---
title: 3. Building The Tools
tags: forum
---

# Building the Tools

The time to learn has never been better. Everyone is online and everything is online. To serve this hungry and growing audience we are generating new forms of reference material and exploratory products designed to inspire and engage the community in a bright vision of the future.

Education @ NEAR has many different customers. To serve the community we have focused in on exploratory product development (from 0 to 10 products) in 90 days

This is **part 3 of 4** in a series

1. [Build a Story](https://hackmd.io/@near-edu/building-the-story)
2. [Build the Team](https://hackmd.io/@near-edu/buliding-the-team)
3. **Build the Tools** (this post)
4. [Build the Road Ahead](https://hackmd.io/@near-edu/building-the-road-ahead)

---

Products are software systems that capture developer attention along the learning pathway and direct it towards high value target for the NEAR ecosystem.

## certifications
*Certification programs are highly structured milestone-based learning experiences that result in some kind of "proof of learning". This can be as simple as your NEAR MainNet account name in some registry or as sophisticated as an NFT certificate of completion that you can share on your social profiles.*

- NEAR Certified Developer Program [ v2 coming July 2021 ]
- 2021-H1 experiments with the NCD program were successful
- 2021-H2 will focus on growing the pipeline, monitoring progress and performance
- 30 student projects
- [videos demos](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9tzQn_TEuFW_dlX-LDYGAD87bZzX2CYV)
- source code at [github.com / Learn-NEAR](https://github.com/Learn-NEAR)
- one alternative implementation is a self-paced NCD course available at [learnnear.club](https://learnnear.club)

- NEAR Academy [ v2 released June 2021]
- most recent [update and walkthrough]( https://www.loom.com/share/b314a3c7b54a4526ad2ead6fc1a9e2d3)
- sample certificate [transaction](https://explorer.testnet.near.org/transactions/BMF3n56MTAnY6mSc7SquQjvEQ4ZiucMaEfVyieottFh5) and [direct link](https://near.academy/certificate/bob10)
- [near.academy](https://near.academy)

---


^ NEAR Certified Developer Tracks
( https://github.com/Learn-NEAR )

---


^ NEAR Academy metrics
( https://near.academy )

---

## reference materials
*Reference material (exluding docs and nomicon) are provided for the community and (whenever possible) run by the community after controlled handoff to a capable team committed to the success of the NEAR ecosystem.*

- NEAR in Minutes
- Learn to love NEAR in just a few minutes
- near-in-minutes.com
- NEAR Topics
- Discover code through categorized, searchable examples
- near-snippets.com
- NEAR Mezze
- Self-contained lessons about NEAR contracts and applications
- [near.mezzetech.com](https://near.mezzetech.com)
- NEAR Stats Gallery
- Beautiful account statistics on NEAR Protocol
- [stats.gallery](https://stats.gallery)
- NEAR Science
- An experiment in data-science as a service on the NEAR platform
- [near.science](https://near.science)

*all of the above were soft-launched June 2021*

---


^ NEAR in Minutes rendering Hindi translation
( https://near-in-minutes.com )

---


^ NEAR Topics rendering search interface
( https://near-snippets.com )

---


^ NEAR Mezze rendering landing page
( https://near.mezzetech.com )

---


^ NEAR Stats Gallery rendering near TLD
( https://stats.gallery )

---


^ NEAR Mezze rendering landing page
( https://near.science )

---

## developer utilities
*Utilities are surgical tools crafted for the purpose of making learning easier for newcomers. These range from starter kits and visualizations to account management*

- NEAR Account Utils
- [Learn-NEAR / near-account-utils](https://github.com/Learn-NEAR/near-account-utils)
- `near-sdk-as` Starter Kit
- [Learn-NEAR / starter--near-sdk-as](https://github.com/Learn-NEAR/starter--near-sdk-as)

---


^ NEAR tokens being transferred during live contract demo
( https://github.com/Learn-NEAR/sample--thanks )

---


^ NCD starter kit with walkthroughs
( https://github.com/Learn-NEAR/starter--near-sdk-as )

---

### platforms
*Platforms are community-facing systems for learning and growing together by taking advantage of the existing and incoming talent to the NEAR community.*

- NEAR University [ launching July 2021 ]
- Learn, earn, connect and certify in this comprehensive portal for everyone new to NEAR
- [near.university](https://near.university)

---


^ NEAR University Learn page
( https://near.university )

---

# now what?

**Now we need your help.**

If you are interested in *earning* while helping other with their *learning*, please fill out this form:

:::warning
## [:moneybag: Earn by Helping Others Learn](https://near.org/educate)
:::

# doing what exactly?

- **inspiration** -- do you have fresh ideas and energy?
- **inclusion** -- can you speak English and another language natively?
- **integration** -- will you make meaningful (technical and non-technical) contributions?

If so the join us! Earn by helping others learn NEAR today.