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Metaverses, NFTs and Creator Economies on the Blockchain |
/s22 |
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Max Enrollment: 60
Sponsors and Partners: Rally, Republic Crypto, Algorand, Ripple, Berkeley Haas Blockchain Initiative, Blockchain at Berkeley
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| Luke Kowalski [Bio] |
Michael Morris [Bio] |
| VP, Oracle | Information Architect, Forte |
| lukek@berkeley.edu | michaelmorris@berkeley.edu |
| Role | Name(s) |
|---|---|
| Director, X-Lab and Xcelerator Programs | Joceyln Webber |
| Volunteer | Sehyun Chung |
| Course Coordinator | Ayaon Yadav |
| Course Readers | Daniel Gushchyan & Nathan Zhang |
Mondays and Wednesdays
Time: 5-7pm PST
Location: ETCH3108 and Zoom
See BCourses for Zoom link
Classes Start on Tue, Jan 18, 2022, so our first class is on Wed, Jan 19, 2022
<iframe id="speakers" src="/metaverses-nft-creator-economies-on-blockchain/speakers" width="100%" height="100" frameborder=0> </iframe> <iframe id="syllabus" src="/metaverses-nft-creator-economies-on-blockchain/syllabus" width="100%" height="100" frameborder=0> </iframe>* Recordings only accessible to students enrolled in the course who are currently signed in on BCourses
<script> function setIframeHeight(iframe) { if (iframe) { var iframeWin = iframe.contentWindow || iframe.contentDocument.parentWindow; if (iframeWin.document.body) { iframe.height = iframeWin.document.documentElement.scrollHeight || iframeWin.document.body.scrollHeight; } } }; window.onload = function() { setIframeHeight(document.getElementById('syllabus')); setIframeHeight(document.getElementById('speakers')); }; </script>Grading Basis: Letter grade
Course Format: Lectures, Guest Lectures, Team exercises, Case Studies, Hackathons and Sponsor labs, offline videos and readings, office hours.
Office Hours: At the end of class, or by appointment via Zoom
Final Presentation and/or Final Exam: Final Pitch, Prototype, and Code Review. No Mid-Term, but early low-fidelity prototype and technical architecture review by GSI
Come learn why Mark Zuckerberg said “Our overarching goal across all of these initiatives is to help bring the metaverse to life.” The metaverses, NFTs and creator economies are all having a moment.
Join us as we explore how these various concepts intersect and build your own MVP solution with guidance from leaders in the space.
On the metaverse from the Verge article of Jul 22, 2021, “In January 2020, an influential essay by the venture capitalist Matthew Ball set out to identify key characteristics of a metaverse. Among them: it has to span the physical and virtual worlds; contain a fully fledged economy; and offer “unprecedented interoperability” — users have to be able to take their avatars and goods from one place in the metaverse to another, no matter who runs that particular part of it. Critically, no one company will run the metaverse — it will be an “embodied internet,” Zuckerberg said, operated by many different players in a decentralized way” which infers a blockchain
As the NFT and creator economy space matures, we believe that creators, entrepreneurs, and developers are in need of a well-defined and organized curriculum to prepare them for the future of Metaverses. Hence, the development of UC Berkeley’s course on Metaverses, NFTs & Creator Economies, will be hugely beneficial to the upcoming generation of creators, innovators, and builders. The course will cover the growing relevance of NFTs and creator economies using a hands-on “Challenge Lab" approach, developed by the Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology.
Further Background - It is safe to say that 2021 is the year of the non-fungible token. The NFT market as a whole has seen tremendous growth in activity and value transacted in H1 2021. According to data by NonFungible, NFT sales volume has grown exponentially in 2021 leading to increased media coverage and public awareness.
While NFT sales volume has contracted since its peak in May, volume still remains consistently higher than prior years. Moreover, with the increase in mainstream media coverage, NFTs are here to stay despite the recent slow-down. The increasing relevance of the NFT economy presents a very lucrative long-term growth opportunity.
Creator economies have also seen rapid growth in recent years. The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic catalyzed digital entertainment as the world moved online. The growth of creator economies is evident with over 50 million people identifying as creators and the majority of these creators as amateurs. With this growth, consisting primarily of aspiring amateurs, we expect the expansion of the creator economy in the coming decades especially as creators find additional ways to sustainably diversify their revenue stream. To some extent, the growth of creator economies and NFTs are intertwined. NFTs provide a way for creators to increase their audience as well as diversify their revenue stream by selling NFTs to followers. And, finally, all these digital formats become integral in future Metaverses.
This class requires an application for enrollment consideration. Students from all majors, both undergraduate and graduate, are welcome; no blockchain experience is needed. ~40% of seats are reserved for technical/engineering majors to ensure an adequate depth of CS skills are available to each team to fulfill the technical obligations of the team. All other majors are also encouraged to apply to meet the business and entrepreneurial obligations of the team. Team selection will be guided to ensure teams are multidisciplinary in nature. The goal is to build a course full of passionate students willing to push their boundaries and build an amazing startup. The application for Spring 2022 is now closed. Applications will be reviewed in batches and you will be notified when a decision has been made. If admitted, you will be given permission to enroll.
Challenge Labs (INDENG 185) are classes for students of all academic backgrounds who seek a rigorous, interactive, team-based, and hands-on learning experience in entrepreneurship and technology. This course uses a unique pedagogy, The Berkeley Method of Entrepreneurship that involves the use of games, industry guest speakers, team exercises, videos and labs to cover the early part of the startup lifecycle. Each Challenge Lab has a different theme. In this highly experiential course, students form start-up teams to create technology solutions or services to address a broadly-defined problem posed by an industry partner or social challenge.
There are a number of student and professor-led courses explaining the technical and legal aspects of disruptive technologies, but often only in theory. This hands-on course aims to engage students in a very applied course, where each multidisciplinary team of 4-6 students will identify a problem that needs to be addressed, and then learn how to how apply it to solve problems using their chosen platform or protocol. Students will learn proven entrepreneurial methods and apply user-centered design tools in creating their company/solution. Guest lectures from industry and academia, as well as hands-on group exercises and presentation of use cases will help along the way. Students will end up with artifacts and work product suitable for inclusion in their portfolios. The best team in the class will be nominated to enter the SCET Collider Cup, where student startups from this class compete with other students from SCET classes for access to venture capital, mentoring, and prizes.
The challenge of this course: Are you ready to be a pioneer and want to work at the forefront of the Web 3.0 technical revolution and create new Metaverses, mint NFTs and create alternative economies?
- Work on their own projects, guiding the evolution of a product/service solution from ideation to a working prototype
- Navigate weekly, realistic challenges introduced through case studies and teamwork
- Understand the market opportunity and real-world constraints
- Use rapid, iterative, build-and-validate development methods
- Interact frequently with industry mentors
This class is recommended for anyone interested in exploring the personal growth and transformation that typically accompanies the entrepreneurial journey. This course is a challenge unlike any other. There will be a lot of work and seriously frustrating moments, with the promise of eventual enlightenment. Clarity will come only after students set aside their egos, embrace chaos, and dedicate their energy to understanding their goals.
Students with programming experience will be expected to learn enough blockchain, Web 3.0, and NFTs to be able to write simple working code by the end of the semester. Every team should have at least one computer science major, but we do encourage diversity and input from members of the team whose expertise is business, economics, or design.
The course is designed to be highly participatory. Each class session will include instructor-led content, including plenary presentations, active group discussion, class games, and exercises to apply the skills being learned, and special guest appearances. Some of the class time will be available for groups (teams) to meet to discuss and work on their projects. Mentors will be available to help guide students and provide a sounding board to address issues.
The course will cover all the major topics necessary to start a technology startup. Topics will be revealed to you over the course of the semester. Announcements will be made regularly via bCourses and Notion CMS, and this will be the final location for details on assignments and deliverables made during the course of the semester. GIThub and sponsor repos will also be utilized for code and demos.
The content and activities are subject to change as we experiment with the most effective way to conduct each class. Students need to be flexible and ready to provide input and ask clarifying questions – all feedback is welcome.
- Welcome to Entrepreneurship
- The Players (and use cases)
- The Idea, Opportunity Recognition
- The Value Proposition
- Ideas meet Reality, User Validation
- Business Validation
- Functional Validation (Problem Solution Fit),
- Execution
- Customer Acquisition (Marketing, Sales, Distribution)
- Finance
- The Art and Science of Pitching
- The Penultimate session
- Collider Cup
All assignments and project work will be submitted digitally via bCourses. Some content will be available through other platforms from Blockchain@Berkeley, Venture Dojo, or analyst reports, and sponsor web sites.
Attendance at the lecture sessions is required for a passing grade. If you miss more than 4 days oflecture (excused or unexcused), you will not pass. Because the course is largely basedon group participation, mandatory attendance is to your benefit—it forces your teammates to participate andweeds outstudents who will not carry their weight.
We will ask each person about the "rock stars" and "moochers" on their teams, so please contribute to your group projects.
| % | Name |
|---|---|
| 20% | Final Pitch |
| 35% | Prototype and Code Review |
| 20% | Individual Attendance/Participation, Video blogs, Quizzes, Individual Homework, and Participation |
| 15% | Group Homework |
| 10% | Peer Project Review Grade |
Grading may be on a curve. This is only an expectation, not a guarantee. This is an example distribution from previous challenge labs:
- 65% of students received an A or A-
- 35% of students got a B+ to B
- Lower grades to be assigned only for outliers from the course grades
Top team will present at the SCET Collider Cup, where teams from other Challenge Labs will compete for prizes and additional assistance on their entrepreneurial journey.
The above Judges’ Choice receives an automatic A+ Keep in mind that the bulk of your grade is tied to your deliverables due towards the end of the semester, so early semester or even midterm final grade projections are not usually accurate.
Students are highly encouraged to focus on learning skills, setting goals and driving meaningful outcomes, rather than grades per se. Students should note that they will be working closely in cross-functional teams and are expected to actively contribute to their team’s solution. Teammates will be surveyed to evaluate their co-members’ level of participation.
- Same day, but more than 2 hours late: -10%
- Within a week: -25%
- Later than a week: no credit unless an exception is granted
Teams will complete some weekly homework, including occasional “reflections” video-blogs (roughly 2 minutes in length), outlining the evolution of their solution, what team members are learning individually, and unexpected surprises or challenges faced. Homework can be assigned to groups or individuals, while video blogs are always an individual assignment. Teams can also use the Innovation Navigator (see link in Resources Section)
Luke Kowalski has been involved with UC Berkeley’s Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship for a few years now, where he served as judge, mentor, and ad-hoc lecturer. He attended two startup entrepreneurship-training events in Slovakia and Jordan, where he was a sponsor, mentor, and presenter. This is his fourth semester of teaching the Challenge Lab.
Luke works at Oracle as a corporate executive reporting to one of Larry Ellison’s EVPs and specializes in working across multiple disciplines. He has executed projects involving legal issues (antitrust, IP, audits, litigation), acquisitions (due diligence, integration, or divestitures), technical standards (document formats), government affairs (EU/USA trade, IP reform, repatriation), and even managed functions like physical security, user interface design and accessibility. Before coming to Oracle, he worked for various startups in technical, design, and business roles, as well as for Netscape's Server and E commerce division. He holds several patents and professional certifications, serves as an ISO representative for US through ANSI and lectures frequently at conferences and universities. His educational background includes advanced degrees from UTA, Pratt Institute, and Columbia University. He is also conducting PhD research on Bitcoin consumer adoption at the University of Leicester School of Management.
Luke has worked on information security, physical security, and other aspects of cyber for over a decade. He firmly believes that blockchain has the potential to disrupt established technical and business patterns around the world. It is also a perfect foundation and universal concept for launching a startup. He also has experience with financial ERP apps, where he was one the lead designers and contributors, in addition to working on an acquisition in the fintech space.
Michael Morris works as Forte’s Information Architect, designing knowledge management solutions and leading internal education efforts around gaming, blockchain and Forte’s platform. Prior to working in blockchain infrastructure, he worked in fundraising and community development for a social enterprise and nonprofits in education. Michael has long enjoyed learning about applications for blockchain technology by participating in the growth and development of web3 native communities. Nominated to Rally.io’s first Creator Review Council, Michael spearheaded several community driven $RLY protocol development efforts and co-developed a framework for approving new creators to the platform for tokenizing their economies. Michael looks forward to sharing insights and connections that can inspire his students to innovate across the metaverse, NFTs and creator economies.