learning drupal bof at drupalcon

I've proposed a BoF to focus on Learning Drupal; to have a discussion pointed towards curriculum and learning outcomes.

Learning Drupal BoF, Wednesday, 3pm, room AV 200

The Training panel discussion at DrupalCon was good. Each of the presenters briefly touched on how they deliver training, and also some pimping of books and other learning materials. Good to see such great content being developed.

They structured the panel with the notion of audience: private, public or in-house training. Different providers focused on different areas.

Ryan Price from DrupalEasy followed up with a training BoF in the afternoon. We spent most of the time introducing ourselves. While it was quite absorbing to hear the diversity of backgrounds, we didn't get a chance to dig in.

One interesting observation is that I was surprised by the amount of people interested in training Drupal administration, as opposed to training in Drupal development or theming. For example, they are training consultants brought in to train end-users on how to use their own Drupal site. What was sad was to hear of situations where people are being "trained to software" because a site was poorly designed.

To me, this also highlights the need for training Drupal developers.

I also observed that the greatest need for training is clearly in the area of theming. Which isn't so surprising. Drupal simply isn't like Wordpress, there are so many variations and permutations. Much Drupal theming is bespoke. And it does have a steep learning curve for those coming from graphic design backgrounds.

So I left the BoF with more questions, and I think a good few people may have missed that session. Hence, I proposed yet another one.

We'll hold this session using open space technology. I'm hoping the education/training nerds will like this method. It will help us have a productive discussion and get beyond "just" introductions.

So bring your ideas and questions! Please do tell anyone you think who'd be interested in this session about learning and Drupal.