17 12 2016

For quite a long time we have thought about an answer to the question “May courses on Openki have costs?”. During the discussion we agreed on the following two principles:

1. Openki and the courses available on Openki shall be accessible for everybody
To render a barrier-free access to education possible was already one of the starting goals of Openki and keeps on beeing a big motivational force behind the project.

2. People, who offer a course (or a room), shall be able to earn something from it
Just as costs for course participants can present barriers, possible extra costs for people offering a course or a room can present barriers for them too.

How can those principles be united?
To find a model, which takes both principles into account and still stays easily understandable at the same time, is a challenging but also exciting task for us.
In order to live up to this task we decided to introduce the suggested price for the time being (a description can be found further down) but at the same time keep on looking for other possibilities and models inside our two defined principles. To do so we’ll also organize workshops & discussions and of course we’d be very excited about ideas, propositions, food for thought or maybe even a course on this topic on Openki.net?

The model “suggested price”
The model of a suggested price implies the following for courses on Openki.net:
A course may have a price, however it’s reckoned as a suggested price and will be labeled accordingly. Participants do not need to pay the given price, which counts especially for people without the adequate financial resources, but it shall be understood as a fair compensation both by course organizers/mentors and participants.
A course organizer/mentor can indicate and request fixed material costs.
Rooms, respectively the usage of rooms, may cost something.
For the import of whole event calendars (e.g. from organizations), which contain courses with fixed costs as well, we’ll look for a solution to still place those offers somewhere on Openki.net.
We think a good and clear communcation on as well as aside of Openki.net is crucial to the success of this model. We therefore kindly ask you as well to provide us your feedback in case of any lack of clarity.

Thanks a lot for your interest in the project!
We’re looking forward to the growing network around Openki.net!
Your Openki team

SGMK-week and festival Openki week in Jura