openHPI is a platform for massive open online courses (

MOOC A massive open online course (MOOC ) or an open online course is an online course aimed at unlimited participation and open access via the World Wide Web, Web. In addition to traditional course materials, such as filmed lectures, readings, and p ...

) in the field of computer science and information technology. It is hosted at the

Hasso Plattner Institute The Hasso Plattner Institute for Digital Engineering gGmbH (; HPI) is an information technology non-profit company affiliated with the University of Potsdam in Potsdam, Brandenburg, northeastern Germany. The teaching and research of HPI are f ...

(HPI) in Potsdam, Germany. openHPI is open to everyone, and participation is free of charge. Everybody can register and enroll for courses without any prerequisites. openHPI's courses are derived from HPI's bachelor and master programs in IT-Systems Engineering and cover both, foundations of information technology as well as highly topical innovations. The course languages are English and German. openHPI offers around six to ten courses per year. All courses follow the same educational format: The subject domain is split into two to six weekly units. Each week, video lectures, reading materials and quizzes are presented in a learning sequence. Learners can ask their questions and discuss points of interest with each other in the course discussion forum which is actively moderated by the teaching team. Learning progress is measured through self-tests which can be repeated as often as desired, and assessed in graded weekly assignments, and a graded final exam. Participants who achieve at least 50% of the total score receive a record of achievement. After a course ends, materials remain available in archive mode.

History

The platform, which began i
September 2012
pioneered the MOOC format in Germany. The first course covered the topic of In-Memory Data Management and was given by the founder of the HPI,

Hasso Plattner Hasso Plattner (born 21 January 1944) is a German businessman who is the co-founder of SAP SE software company. From 2003 to 2024, he served as the chairman of the company's supervisory board. As of August 2020, ''Forbes'' reported that he posses ...

. In 2017, five years after its launch, openHPI reached the benchmark of 400,000 enrollments. Among other things, the courses contain the following topics: * In-Memory Data Management * Internetworking with

TCP/IP The Internet protocol suite, commonly known as TCP/IP, is a framework for organizing the communication protocols used in the Internet and similar computer networks according to functional criteria. The foundational protocols in the suite are ...

* Internet Security for Beginners * Web Technologies * Embedded

Smart Home ''SMart'' was a British CBBC television programme based on art, which began in 1994 and ended in 2009. The programme was recorded at BBC Television Centre in London. Previously it had been recorded in Studio A at Pebble Mill Studios in Birming ...

Semantic Web The Semantic Web, sometimes known as Web 3.0, is an extension of the World Wide Web through standards set by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The goal of the Semantic Web is to make Internet data machine-readable. To enable the encoding o ...

Technologies *

Data Management Data management comprises all disciplines related to handling data as a valuable resource, it is the practice of managing an organization's data so it can be analyzed for decision making. Concept The concept of data management emerged alongsi ...

with

SQL Structured Query Language (SQL) (pronounced ''S-Q-L''; or alternatively as "sequel") is a domain-specific language used to manage data, especially in a relational database management system (RDBMS). It is particularly useful in handling s ...

Business Process A business process, business method, or business function is a collection of related, structured activities or tasks performed by people or equipment in which a specific sequence produces a service or product (that serves a particular business g ...

Modeling and Analysis * Objekt-oriented programming in

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

for everyone

Technical aspects

The platform was originally based on the popular learning management system

Canvas Canvas is an extremely durable Plain weave, plain-woven Cloth, fabric used for making sails, tents, Tent#Marquees and larger tents, marquees, backpacks, Shelter (building), shelters, as a Support (art), support for oil painting and for other ite ...

, with some technical adaptations for example a reworked front end. The experience with the first courses showed that this system was not able to scale to many thousands of participants. Therefore, a new platform was developed from scratch in the sense of a service-oriented architecture (SOA), which allows better scalability and more flexibility regarding the integration of features. Video streaming is made through the streaming provider Vimeo. The platform uses a dual stream video player which allows the synchronous playback of two video sources, for example the video of a lecturer together with the video of the presentation slides. In 2015, the programming platform CodeOcean was developed by HPI researchers and integrated in openHPI. CodeOcean is available as an open source solution and allows programming directly in the browser. It has already been used in the openHPI courses �
Java für Einsteiger
” �
Web Technologies
” and �
Spielend Programmieren lernen
��. Since 2017, the open mode has been available on openHPI, meaning that you can watch many of the videos without having to create an account. Only for specific actions, such as writing in the forum or taking an exam, you need to enroll.

Partner platforms

Since 2013,

SAP SE Sap is a fluid transported in the xylem cells (vessel elements or tracheids) or phloem sieve tube elements of a plant. These cells transport water and nutrients throughout the plant. Sap is distinct from latex, resin, or cell sap; it is a s ...

has used another instance of the same platform ( openSAP) to make its training offers available to employees, customers, and a broad public. The Hasso Plattner Institute has run another instance of the same platform calle
mooc.house
since 2015. The mooc.house platform is a white label solution for companies, institutions, and individuals who want to offer their own online courses. In 2017, the Hasso Plattner Institute set up another MOOC platform for the

World Health Organization (WHO) The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and has 6 regional offices and 15 ...

. O
OpenWHO
the WHO offers online courses on topics that focus on improving the response to health emergencies.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://openHPI.de/

* ttp://www.tele-task.de/archive/lecture/overview/6625/ Presentation of openHPI at the 6th tele-TASK Symposium German educational websites