[Grant Application] Integration of ICON Blockchain Development Course into DevEra (IT Academy and Career Training Center at Vietnam National University)

Grants
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  1. Title: Integration of ICON Blockchain Development Course into DevEra (IT Academy and Career Training Center at Vietnam National University)

  2. Category: Community Activities, Educational Activities

  3. Project Description:

Introduction & Motivation
Students are the developers of tomorrow. If new technologies are to achieve mainstream success, there needs to exist streamlined methods of educating the future developers of the world. Bootcamps, workshops and coding academies have become integral parts of curating the careers of developers and dictating markets. Programmers and other IT professionals are supplementing their official university education with additional academic programs that provide them the opportunity to intensely explore new methods and new technologies. In recent years, lectures, courses and seminars based on Blockchain technology have entered into official academic curriculums at many universities. For example, prestigious universities like Stanford allow students to extensively examine new or existing blockchain methods through monthly blockchain seminars. These seminars are largely focused on Ethereum and Bitcoin, directly funnelling a constant stream of interested students into those networks.

Currently, there exists no targeted academic approach to introducing ICON Network to the young developers of tomorrow. Our team is proposing to introduce ICON as an official academic program at Vietnam National University to boost ICON’s presence in Vietnam and increase interest of young developers.

About Our Partner, Lecle

Lecle is a software development company and global tech consulting firm focused on building customer-driven software solutions. Lecle employs over 40 developers and has offices in Vietnam as well as South Korea, US and Singapore.

In effort to mold the future leaders of the IT industry and accelerate career development of graduating students in Vietnam, Lecle entered into an agreement with Vietnam National University to build a campus-based IT academy called DevEra tasked with instructing and training students and graduates.

Through DevEra, Lecle aims to work with Vietnamese universities to accelerate the development of thousands of promising and talented Vietnamese students.

About DevEra

DevEra: IT Academy

DevEra is an IT academy and career training center at Vietnam National University. The aim of DevEra is to provide students with the knowledge, skills and hands-on experience needed to be successful IT professionals. Students are taught through an academic curriculum packed with Seminar Courses, Specialization Courses, Workshops and Group Projects.

Programs at DevEra include:

  • Blockchain
  • Python and Odoo Framework,
  • Front-end Web Development
  • Mobile Development
  • C/C++ Programming

Upon completion of these programs, students are granted official certificates as proof of their skills to be added to their portfolio.

DevEra: Training Center

DevEra acts as a training center for companies looking to develop the IT skills of their future workforce. With DevEra’s intensive career development courses covering CV preparation, interviews, company culture and working environment, students are able to achieve employment right after graduation by meeting the knowledge, skills and experience requirements set by employers.

DevEra: Career Acceleration

DevEra imparts students with the foundation to develop their career and the ability to grow their skills on their own whilst adapting quickly to new work environments. Guaranteeing the best jobs for young developers who are pursuing careers in Information Technology.

About Our Plan: ICON Blockchain Development Course

Our ICON DAO team is constantly seeking opportunities that will push ICON’s mission of mass adoption. We saw the massive talent onboarding potential of this program and lobbied for ICON Network to be used as the primary blockchain technology taught to Engineering students at Vietnam National University’s DevEra IT academy and career training center.

Building ICON’s presence in Vietnam: An educational approach

Our initiative is simple but very promising. We are targeting the youth: senior IT students who are eager to learn software development and will soon enter the workforce.

Vietnam National University (VNU) is a leading multidisciplinary and multi-sectoral national university, tasked with producing highly qualified human resources for the development of Vietnam. Outside of Vietnam, VNU is one of the most prestigious universities in Asia and is ranked within the top 400 universities worldwide.

At DevEra academy and with Vietnam National University support, we will offer a formal ICON Blockchain Development course to Vietnam National University’s Engineering student body of over 4000 yearly students.

We expect and are aiming for the following:

  • Boost exposure of ICON Network by teaching ICON technology formally as an academic program at a leading university.

  • Introduce the concept of dApp development with focus on ICON blockchain products and development tools.

  • Educate students to specialize in ICON development through intensive 3-month programs that focus on topics that cover:

    • Programming SCORE and ICON Network-based decentralized applications
    • Leveraging Current ICON Blockchain Technology: Fee Sharing, Virtual Step, BTP
    • Thinking outside the box: Innovative Application Models and Use Case
    • And entering the blockchain industry workforce.

  • Facilitate new and exciting applications being developed and added to the ICON ecosystem through the Group Project program within the curriculum.

  • Introduce a fresh, young and enthusiastic developer user base to ICON Network, allowing ICON “first dibs” on Vietnam’s brightest and most talented Engineering students who will be future blockchain developers.

  • Introduce a constant stream of university students and graduates into the ICON community.

  • Create and distribute ICON promotional materials (t-shirts, reading materials etc) to students.

  • Issue ICON broof versions of course completion certificates to all course graduates.

As Vietnam is becoming a hotspot for blockchain technology in recent years, we believe this is a prime location to pilot a program of this nature, and we are very excited to work with Lecle and Vietnam National University to build and grow the blockchain industry.

ICON DAO has committed to sponsoring this initiative in the following ways:

  • Provide a financial sponsorship of USD $5000.
  • Provide a Vietnam-based Project Manager from our ICON DAO team to oversee the development of the course and to ensure the standards of the program meet the standards of ICON Foundation.
  • Act as a bridge between ICON Foundation and DevEra for additional accountability and communication.

For more information on the development of DevEra, course details, team member information and roadmap, please visit here: Devera Proposal

  1. Project Duration

ICON Blockchain Development Course full integration into DevEra academic curriculum total duration time = 5 months.

Details
Course Research & Design: 2 weeks.

Development of Course Structure and Materials: 3 weeks

Marketing of ICON Blockchain Development Course: ~ 10 weeks

Pilot ICON Blockchain Development Course: 10 weeks

Pilot ICON Blockchain Development Course Review: 1 week

  1. Project Milestones

Milestone: Launch Marketing and Communications Campaigns: July 2020

  • . Deliverables:
    • Launch of social media channels: July 16, 2020
    • Launch of DevEra website (with ICON Blockchain Development course details added): July 30, 2020

Milestone: Launch Educational Marketing Events

  1. Deliverables:

    • Blockchain Seminar: August 27, 2020

      • a free promotional & educational event to market DevEra and provide a blockchain lecture with special focus on ICON Blockchain

    • 1st Workshop: September 3, 2020

    • 2nd Workshop: September 10, 2020

    • 3rd Workshop: September 17, 2020

Milestone: DevEra Grand Opening: October 2020

  • Deliverables:
    • Launch of the 1st ICON Blockchain Development Course: October 10, 2020
    • Conclusion of the 1st ICON Blockchain Development Course: December 2020
  1. Funding Amount Requested

ICON Grant Total Requested Amount = USD $40,000

Will be used to finance the following:

  1. The initial implementation of ICON Blockchain Development Course
  2. The constant updating of the course for the ongoing future of DevEra
  3. Additional financial support for the July 30, 2020 promotional Blockchain Seminar.

Details (Specific to the implementation of the ICON course only)
ICON Course Instructors: ($1500 * 3 teachers * 3 months) = $13,500

Marketing Staff: ($1000 * 2 marketers * 5 months) = $10,000

ICON R&D (to ensure course is continuously updated to match ICON’s constantly evolving environment): ($1000 * 2 developers * 5 months) = $10000

Finalize Website: $2000

Promotional Materials and Graphic Works: $3000

Educational/Teaching Materials: $1500

Total Integration Cost = USD $45,000

ICON DAO Sponsorship = - USD $ 5,000

ICON Grant Total Requested Amount= USD $40,000

  1. Official Team Name: ICON DAO

  2. Team Contact Information:

ICON DAO Email: icondao@canfoundation.io

Lecle Vietnam Website: Lecle Vietnam - Ideas turn into business

Lecle Korean Website: https://lecle.co.kr/

  1. Public Address to receive grant: hx3d5c3ce7554f4d762f6396e53b2c5de07074ec39

Thank for your time and consideration.
ICON DAO

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Initial Review Result Comments

Review Result

Reject

Review Comment

Please reapply based on our feedback.

Thank you for the detailed application and exciting plan to educate Vietnam developers but we think this proposal has a few issues and we hope you choose to reapply after seeing our feedback.

  • Can you please provide the length of the project? We must understand the monthly cost of this project because payments are made on a monthly basis after progress reports. So how many installments would this project be (i.e. 3 payments, 4 payments, etc.)

  • Also, can you please provide more information on KPIs such as the expected number of students participating in the course? Examples like:

    • n of developers registered for class: 1,000
    • n of developers finishing the class: 800
    • n of smart contracts deployed by students on the main net: 800
    • etc.

  • Is this an in-person course or online course?

  • Can you please find ways to lower the cost of this project? It is interesting but it seems like big risk of success because we agree that student developers are the future but this project has very long term rewards without clear support for KPIs of ICON (Smart contracts deployed, monthly active wallets, and daily transactions). We suggest lowering costs with these ideas:

    • Marketing Staff - University should help with this if it is a strong support of your course
    • R&D staff - You can get lots of help from existing P-Reps, ICON dev chats and ICON community
    • Website - You can make a website for cheaper than this we think and maybe university can help if they are in strong support of this course
    • Promotional Materials and Graphic Works
1 Like
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Great idea team :+1:

May I please share some community feedback/a suggestion? The community has been asking for a finished product of this nature. ICONists want something they can pitch for teaching about ICON to their local educational providers.

Could course materials be created with the intent to be used elsewhere?

Appreciate your consideration.

2 Likes
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@ICON_ADMIN Thank you for taking the time to process our application.

After reviewing with the DevEra team we have revised the application with the following considerations.

Duration

We ask for 5 monthly installments to cover a 5 month period from July marketing and preparation, up until the ICON Blockchain Course for this semester. So the total length of the grant should be 5 months.

KPIs

ICON Blockchain Course KPIs

For Fall 2020 Semester we have the following KPIs:

  1. Blockchain Seminar (Fall 2020 Semester)

Target number of participants: 100

Seminar date: August 27

  1. ICON Blockchain Development Course (Fall 2020 Semester)

Target number of registrations: 225

Target number of semester graduates: 200

  1. ICON Blockchain Development Course Group Projects (Fall 2020 Semester)

Target number of student teams: 80

Target number of smart contracts deployed: 64

Please note: These are university classes and as such our target number of students matches the university’s approved size for classes. However all 200 students per semester would be formally educated and work-ready by the end of the program as they will be having intimate hands-on training with their instructors. Ensuring a certain accredited level of standard for developers who graduate from this course and enter the ICON world.

Devera Market Reach KPIs

  1. Website KPIs (to ensure exposure to ICON Blockchain Development Course information)

Target number of unique visitors: 1,000 - 2,000

Target number of total visits: 5,000 - 8,000

  1. Registration KPIs

Target number of Devera student registrations: 1,000 (of which 225 are ICON Blockchain students)

With proper marketing and time, we expect earnest growth of the program:

  1. ICON Blockchain Development Course (total n by 2022)

Target number of ICON Blockchain Dev Course graduates: 2000

  1. ICON Blockchain Development Course Group Projects (total n by 2022)

Target number of smart contracts deployed: 640

In-person classes

This is an in-person course in classes at Vietnam National University as part of an additional academic program that students may register for to enhance their education and receive certification they can add to their portfolios and CVs.

Requested Lowered costs:

Marketing

ICON DAO will be sponsoring 50% of this marketing budget.

We believe effective marketing is crucial to the success of this program so we will contribute towards covering 50% of the original budget. The marketing involved in promoting university courses includes both social media marketing and on the ground campus promotion. For on the ground campus promotions, the marketers have to put in a lot of man-hours and on-campus events (handing out flyers, banners, attending club events, etc) for several months to market not just the ICON Blockchain Course but also the August Blockchain Seminar largely focused on ICON network.

Marketing = $5000

ICON R&D

We have lowered to 1 developer for ICON R&D.

The ICON community is very supportive and if we do need developer help we will definitely consult the available resources but there should be at least 1 person in charge whose duty is to ensure the program is up to date and can act as a reliable reference for instructors and for the progression of the course. Since this is a university program, there needs to be some level of accountability.

ICON R&D developer (5 months)= $5000

Website
We have adjusted the website costs significantly.
Website = $500

Promotional & Graphic works for marketing & promotion
We have lowered to $1500.

Total grant request: $27,000USD

With the new adjustments we hope to reapply with our new total requested amount of $27,000 paid over 5 monthly icx installments.

Given the potential of this project, all the information we have provided, and how much we believe in and are supporting this project, we hope ICON Foundation will consider this application favorably. If you require additional information, please do not hesitate to ask.

2 Likes
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Thanks NorskKiwi! The website will host and maintain some ICON information to support the ICON Blockchain Development course. I will check with the academy if course materials would also be publicly available and let you know.

2 Likes
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Thanks team, much appreciated.

1 Like
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Initial Review Result Comments

Review Result

Approve

Review Comments

Thank you for clarifying KPIs and making efforts in lowering funding requirements. Continued funding for this project will be dependent on the KPIs you provided. Please include updates on KPIs with supporting evidence (where possible) in the periodic report. We look forward to the results of this program.

Next Procedure

ICON Foundation provided the Initial Review Result Comments on the proposal. Grants recipients will respond to the Foundation’s response. Depending on your comments, the foundation will provide the Final Review Result Comments.

2 Likes
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Hello, @ICON_ADMIN

Thank you for the opportunity. We appreciate ICON Foundation’s faith in the potential of this program and look forward to working very hard with the DevEra team to get real results for ICON network.

We hope to hear the Final Review Results soon so we may begin. Have a good weekend!

3 Likes
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Hi NorskKiwi, we checked with the team, they said information on the ICON Blockchain course such as schedules, curriculum/information on the class subjects will be shared on the website but there are no plans currently to publicly release full academic teaching materials like ppts and tests etc. Sorry. If this changes in the future I will let you know.

1 Like
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Final Review Result Comments

Review Result

Approved

Reporting Period

Grant recipients should produce Periodic Reports in order to continue to receive grant funding. If the Periodic Report is showing that the initiative is not meeting expectations, the ICON Foundation has the option to halt continued funding. Please check the link (ICON Community Grant Program (“ICON CGP”)) and leave reports on this page (https://forum2.icon.community/c/g/pr)

The team must submit the Periodic Report by the timeframes below (UTC):

  • 2020/08/20 02:00 AM (UTC)
  • 2020/09/20 02:00 AM (UTC)
  • 2020/10/20 02:00 AM (UTC)
  • 2020/11/20 02:00 AM (UTC)
  • 2020/12/21 02:00 AM (UTC)

Funding Amount

The ICON Foundation is going to give out $27,000 in 5 monthly installments based on the Periodic Report. The amount of ICX will be determined and paid according to the price at 02:00 AM (UTC) on the day of payment.

  • 2020/08/24 02:00 AM (UTC) - $5,400
  • 2020/09/24 02:00 AM (UTC) - $5,400
  • 2020/10/23 02:00 AM (UTC) - $5,400
  • 2020/11/24 02:00 AM (UTC) - $5,400
  • 2020/12/23 02:00 AM (UTC) - $5,400