Kiel University

CO.RIO – Collaboration platform & digital learning space architecture for practical projects

A person sits in front of a laptop showing the start screen of “CO.RIO”. A list of notifications can be seen on the page. These indicate: “Three new tasks in the Social Startups project.”, “Date added in the Environmental Policy of the Future project” and “Prof. Inge Maut has advertised a HiWi position.” There is also the option to take a closer look at the individual messages. The application also suggests a filterable selection of topics, which includes, among others: “AI, culture, politics, sustainability, technology, medicine and urban design”. A map is displayed with the option to discover nearby projects and further ideas and projects are suggested in the lower area.

From vision to participatory design and development: CO.RIO is the digital platform for practice- and research-oriented teaching and learning of the next generation.

  • 2.500+

    person-days of experience in the education sector

  • 6+

    ideation- and co-creation-workshops

  • since 2021

    successfull cooperation

  • 2.500+

    person-days of experience in the education sector

  • 6+

    ideation- and co-creation-workshops

  • since 2021

    successfull cooperation

  • Two screens showing the homepage and registration page of CO.RIO. The homepage addresses practice partners, students and lecturers.
  • Three mock-ups showing different subpages of CO.RIO on tablets and smartphones.
  • The CO.RIO home screen, where you can see the current tasks, appointments and recommendations.

Concrete product requirements through participation and co-creation

Matching students, lecturers and practice partners, identifying exciting project and research questions, developing effective ways of working and overcoming obstacles in joint project work – these and many other tasks are to be supported by the digital learning and teaching platform CO.RIO at Kiel University (CAU).

As early as 2022, a methodical participation process in the form of several workshops was initiated together with the CAU’s Quality & Development division in order to enable a needs and requirements analysis from both a design conceptual and technical perspective for a digital learning space architecture. In addition to the target group analysis, the respective user journeys and a comprehensive user story map including user stories, technical and architectural necessities also quickly became apparent.

As early as 2022, a methodical participation process in the form of several workshops was initiated together with the CAU’s Quality & Development division in order to enable a needs and requirements analysis from both a design conceptual and technical perspective for a digital learning space architecture. In addition to the target group analysis, the respective user journeys and a comprehensive user story map including user stories, technical and architectural necessities also quickly became apparent.

A person sits gesticulating in front of their laptop with the CO.RIO website open, an open notebook and a smartphone in front of them.
Screenshot of the "Results" page.

From vision to MVP and beyond

In the first step, the structural design of the learning space architecture was outlined and basic functions were located as part of the rough concept based on simple wireframe representations. In this phase, several variants for the structural design were created, which were evaluated, further developed and transferred into a final structure concept on the basis of joint discussions and workshops between the CAU and UXMA contacts.

Parallel to the structural concept, concept variants for the visual appearance of the learning space architecture were developed. Following feedback, a variant was also selected and further detailed.


In the course of user interface concept development, our experts in the fields of user experience research & design, visual design and learning experience design repeatedly used high-fidelity prototypes as part of UX tests in order to obtain feedback from real users and identify needs as early as possible.

A similar approach was also taken in software development: the overall project was based on an MVP (minimum viable product) approach, which represented a first, minimally functional iteration of the learning space architecture and served to learn as quickly and efficiently as possible from user feedback and prevent undesirable developments “bypassing the requirements of the users”.
 Building on this, CO.RIO was then continuously expanded with new features over the course of the project.

Parallel to the structural concept, concept variants for the visual appearance of the learning space architecture were developed. Following feedback, a variant was also selected and further detailed.


In the course of user interface concept development, our experts in the fields of user experience research & design, visual design and learning experience design repeatedly used high-fidelity prototypes as part of UX tests in order to obtain feedback from real users and identify needs as early as possible.

A similar approach was also taken in software development: the overall project was based on an MVP (minimum viable product) approach, which represented a first, minimally functional iteration of the learning space architecture and served to learn as quickly and efficiently as possible from user feedback and prevent undesirable developments “bypassing the requirements of the users”.
 Building on this, CO.RIO was then continuously expanded with new features over the course of the project.

Feature-driven Frontend Development

The roadmap for the agile development of CO.RIO was based on a fundamental technical structure of the application, which formed the basis for the subsequent feature-driven implementation. Usage and data protection aspects, role and rights management as well as the SSO options (single sign-on) were considered and the technology selection for the implementation was evaluated. Test and CI/CD pipelines for automated testing, conceptual interfaces and release management (nightly builds) on internal servers completed the initial setup.

The development of CO.RIO was organized on an ongoing basis using a feature plan, which was created on the basis of the content developed in the design. The current implementation status of the software was presented at regular jour fixe meetings. This made it possible to obtain feedback on an ongoing basis, which was taken into account in the subsequent iterations.

In addition to the CRM implemented specifically for CO.RIO, the application was developed in parallel and validated on the basis of appropriately set up test environments and ‑scenarios.

Mock-up of a laptop with a view of three screens. The map with an overview of the projects can be seen in the foreground.

On the platform, get set, go!

Together with the CAU, we look forward to providing lecturers, students and practice partners with a digital tool in the coming semesters with CO.RIO, which offers low-threshold access to network, communicate, make current and completed projects visible and develop new learning scenarios.

Tim Baasch Software Domain Lead / Authorized officer

View of the community area of the idea “AI in medicine”.

  • 2.500+

    person-days of experience in the education sector

  • 6+

    ideation- and co-creation-workshops

  • since 2021

    successfull cooperation

Cases

Ready to start something big together?