Concept
The web-platform is a simple open-source tool for local, self-organized knowledge exchange: As the foundation for mediating non-commercial education opportunities, as the interface between people who embrace themselves for similar subjects and as an instrument, which simplifies the organization of a “peer-to-peer” sharing of knowledge. The platform aims to make all processes possible from the selection of topics and the organization and execution of courses up to the documentation of the learning material.
How does it work?
Selection of topics
The learning contents are created by the users and are as diverse as their interests: They can range from language courses and philosophical reader circles up to cooking courses, from theater workshop to outdoor survival camps, from beekeeping to an introduction to alpine farming, from meditation courses to training weeks in programming.
The search function for learning subjects shall be a prominent tool of the website. Lacking subjects can be proposed by registered users. Proposed announcements form the “germs” of new courses that are to be organized. A subscription function informs interested users about changes within a certain subject.
Organizing Courses
To develop real courses from subject proposals Openki will offer a series of tools, meant to simplify organization and coordination.
- For each course four functional roles exist: Participants, organizer, mentor and host. One person can own different functional roles at once (e.g. organizer and mentor).
- With the help of a message board, content related or organizational questions can be solved and ideas brought up by users can be placed.
- Courses are held in physical rooms. The platform simplifies the connection of courses with suitable rooms and allows the efficient usage of existing learning infrastructures.
- Appointments can be fixed using an external voting tool (Framadate or Doodle) and then added to an events calendar.
- Using a automatic notification service via e-mail, interested users are informed about changes regarding a specific course without having to be on the website.
- An incentive system rewards commitment for a free exchange of knowledge. For this purpose awards on the user’s profile and a feedback function for mentors are scheduled.
Documentation & organization of learning contents
Course-relevant documents (texts, videos etc.) can be facilitated by the platform with links to appropriate external services like etherpads, wikis, nextClouds, and more. These can then be viewed, collected, selected and prepared by all users.
