Talking points archived in P2PU wiki: http://wiki.p2pu.org/w/page/37031375/P2PU-Messaging
http://pad.p2pu.org/talkingpoints
== P2PU Talking Points ==

P2PU is learning for everyone, by everyone, about almost anything.

Anyone can get involved with P2PU.
Peer 2 Peer University is your open online university. You can:


P2PU enables learning opportunities based on existing online content.

P2PU puts learners in charge, replacing the traditional top-down model.

P2PU is growing by leaps and bounds


== Talking Points (Previous Draft) ==

[After reading through this again, I'd like to question the strong focus on being experimental and community driven. We clearly are both of those things, but by repeating it, it almost makes us sound apologetic - e.g. "we know the experience is a little rough around the edges, but it's because we are just experimenting". I think we want to strive to offer everyone who comes to P2PU a great experience, and should be more confident that we can achieve it. Considering our community as customers, who we serve, might actually be a good way of getting there?]
I'd push back on that - I think to counteract the "gimme gimme gimme free stuff" attitude that we've expreienced of late from some participants, we need to very strongly ... got cut off here?
There is a difference between offering a great experience, and replicating the traditional education model in which you get taught. Those are two separate issues for me. I would like to signal that we are serious about creating an awesome project and platform - I would also like to signal that learning takes place between peers, and not in the traditional model. But I don't think either of these points requires us to repeat over and over that there is a community of volunteers that drives the project. Firefox is also built to a large degree by a community of volunteers - but they still want to be the best browser out there, and that's how they market themselves. Is the purpose of this to lower users expectations? 

P2PU is a community, not a service


P2PU is run almost entirely by volunteers 

P2PU is not a traditional university and we're not perfect (yet!)

At P2PU, we put learning first 

P2PU believes in openness and collaboration



+++++++++++++++++++++++PREVIOUS VERSIONS BELOW+++++++++++++++++++++



One of the reasons P2PU has grown so phenomenally is the power of word of mouth - everyone should  feel free to speak about P2PU with the passion and enthusiasm they feel for the project. However, it has become increasingly clear that some points about P2PU need to be consistently made out there in the world – doing this will make it easier for newbies to understand what we're about, and hopefully make people feel more comfortable about joining our community.  

Below are some draft talking points – please feel free to add your thoughts to these before they go to the community for approval.  

Talking points are guidelines only - this is not a press release, or a script. So please keep your contributions as short and sweet as possible.  
People think in 3s, so three bullets per point is a good way to go. 



P2PU is a community, not a service


P2PU is run almost entirely by volunteers 

P2PU is what people make of it (this seems like it could be collapsed with above) (agreed)- volunteers drive the Red Cross but do they have the power to decide what the Red Cross does?



P2PU is not a traditional university and we're not perfect (yet!) (maybe collapsed with #1?)

At P2PU, we put learning first (as opposed to grades, credits, classroom management, etc). (this sounds more like it's coming from staff, or the people who "run" P2PU. People participate at all levels-- isn't first priority to learn?  [ab - is the current version better?]) (I read it as it is the tool for which anyone can learn almost anything from each other. Can lead a student to a book but can't force him or her to learn. Just make it as easy as possible to get that book and read it.)

P2PU believes in openness and collaboration



========Other stuff======

Re: class/course terminology
Sometimes I wonder about the term "course" or "class." I use it but it seems to be like the traditional classes where there's an expert/professor at the front of a room and the rest of the class are students there to get a transfer of knowledge. I like "community" and "learning" though the vehicle through which this is done is groups(?) of students? Not sure. Just typing "out loud." Class works but I want to help people realize how open source/community driven it is and one doesn't have to be an expert to get the class going. [Philipp: Not sure who wrote this, but totally agree]
[Pippa, agree too - changing the terminology from course to (learning group) may encourage greater participation from learners. Course organisers "grok" this already, but general participants just think they're getting free traditional courses. This is an important communication decision to make]

Maybe we should have some tech talking points too. I realize that it's changing -- of course -- but some of the tools involved in all of the above are really good to mention during interviews and such too depending on audience. Might get more devs with this project specifically, find some more shared projects, or inspire other groups like this. We could even use the tech talking points (or even the open ed research team's findings) as gateways to get interviewed in niche magazines. 
[not only are we responding against traditional bricks and mortar education, we're also challenging the way traditional "e-learning" is perceived, designed and created]

Other things I love when doing interviews are statistics. Perhaps we could have a page of general ones like X% increase from the first sessions (when) to January's. I've seen them around somewhere but one spot where the above talking points lives would be nice for quick referral. 
Super useful - regular reports on site/ user metrics and surveys would be great to archive on the wiki anyway.