On being a Unit Masters Study Group Lead.

6 min readAug 12, 2022

If you’re reading this, you might consider becoming a Study Group Lead in the Unit Masters program or just got here. For disclosure, I (Naomi) have been a Study Group Lead twice and will definitely do it again.

This blog post will give you a holistic impression of how it feels and what it means to be a Study Group Lead. Spoiler Alert: it’s a lot of fun and very rewarding! ✨

But first things first,

What is the Unit Masters Program?

For those who’ve been in the industry for a while, you might remember the moment you got started and wished for someone to teach you the basics in a structured manner.

That is the Unit Masters Program. With Unit Masters, participants gain a better understanding of the fundamentals of blockchain and learn other essential concepts from tokenomics to the blockchain trilemma in just six weeks.

Throughout the six weeks, students can join different sessions, from keynotes brought to them by thought-leaders in the space to tutorials on actually using crypto, such as setting up MetaMask.

At the end of the program, students will receive a certificate of completion.

Overall it’s a very interactive program, throughout which participants are nudged to research various concepts and ecosystem players to then discuss them with…exactly, their study group.

Who can become a Study Group Lead?

The most important things a Study Group Lead needs are:

Motivation and
A time slot for six weeks that they can host meetings.

What does a Study Group Lead do?

Any Study Group Lead can decide on a topic they want to focus on during the Unit Masters Program. For me (Naomi), that was DeFi in the recent Cohort. Others were covering topics including:

My Eco Power — which is short for “my economic power networking systems” and encapsulates the idea of social capital and its applications in the blockchain. Social capital centering on values inherent in relationships, vertically and horizontally, which can be converted into assets, is a topic that has fascinated Eric O. Esievo, which is why he made it the focus of his study group.
Careers in Web 3 — was a topic that Olga covered in her study group in addition to talking about the modules of the Unit Masters program.
NFTs, Art in the context of Web3 — for artist Cybele, this was a natural choice as a Study Group Lead and enabled her to bring in her experience.

How they structure Study Groups is up to them. At best, Study Groups are a place where students come to clarify questions they had after the sessions or discuss any news or trends they observed. It can also be to dig deeper into a specific ecosystem or a variety of projects.

In practice, that means hosting a Zoom or Google Meets (or whatever software you chose for your group) weekly for six weeks. Before the meeting, it helps to review the module content and prepare to speak about things.

What’s it like to be a Study Group Lead?

Of course, for any prospective Study Group Lead, this might be one of the biggest questions. So let’s go through challenges, successes, and any practical tips.

Biggest Challenge

One of the biggest challenges is keeping members engaged, as Olga notes, who found that providing weekly summaries of the topics that were covered helped address it to a degree. Cybele had similar challenges with getting all her members to engage in conversations.

Many students initially underestimate the effort and time they will have to research independently, and life can get busy fast. That’s also why for a Study Group Lead, it’s important not to lose motivation, even if maybe one week there is only one participant.

“One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world.”

— Malala Yousafzai

Another challenge can be creating the right environment and finding the right people, especially when taking it as far as creating businesses, as Study Group Lead Eric shares.

Needless to share, besides challenges, there are definitely a lot of wins one can celebrate as a Study Group Lead.

Biggest Wins

Eric’s biggest win was completing the Unit Masters Cohort 10, having completed all the modules, minted certifications, and now feeling ready to start working on a business involving blockchain.

As an artist, Cybele enjoyed exchanging ideas and interacting with other artists and art enthusiasts in Web3.

Olga found that being part of a global community passionate about web3 was another huge benefit of being part of the program. Inside the group, everyone is contributing, sharing, helping, and starting projects together, which makes learning much more fun.

“My biggest win was knowing that 2 of the ladies I had in my study group were now going to start on their venture, and I’d played a significant role in encouraging their journey. There’s not much more rewarding than that.” — Naomi

It’s also not uncommon for Study Group Leads to make friends along the way.

Motivation

Every Study Group Lead has a slightly different motivation. For Olga, it was seeking a challenge and the opportunity to expand knowledge through preparation and leading groups.

Eric found that connection and freedom of interaction with people from all backgrounds was another big motivator, plus advancing his understanding of the technology.

For Cybele, her drive and belief in the performative power of blockchain and her experience in Art were driving forces to become a Study Group Lead.

For me, it was mostly about giving on knowledge and helping others kickstart their journey. It’s easy to get lost in the depth of the technology (and I often do), so these study groups were a fantastic place for me to get a feel for which parts are hard to grasp for non-crypto-natives and even tested my understanding. And there’s little as rewarding as helping people understand something.

Here are a few tips if you have read this far and are ready to embark on your first Cohort as a Study Group Lead. 🙌

Tips

Have some questions ready for each session to kickstart conversations (Eric)
When in doubt, just do it (Olga)
Share what you know (Cybele)
Plan ahead, come prepared, and don’t be afraid to ask for guidance when you’re unsure in the broader Unit Masters groups. (Olga)
Have fun with it, and go with the flow. (Naomi)

Equipped with these tips, are you ready to become a Study Group Lead?

Then as we say in Web3 lingo: LFG!

The Study Group Leads contributing Input to this Article

Eric O. Esievo

He is a Business Development, Capacity Building, Leadership, and Enterprise Education Consultant.

He is also the Managing Director/CEO of ZAADORA INVESTMENT COMPANY LIMITED, and the Executive Director of the Centre for Creative Education Empowerment and Employment Solutions NGO.

Olga

Olga has a financial and analytical background and a passion for sustainability. As it happens, she landed in the middle of web3 when she was introduced to crypto trading with grid bots about a year ago. She got very interested in the space recognizing the incredible potential for change that blockchain has to offer. Right now, she is involved in several projects, including a web3 educational platform and a crypto news aggregator.

Cybele

Besides being a musician, she is also an independent cultural researcher and teacher. Her research entails XIX century culture, children’s books, women’s history, vernacular practices, feminism, cult film, and visual Art. She teaches online workshops and holds book clubs.

Naomi, the one writing this Article

I’ve been in web3 before it was called that, since 2018. First, as a sales associate for a consulting company, later a marketing manager for crypto exchange, for a Layer-1 protocol, and most recently, I took the step to co-found a venture (Friend A Labs) with a friend, leveraging digital assets and blockchain to empower content creators. I love reading, writing, and going down crypto rabbit holes.

Unit Masters is free of cost courtesy of Unit Network. Unit is a new economic engine, a pioneer in creating a human-centric technology built for future thinking communities. Its aim is to start making a positive change to the way economies run, by introducing a new foundation for global wealth distribution. The future we believe is about co-operative ownership for collective success & well-being.

Join the ride. 🚀