GM ApeCoin DAO! Bringing y’all the first instalment of our APE_U Updates 
The APE_U discussion started in Jan 2024, with the primary objective of strengthening educational offerings within the DAO to support future ecosystem development.
In May 2024, once the vote was passed under the GWG Budget of AIP-408, we kicked off the APE_U project. Since then, we have been building various interconnected initiatives, under the close guidance of @AllCityBAYC, @bigbull, and the Governance Working Group.
Bringing in initial educational expertise and resources from Open Campus and serviced by a team at NewCampus, the end vision is that by the end of 12 months in May 2025, APE_U is an independent, sustainable pillar of education within ApeCoin DAO.
DAO education in this way is a truly novel initiative at this scale, and very much a pilot across the entirety of Web3. We are learning as we are building, and appreciate all of the input, feedback and insights that have been shared with us.
Our Starting Point
As a first-time full-fledged DAO education programme for a DAO the scale of ApeCoin, we took inspiration from a few well-research concepts in education:
- Communities of Practice
- Mentorship programmes
- Building/Learning in Public
Additionally, we were able to build upon the fundamental principles of “AIP-354 Ambassador and Mentorship Program” and the “Initial AIP feedback beta testing” documents written by ALL CITY.
Progress on the 14 initiatives
Overall, we have already started on 6 out of the 14 initiatives, and have completed the first major initiative of the Coaches Induction, gathering a group of trusted community leaders to mentor new AIP authors.
2 Initiatives are well under way
1. Twitter Spaces: Originally started as biweekly ApeCoinTALKS prior to the passing of AIP-408, we took a quick break to refresh and will be starting our first APE_U focussed Space on 25 June.
2. AIP Coaches Induction: We recruited 10 coaches and ran the Induction from 17-28 June, with a mix of hands-on workshops and spaces for discussion. Our Coaches are united, inducted, and already starting to cook!
4 Initiatives in planning stage
1. APE On Board Video Series: We have done preliminary research and needs definition, finetuning the look & feel, target audience, and topics to be covered. Next steps are to work on the script.
2. AIP Authors Fellowship: We will be co-designing the fellowship with the AIP coaches, and have already started recruiting new AIP authors and working with Subject Matter Experts to develop deep-dive workshops.
3. AIP Resource Bank: We will also be tapping on the expertise and experience of the AIP Coaches for intuitive resources for new authors to browse and utilise.
4. Fast tracking AIP Projects to OC-X: We have identified qualified AIP projects for priority access to the Open Campus accelerator, which offers up to $100k in grant or debt financing and support towards developing educational programmes.
Highlights, Challenges, and Learnings
In the spirit of learning, we’ve learnt many valuable lessons from the short 1.5 months that are worth highlighting here. Our original proposal still stands, though we are continuously adapting on programme design to fit emerging needs.
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[Highlight] Conversations with nominated AIP Coaches have revealed a healthy, passionate group of community members who are invested in the development of AIP Authors and willing to contribute their time and expertise
- [Learning] AIP Coaches are key resources for the community. In working with such community members, we need to ensure that they are rewarded for their time and expertise.
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[Highlight] We’ve managed to release some good noise on Twitter about APE_U, tapping on channels across: ApeCoinGWG, ApeCoin, Open Campus, and more. In one week, we totalled 30k reach across posts such as this
- [Learning] It’s important to operationalise marketing and communications channel early and set up an effective workflow; it takes longer than expected but a smooth handover process here ensures much more strategic noise-making.
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[Challenge] We paused the regular Twitter Spaces programming for a while while election season is under way, and also paused a Culture Assessment initiative, because there was already a lot going on in the DAO at that moment.
- [Learning] Adapting around key events is necessary, but not something that we can’t plan ahead for. How might we get better at leveraging key events in ApeCoin DAO and pre-empting times like this?
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[Challenge] Despite our best efforts, we still have a 90% male AIP Coaches Roster - although we do have a healthy representation of coaches from different geographical regions.
- [Learning] Increasing gender and cultural diversity and representation is going to take work and intentional planning.
The APE_U Team
It takes a village to build a school. We’ve onboarded an initial team with the experience necessary to quickly build a comprehensive educational programme.
- A programme team of 3-4 working on participant learning, and experience
- A creative team of 4 working on branding, video production, and multimedia assets
- A marcomms team of 2-3 working on developing timely content and running Twitter Spaces
We are also deeply appreciative to the following individuals who have contributed their expertise to the programme
- @shotgun.tobi - Thank you for supporting us with your marcomms magic!
- Facilitators - Shoutout to @Lost and @Chris.Admin for contributing your knowledge to our coaches!
- MarComms WG - Thank you @popil for shedding more light on the vast Marcomms landscape!
- Everyone else who we’ve had a call with - Thank you for your generous energy and input. Excited to work together over the year.
What’s next?
Our top priorities over the next two months include recruiting new AIP authors, running the AIP Authors Fellowship, and finding new opportunities to adapt around and educate about new developments in the DAO.
Here are some ways to get involved over the next few months
- For new AIP Authors, sign up for the AIP Authors Fellowship: https://bit.ly/APEU-PAF
- Every other Wednesday, tune into the APE_U Twitter Spaces on the @apecoin account.
- Follow @ApeCoinGWG on Twitter for frequent updates on APE_U
Finally, reach out to me if you’re working on anything education-related! We’ll find a spot for you in the APE_Universe (:
APE_U 实施报告 中文文本
APE_U始于2024年1月，主要目的是加强DAO内的教育产品，以支持未来的生态系统发展。
2024年5月，在AIP-408的GWG预算通过后，我们启动了APE_U项目。从那时起，我们在@AllCityBAYC、@bigbull和治理工作组的密切指导下，构建了各种互相关联的举措。
APE_U引入了来自Open Campus的初始教育专业知识和资源，并由NewCampus团队提供服务。APE_U最终目标是在2025年5月的12个月结束时，成为ApeCoin DAO内独立且可持续的教育支柱。
这种方式的DAO教育是一个真正新颖的举措，并且在整个Web3中是一个试点。我们在构建的过程中不断学习，感谢所有人分享的意见、反馈和见解。
我们从几个经过充分研究的教育概念中汲取了灵感：
此外，我们还能够基于ALL CITY编写的“AIP-354大使和导师计划”文件的基本原则进行构建。
14项举措的进展
总体而言，我们已经启动了14项举措中的6项
顺利进行
- Twitter Spaces：我们在6月25日开始我们的第一个专注于APE_U的空间。
- AIP教练入职：我们招募了10位AIP教练，并从6月17日至28日进行了入职，包括动手工作坊和讨论空间。
计划阶段
- APE入门视频系列：我们已经进行了初步研究和需求定义，正在微调外观和感觉。下一步是编写剧本。
- AIP作者课程：我们已经开始招募新的AIP作者并与主题专家合作开发深度研讨会。
- AIP资源库：我们将利用AIP教练的专业知识和经验，为新作者提供直观的资源以供浏览和使用。
- 加速AIP项目到OC-X：我们已经优先获得Open Campus加速器的访问权限，该加速器提供高达10万美元的资助或债务融资。
学习成果
我们从短短1.5个月中学到了许多宝贵的经验，这些经验值得在此强调。
[#01] AIP教练是社区的重要资源。在与这些社区成员合作时，我们需要确保他们的时间和专业知识得到回报。
[#02] 我们利用了ApeCoinGWG、ApeCoin、Open Campus等渠道。在一周内，我们的帖子达到了30k的浏览量。提早运营营销和沟通渠道并建立有效的工作流程非常重要；这比预期花费的时间更长，但这里的顺利交接过程确保了更有效的成果
[#03] 尽管我们尽了最大的努力，我们的AIP教练名单中仍有90%是男性。增加性别和文化多样性和代表性将需要努力和有意的计划。
APE_U团队
我们已经引进了一个拥有必要经验的初始团队，以迅速建立一个全面的教育计划。
- 一个由3-4人组成的项目团队，负责参与者学习和体验
- 致敬我们的执行教练Jay W和项目经理Isan de Jesus！
- 一个由4人组成的创意团队，负责品牌建设、视频制作和多媒体资产
- 一个由2-3人组成的市场传播团队
我们还深深感谢以下个人对该计划贡献了他们的专业知识：
接下来是什么？
在接下来的两个月中，我们的首要任务包括招募新的AIP作者、运行AIP作者奖学金，并寻找新的机会来适应和教育DAO的新发展。
以下是未来几个月的一些参与方式：
- 对于新的AIP作者，请注册AIP作者课程
- 每隔一个星期三，收听@apecoin账户上的APE_U Twitter Spaces。
- 在Twitter上关注@ApeCoinGWG，以获取关于APE_U的频繁更新。
如果您正在从事任何与教育相关的工作，请联系我！(:
