Fragen zur Plattform

Frequently asked questions regarding the platform###

1. Why so little recognition value in view of the familiar corporate design of RCI-international?
On the one hand, the RCI-international logo was prominently displayed in the header of the portal page, but on the other hand, it was not prominently displayed because we forwent the familiar color design (gray and red). The latter did not allow us to create a contemporary design for an image page to which images and emotional connections are an essential part. The attempt to combine both forms of expression would not have made a uniform overall impression possible.
It was also important for us to enable a new basic logistics in the so-called Responsive Design: i.e. on each terminal, the components appear in a different arrangement (e.g. on a smartphone, the information appears vertically), but the overall impression remains the same.
2. Why these colors (which some experience as rather dull)?
On every terminal device (tablet, smartphone and laptop) and with every manufacturer, the colors appear in different nuances. Most of the time it is relatively bright green-yellow (which corresponds to the color of the manual and other widely used TCI publications). Unfortunately, on some of the devices the color appears rather mustardy. The great art of an image page design is to work with visual language and at the same time to create clear, easily understandable orientation marks that encourage you to surf on our platform.
3. The choice of photos? ...on the portal of all things a man as a lecturer in front of the blackboard!
Nonprofessional photos are usually unsuitable in terms of depth of field, light incidence and proportions as well as for reasons of data protection. Professional pictures cost are expensive, especially if taken especially for our purposes. For lack of time and money, we have therefore repeatedly opted for solutions that we ourselves found suboptimal. Liveliness and internationality are important selection criteria, as well as the requirement that the pictures do not dominate the primary information, but rather unobtrusively underline what is conveyed by the text.
4. Seminarpricing,memberpricecalculation,earlybookingpossibilities? What happens with the additional income via regular price compared to the member price?
We have noticed that the regional associations handled and will handle very differently whether and to what extent the seminar participants will pay their additional income via non-member prices (e.g. through the course price
FAQ regarding the platform, page 1 difference of 50 €) to their association. In addition, the amount of the respective price difference has not been and is not handled uniformly. However, our seminar administration provider "Wundercoach" has forced us to more standardization and a decision, because for each price system a separate (expensive!) subprogram would have to be created. We have therefore agreed on three variants to allow room to most of the previous practices and to introduce an early bird discount as a booking incentive - not mandatory, but as an option. It is possible that we will decide within the International Teaching Staff and the member associations to achieve even more standardization in the long term in order to reduce costs.
After weeks of struggling with Wundercoach, the problem of early bird prices and the associated deadlines is now also solved.
5. Why do some instructors appear with a picture in the seminar notes and others do not?
This has to do with the insertion rate. If you only advertise with Basic plus (25 €), you cannot upload a picture. We had to have the instructors’ directory programmed separately because Wundercoach could not make it possible after all (unlike promised). The picture offers a special service in the seminar display: just click on it and get the details of the respective instructor immediately.
6. Why does the search function not work?
Wundercoach was not able to keep his promise of a date for this special programming (it should have been set up at the end of August and then in mid- September...). We are still asking for these outstanding services. Beside all the other ongoing business this is extremely annoying!
7. Why can't the courses be entered directly on the website?
In the beginning, we hoped for such a technical possibility, but in this case, we would have to program a separate access for each user... an unaffordable undertaking. That is why we now have abandoned the input masks, which we considered the forerunners of a future online mask. For cost reasons, we now cannot avoid organizing the input into the system centrally, and the submission of simple files is the most timesaving option for all participants. However, we certainly need to gather more experience here.
8. How did the idea of a new website come about?
It was obvious that RCI-international had no funds to build the platform that would replace the previous system with the printed course catalogue. Unlike the previous website, however, in replacing the course catalogue we needed a platform that would allow us to offer not only to insiders targeted registration channels, as was the case on the RCI-international website in connection with the printed program and the corresponding PDF. Now we need ways in which people can simply browse
FAQ regarding the platform, page 2 our site and offers and get inspired. A new basic packaging was therefore inevitable, especially since the previous RCI-international site could no longer keep up with the technical requirements of today's digital media use (responsive design etc.). For this reason, we developed a concept on behalf of the ITS following the IMV's decision in 2018 and linked it to the willingness of the graduates to provide secure start-up financing. This was then unanimously accepted by the ITS in 2019.
9. How is the new website funded?
We were able to start the platform project with the promise of donations and loans totaling around ..... Of course, we are dependent on the services of our main office, which was very much in demand, especially during the set-up phase. The goal is for the platform to be self-financing through its income (insertion fees, advertisements, etc.). In addition, we have to pay back the loans, which will be the case from 2023 on. Since neither the income nor the working time spent can be clearly estimated in the construction phase, we cannot yet decide whether and how we need to improve the overall financing concept, e.g. by changing the fee schedule. In one respect, however, we must develop a new awareness: Our main office cannot do the work for nothing. Currently, the seminar platform generates income for RCI-international at least in the form of the five-euro levy.
The platform will not be financed by membership fees in the future either, but exclusively by advertisement fees, marketplace and other advertisements!
10. Goals of the platform
a) The ultimate goal is to spread TCI and to do so internationally! It should also be the seminar directory in English!
b) Education assurance
c) A common platform for graduates and diploma holders!
d) A contemporary, modern presentation, iterative and keeping up with the VUKA1 world.
e) Informative, user-friendly and appealing.
f) A strong WE with all associations, members and interested parties. g) To inspire new people for TCI and to show what we are capable of.

tci-living-learning.org/media/pages/fragen-zur-plattform/8957e53a88-1602878037/faqplatform.pdf