User guide
Getting to grips with OpenLearn
This guide describes the software as it is today, screen by screen. It assumes no technical knowledge: if you can use a browser, you can write a wiki page and run a quiz.
Every page follows the same logic: what it is for, where to find it, how to use it,
and the ordinary pitfalls. The paths given (/wiki/new, /quizzes/new…) are those of the
demonstration instance; they are identical on any instance of the software.
Where to start
- Create an account on the instance, then open the confirmation link you receive by email. Until the address is confirmed the application works normally, but shows a reminder banner.
- Open the dashboard (
/dashboard): it lists your wikis, your quizzes and your cards, and every new creation starts from there. - Write a first page in a wiki space, or create a quiz of five questions to try the live mode.
- Request publication: your content becomes public once a moderator has approved it, and you then receive an email.
The three objects of the software
The wiki
A space of Markdown pages, versioned, structured and publishable. This is where knowledge gets written. Wiki guide
The quiz
A series of multiple-choice questions, playable alone, with friends, or hosted in a room. Quiz guide
The revision card
The quiz's memory: a question, an answer, and an interval that grows as you get it right. Revision guide
Depending on who you are
| You are | Start with | Then |
|---|---|---|
| Visitor | Reading public wikis, playing public quizzes | Create an account to write |
| Author | Getting started | Write in the wiki, create a quiz |
| Moderator | Moderating | Approving publications, handling reports |
| Administrator | Administering | Settings, accounts, mail, AI, SSO, backups |
| Developer | API and MCP | Automating, connecting an agent |
| Operator | Self-hosting | Backup, restore, upgrades |
What is not in this guide
Installation, backup and upgrades belong to the operator: they are described in
Self-hosting OpenLearn. The complete reference of HTTP
endpoints is built into the software, at /docs on your instance, and summarised in
API and MCP.
One instance, one behaviour. An administrator may disable registration, the AI assistant, single sign-on or mail delivery. If a screen described here does not exist on your instance, the feature is probably switched off server-side — the page usually says so.