As you may be aware if you're a regular reader of my blog, I love learning, studying, and academia. And I've been thinking recently of how to take the opportunity to better intersect this with my knowledge of web development and technology in general.

You see, for many years there have been free, open-source resources for people to use if they wanted to learn programming, such as the Odin Project which maintains a Discord community of 708,000 learners, and freeCodeCamp, which has helped more than 100,000 people land their first developer job. These have been a wonderful resource for people to go from absolute beginner to becoming competent enough to make a career in software development.

And in a similar manner, over a decade ago, there were many options for Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs); however, these have been in a sharp decline in recent years^[1]. The New York Times called 2012 the Year of MOOCs, but things are incredibly different, now. Let me give you a couple examples.

In mid-2025, under new CEO Greg Hart, Coursera rolled out "Preview Mode," replacing the old free-audit system. Instead of auditing an entire course for free, courses now only let you preview the first module before hitting a paywall. Class Central's analysis called it "the day MOOCs truly died," noting the change came right as Coursera's stock jumped 36% on an earnings call and its valuation passed $2 billion, despite sitting on $775M in cash reserves.

Harvard and MIT sold EdX to 2U in 2021 for $800 million, and edX dropped free certificates back in 2023. Then 2U filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July 2024, citing over $945 million in long-term debt. edX kept operating through the bankruptcy, but tightened the auditing access and raised prices.

When looking at the above, I realize I want to contribute to free online learning as much as I can for the sake of others.

Blogging Studies

Over the past year, I've written extensively on both the IndieWeb and the craft of writing. While it can be enjoyable to read and learn from these posts one-by-one, that can also be overwhelming or a slog. They're all presented as individual articles instead of something like a tangible, actionable curriculum.

In light of this, I've decided I want to take everything I've written and launch a new project with it. I've actually had the idea to teach writing in virtual classes for a while now, ever since I first announced Fireweed School; unfortunately, I've realized I'm lacking the bandwidth to teach a synchronous class that would ask students to pay me for my services. The good news is, though, that I will be doing this instead, and it will be free for everyone. And I'll be able to take a lot of my ideas from that for this.

As George De Bruin notes in his recent post, "Why People Quit Blogging", much of what you encounter when you search "blogging" online is related to search engine optimization, corporate business marketing, and opportunistic pyramid scheme-esque endeavours promising passive income.

I've written before about how I want to reclaim blogging as a democratic, open tool for people to write and share online from this cynical, capitalistic definition that is dominant and popular on search engine results, and I think this idea could be a great way to make that happen.

My Pitch

The premise for this is rather simple: I am going to create a static site that will act as the syllabus and curriculum for Blogging Studies, and it will include lessons/lectures, assignments, recommended readings, and methods for class participation.

Blogging Studies is a term I coined myself, and I define it as the study and practice of writing craft and independent online publishing as a single, integrated discipline, treating the blog post medium as a legitimate unit of scholarly and creative work. I use the word "blogging" instead of "writing" because while a large amount of it will focus on writing craft, I also want to similarly focus on getting that writing out there in the world with blogging. I'll cover platforms, formatting, netiquette, etc. just as much as the writing itself. I will try to make the technical aspects as accessible as possible, and essentially this will be a dual or hybrid approach. You can think of Blogging Studies as a subcategory of Digital Humanities.

I want to avoid calling this a "course" or a "class" because it will be asynchronous, but also because online creators who announce such a thing are typically charging a lot of money, with revenue opportunity being the primary motivation.

This couldn't be further from the case with this project. I have already shared everything I know and have learned on this blog, and this will simply be synthesizing that information.

Being Open-Source

And, importantly, unlike nearly all my previous open-source projects where I've been the sole contributor and developer, I truly want to be a maintainer for this. While I think my contributions are a good starting point, I think having this open-source is an excellent way of getting new and different resources, modules, and ideas added to the syllabus and curriculum by others.

I'm going to be hosting this project on Codeberg, and part of the curriculum itself will be teaching people how to sign up, how to use git, make pull requests and submit issues, etc.

Being a good maintainer turns out to be less a technical skill than a communication one. Open Source Guides has a lot of helpful advice, such as getting your community documents in order early (a README, a CONTRIBUTING file, a code of conduct, a license, etc.) matters as much as the code itself. I'll be adopting the Contributor Covenant as the code of conduct created by Coraline Ada Ehmke in 2014 and now used by nine of the ten largest open-source projects in the world.

Good Pedagogy

Good pedagogy is not merely handing information down. Paulo Freire heavily criticized the "banking model" of education, where a teacher deposits knowledge into passive students who store it and hand it back on command.

In an essay for Hybrid Pedagogy titled "If Freire Made a MOOC: Open Education as Resistance," the author draws on writer Audrey Watters's observation that a MOOC feels entirely different depending on whether the "C" is experienced as course or as community, and that community is what keeps people coming back. I want to provide scaffolding for people to become co-authors of their own writing practice, together.

And I also admit I am lacking teaching credentials myself. But I will say this, if you don't know who I am already: I've independently published nine of my own books, five of which are available on Gumroad. Not only did I do the writing, but I did the cover design, layout, formatting, and copyright. These books span over 1,500 pages in total.

I graduated from Mount Royal University with a 3.8 GPA majoring in English Honours with a minor in creative writing. During my time as an undergrad, I published a scholarly article on Indigenous resilience and my honours thesis which examined the importance of the English Degree and writing in today's age.

I also founded Write Club, a creative writing collective of young adults that grew from a couple students to 100+ members. I was the president of this club where we hosted open mics, fundraising events, and I ran dozens of workshops with hundreds of students for three years. We published two anthologies under my tenure: "On the Fringe: A Collection of Filth" and "On the Fringe: A Collection of Community", which are available for purchase.

I'm also a Queer Red River Métis, and I know how important it is to centre marginalized voices and be mindful of how political writing is. Our voice and our ability to have a platform is directly imbued into my teaching.

Identity

I think identity is an important (and fun) part of making this work for anyone who finishes a module, contributes a lesson, or shows up consistently. For instance, I'm designing an 88x31 badge for the project, and I also want to run a webring.

Beyond the badges and buttons, I want a communal space where cohort members can talk to each other, share drafts, and celebrate wins together, not just consume a syllabus alone in a browser tab. I'm also interested in some light gamification: achievements, streaks, small visible symbols of progress.

I know gamification has a bit of a bad reputation, mostly because platforms use it to manufacture compulsive engagement, and that's not my intention. Rather, I subscribe to the idea that romanticizing the process strengthens the bonds between people going through a cohort together, and provides motivation to continue and sustain the practice.

On Being Anti-tyranny

Jo Freeman's 1970 essay, "The Tyranny of Structurelessness," argued that groups claiming to have no structure or hierarchy don't actually escape hierarchy and instead make it invisible and unaccountable. That's important to be mindful of when thinking about open projects claiming to be neutral or all-encompassing.

Blogging Studies is not neutral. I am opinionated and particular in how I write and in how I think writing should be taught. Which is why I want to emphasize that this is just one way to blog and write, filtered through my own politics, my own aesthetic sensibilities, and my own experiences. Plenty of other resources exist, and plenty more should. I'm not trying to be the final word on blogging, or writing, or teaching. I'm trying to be one honest, clearly-labeled voice among many. I'd rather you disagree with my syllabus and go build your own.

Interested? Get Involved!

I realize that it would be good to start planning early. Things are totally up-in-the-air right now (I don't even have a name for this project) and there are many different ways people can help before I even launch. Here are a few ideas I have for contributing.

Ways to contribute:

I'd love writers and researchers who could help draft lessons, recommend specific readings, and share your own experience blogging as case studies for beginners.

Editors and reviewers could provide feedback on drafts, proofread modules, and test assignments. Technical contributors can help with the code of the site, webring, and onboarding for folks new to git and Codeberg.

Community builders could help moderate discussions, welcome newcomers, organize cohort activities, and host online writing group sessions.

And of course, learners are the ones completing the modules, doing assignments, asking questions, and leaving feedback on what's helpful and what isn't.

I'd love to hear from people who want to co-teach a module in their area of expertise, as well as folks who've been blogging for a while and have their own lessons to share.

Current Status

• The project will live on Codeberg (repository link coming soon), where you'll be able to submit issues, make pull requests, and follow along with development.
• The Blogging Studies syllabus itself will be a static site, and I'll post a link when it's live.
• You can reach me through my contact page, email or reply to this post.