While the web has totally remodeled the provision of instructional content material for a lot of the world, many individuals nonetheless dwell in locations the place on-line entry is poor and even nonexistent. Kolibri is a superb answer for these communities. It’s an app that creates an offline server to ship high-quality instructional sources to learners. You can arrange Kolibri on a variety of hardware, together with low-cost Windows, MacOS, and Linux (together with Raspberry Pi) computer systems. A model for Android tablets is within the works.
Because it is open supply, free to make use of, works with out broadband entry (after preliminary setup), and consists of a variety of instructional content material, it provides college students in rural colleges, refugee camps, orphanages, casual colleges, prisons, and different locations with out dependable web service entry to lots of the similar sources utilized by college students everywhere in the world.
In addition to being easy to put in, it is easy to customise Kolibri for varied instructional missions and wishes, together with literacy constructing, basic reference supplies, and life expertise coaching. Kolibri consists of content material from sources together with OpenStax, CK-12, Khan Academy, and EngageNY; as soon as these packages are “seeded” by connecting the Kolibri serving system to a sturdy web connection, they’re instantly obtainable for offline entry on consumer units via a suitable browser.
Installation and setup
I put in Kolibri on an Intel i3-based laptop computer operating Fedora 28. I selected the pip set up technique, which could be very straightforward. Here’s the best way to do it.
Open a terminal and enter:
$ sudo pip set up kolibriStart Kolibri by getting into $ kolibri begin within the terminal.
Find your Kolibri set up’s URL within the terminal.
Open your browser and level it to that URL, being positive to append port 8080.
Select the default language—choices embody English, Spanish, French, Arabic, Portuguese, Hindi, Farsi, Burmese, and Bengali. (I selected English.)
Name your facility, i.e., your classroom, library, or house. (I named mine Test.)
Tell Kolibri what sort of facility you are establishing—self-managed, admin-managed, or casual. (I selected self-managed.)
Create an admin account.
Add content material
You can add Kolibri-curated content material channels if you are linked to broadband service. Explore and add content material from the menu on the top-left of the browser.
Choose Device and Import.
Selecting English because the default language gives entry to 29 content material channels together with Touchable Earth, Global Digital Library, Khan Academy, OpenStax, CK-12, EngageNY, Blockly video games, and extra.
Select a channel you are fascinated about. You have the choice to obtain your complete channel (which could take a very long time) or to pick the particular content material you wish to obtain.
To entry your content material, return to the top-left menu and choose Learn.
Add customers
User accounts will be arrange as learners, coaches, or admins. Users can entry the Kolibri server from most net browsers on any Linux, MacOS, Windows, Android, or iOS system on the identical community, even when the community is not linked to the web. Admins can arrange courses on the system, assign coaches and learners to courses, and see each consumer’s interplay and the way a lot time they spend with the content material.
If your Kolibri server is about up as self-managed, customers can create their very own accounts by getting into the Kolibri URL of their browser and following the prompts. For info on establishing customers on an admin-managed server, take a look at Kolibri’s documentation.
After logging in, the consumer can entry content material straight away to start studying.
Learn extra
Kolibri is a really highly effective studying useful resource, particularly for individuals who do not have a sturdy connection to the web. Its documentation could be very full, and a demo web site maintained by the challenge means that you can attempt it out.
Kolibri is open supply beneath the MIT License. The challenge, which is managed by the nonprofit group Learning Equality, is searching for builders—if you need to become involved, you should definitely take a look at them on GitHub. To study extra, comply with Learning Equality and Kolibri on its blog, Twitter, and Facebook pages.
