one at a time.

Some of the things we could do:

• Discuss and improve the descriptions of target groups for the project
• Continue the work on identifying and describing roles for Drupal professionals
• Describe pre-requisite skills for the Drupal-specific skill sets (arguably by pointing to resources elsewhere on the net)
• Describe non-Drupal skill sets that still are highly relevant for Drupal professionals – such as Drupal trainer skills, project management skills, etc.
• Develop a framework people can use when posting content on the web, to relate it to Drupal skill sets
• Writing curricula for individual skill sets or many skill sets together
• Anything else you find interesting and engaging

My suggestions of what to do now.

1. We collect opinions about the updated skill map internally. I think it makes sense to start a new post for it, for avoiding to drown in the old comments.
2. We try to divide as many skill sets as possible between ourselves (and people we find), to get closer descriptions.
3. In parallel, we start thinking about where we want to go, and what future sub projects we find most interesting.