Semester Summary at “Steemit U”– What Have We Accomplished?

What has the @phillyhistory collective, the 15 students in this 15-week, crypto-experiment in higher education and the nonprofit sector done since mid January?

Quite a lot, really.

Late last year, in December 2017, @kenfinkel introduced the project in @phillyhistory’s first post. Thanks to the partnership, incubation and steady support of @sndbox, this announcement had a solid start with 411 upvotes and 104 comments. Further posts @phillyhistory introduced other aspects of the project before the start of classes in mid January.

We carried forward exploring issues of public history, nonprofit management of cultural institutions and civic communities. What kinds of issues? Financial management unique to the nonprofit sector. Philanthropy and governance. We explored the best practices in planning, collaboration and mergers. We examined collections management, the cultivation of collections, conservation, preservation and disaster preparedness. We discussed the importance of developing effective digital strategy. Again and again, we recognized the importance of strategic thinking in the creation of a deeper, stronger and more useful cultural ecosystem.

The project was brought to life by 15 remarkable student bloggers: @charliehersh, @cheider, @chelseareed, @connellgregg, @dduquette, @engledd, @jfeagan, @gvgktang, @hourofhistory, @johnesmithiii, @landy-yinan, @peartree4, @tmaust, @xiaonanli and @yingchen, all whom engaged on the many themes and issues listed in the previous paragraph. In addition, we dug into the events of 100 years ago, posting under the tag of #explore1918. We reviewed readings and current events in culture and community. And we debated what we might do with the equity we were creating.

In all, the bloggers of the @phillyhistory experiment attracted more than 1,800 followers and followed more than 600 Steemians. Together, over 15 weeks, the group published 296 posts (this is the 297th) drawing 872 comments and 10,647 upvotes. The average student blogger reputation score grew to 49.9.

We created a formidable footprint of content that engaged our immediate community, other Steemians and observers. Together, this community generated some very respectable equity: more than 3,800 Steem, 1,546 of which (so far) is from student efforts. In all, at today's conversion rates, the project generated more than $15,000 USD.

But it's much more than a numbers game.

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Quality content and meaningful discourse is at the heart of the educational mission of this project. As the semester comes to a close, we’ll present additional posts highlighting the most engaging and informative student work. And we’ll present the fate of this account and its accumulated assets.

Next Time: Some Remarkable Highlights

^{100% of the SBD rewards from this #explore1918 post will support the Philadelphia History Initiative @phillyhistory. This crypto-experiment conducted by graduate courses at Temple University's Center for Public History and MLA Program, is exploring history and empowering education. Click here to learn more.}