Hej, I’m Kristine Michelsen-CorreaHead of Community, Duolingo

@hejkristinemc

Empowering Volunteers to Contribute to a Global Mission

I believe through collective action we can achieve more

1993

We believe everyone should have access to education of the highest quality - for free.

Meet the team

We started with a handful of course offerings

+ some more

We now offer over 60 language courses

85 million people learning a language for free

Photo source: gatesnotes.com

But, how?

Where volunteers bring life to new language courses

A duck says good morning.

En and siger godmorgen.

You must be mission driven

Power map data across the world

Spread Ideas

Promote openness, innovation and opportunity on the web

Provide software for the public good

Free language education for the world

To collect knowledge disseminated around the globe

• Can your mission be furthered? • Do people feel a personal connection?• Is there a problem that provides value to

others when solved?• Is your project community driven bottom up

& not top down?

Can your community help?

Step 1Define goals of program

Step 2

Open small parts

Step 4Learn and iterate

Step 3

Track progress

Define Goals: Step 1

• Different levels of contribution

• High quality content

• Ease of contributing

• Multiple languages

• Engaging and fun

• Incentives to participate

Challenges

• Why are you doing this?

• How much are you willing to invest?

• What’s your timeline?

• How do you evaluate the program?

• Who are your volunteer leaders?

• What are the community guidelines/norms?

Ask yourself some questions to set realistic goals

Contribute to a course. Change the world.

Build free language courses

Build the course’s curriculum

Support contributors through experience

Start small: Step 2

How we got started

Launched select languages

Didn’t worry about automation

Found volunteer leaders

Empowered contributors

Build the right tools as you grow

Workshop: Course creators’ toolbox

Tracking Progress: Step 3

What are you tracking?

Phase 1

Phase 2

Invite people to join community

Phase 3

Learn and Iterate: Step 4(repeat)

What are the incentives for volunteers?

5 traits of a great volunteer

• Believes in mission• Enthusiastic• Flexible• Committed• Communicative

PhD in the sociology of the internet

Big data consultant

Scientist working on the immune system and

cancer, PhD

Incubator SummitApril 30th, 2015, Berlin

So, what can we accomplish together?

40+ new language courses created by volunteers

(millions more people learning for free)

More people on Duolingo learning Irish than native speakers in the world

Together we can achieve more than when we think and act alone

Thank youKristine Michelsen-Correa

Head of Community, Duolingo@hejkristinemc