Courses on POK are available online and free of charge.

To attend a MOOC you need to have your own account on the site. You can create a Polimi account - a recommended choice because this is the only way you will be able to obtain certificates of participation in the courses you complete (see FAQ How do I create a personal Polimi account?) - or a POK account (How do I create a POK account?).

Once logged in with your account, you will be able to independently enrol in the courses you are interested in (How do I enrol in a course?). You will then be able to access the content immediately, enjoying the materials whenever and wherever you want.

POK stands for Polimi Open Knowledge: it is the MOOCs (Massive Online Open Courses) portal of the Politecnico di Milano that was launched in 2014.

POK's claim is 'MOOCs to bridge the gaps'. It expresses the strategy adopted by the Politecnico to:

• support students during their career;
• support upskilling and reskilling for professional growth;
• promote teaching innovation in both higher education institutions and schools;
• promote academic social responsibility (opening up the expertise of Politecnico di Milano for the benefit of a general audience, promoting conscious citizenship in compliance with the third mission of universities).

To this end, we classified the courses by six thematic patterns.

It depends on the course itself.

Some of the courses are taught only in Italian, others only in English, others in both languages. The course language is marked with an abbreviation on the course preview image and is indicated in the right-hand sidebar within the course description.

As of 6 March 2024 POK is offered on a new system, so you will have to register again.

We suggest you create a Politecnico di Milano account (anyone can do this!) because this is the only way you will be able to obtain certificates of attendance for the courses you complete (How can I create a personal Polimi account?).

If you already have a Polimi account (because you are a student or want to become one, because you are a Politecnico lecturer, researcher, employee or collaborator and you have a person code) you only need to log in with your Polimi credentials.

You can also create an account on POK without using your Politecnico credentials: in this case you will be able to access courses, but you will not be able to obtain certificates of accomplishment.

To request deletion of your POK account and personal Information, you should send a request to privacy@polimi.it.

Because deletion on the POK system cannot be reversed, POK may ask you to complete a process that aims to confirm your identity. More information in the privacy policy (How to manage your personal information).

Please note: if you created a POK account without using your Aunica credentials, you can link your account to your personal code without having to delete it and create a new one (I have completed the course without using my Politecnico di Milano account. How can I receive the certificate?).

If you are logged in as Politecnico di Milano user, your password is tied to your Politecnico di Milano account and any change must be done through Online Services.

If you are not registered through your personal code and you are using an account created on POK, you can request a new password by clicking on "Forgotten your username or password?" in the login form.

In order to obtain certificates of accomplishment, you must have a Politecnico di Milano account. If you don't have one yet, create it (How can I create a personal Polimi account?) and make a note of your person code.

Then send an e-mail to pok@polimi.it: indicate the name, surname and person code of your Polimi account and the username and e-mail address of your POK account, asking for the two accounts to be merged.

Once the process is complete, you will be able to log into POK with your Polimi credentials while maintaining the progress of your previous account. From this moment on, you will be able to obtain your course certificates.

If you forget your password, you can easily generate a new one going on “Forgot password?”, in the Login page.

You will receive an e-mail in a few minutes with a reset link (check Junk box, too!). If you are logged in as a Politecnico di Milano user your password is tied up to your Politecnico di Milano account and any change must be done through Online Services.

Your profile is a page that collects information about you and your activities on POK.

For example, it shows your first name, last name, e-mail address and the MOOCs you are enrolled in on POK.

To edit your details, go to your profile by clicking on your initials (or your picture) at the top right, then select “Profile”. Here you will find the “User details” section, which contains the link to the profile editing page.

If you have created a Polimi (Aunica) account, the main fields of your profile correspond to those indicated in the online services and cannot be changed.

Yes: if a tour is available on the page you are on, at the bottom of the page (e.g. dashboard) you will find a “Reset user tour in this page” button. Use it to restart the tour.

Users who are enrolled in a course in which you are also present can see the “User Details” and “General” blocks of your profile.

Only you and POK administrators can see the remaining blocks (Privacy and Policies, Course Details, Reports).

When you are on a course page without being enrolled, you can only view the general information and the table of contents: a notice at the top of the page will propose you to log in to POK and, if you have already done so, to enrol in the course to see its full content.

Go to “self enrol into this course”.

Register for the course” and then to “Enrol me”. You will then be able to access the courses you have enrolled in directly from your dashboard.

From the course navigation bar go to "More" and then to "Unenrol me from this course" from the pop-up menu. You will no longer see the course in your dashboard and will no longer receive any communication about it.

Access to MOOCs on POK is free of charge.

You can reach the course from the home page, the course search or your dashboard: to enter, click on the course title or image. Once in the course you can move between the page with the main information ("Overview"), the list of lessons and activities ("Course content"), information on the certificate of attendance ("Certificate"), information on how to use the content ("Fees and access") and an overview of the MOOC lecturers ("Faculty").

On the "Course content" page, you will find the table of contents, which usually includes a first section, with announcements by the lecturers and a free participation forum for students, and Week 0 with some information to orient you and the initial questionnaire. Within the individual module you can move between lessons by means of the navigation menu on the left.

These activities you can find at the beginning of the “Course content”.

The Announcements is a space where only lecturers and MOOC staff can post messages for subscribers. Subscription to the Announcements board is compulsory for all subscribers, but you can choose not to receive notifications for this or other resources by changing your notifications settings (How can I configure my notifications?).

In the General Forum, on the other hand, you and the other course participants can post questions, discuss issues and resolve any doubts by creating discussions.

On the quiz page you will find the "Attempt quiz" button and indications on the number of attempts allowed and the score required to pass the quiz. By pressing "Attempt quiz" and then "Start attempt", you will start the quiz: on the main screen you will have the sequence of questions, on the right a navigation menu that allows you to move through the questions. Each question shows the maximum score available and the number of attempts allowed.

Once you have finished, clicking "Finish attempt" will display a summary of your answer status. As you proceed you will see the quiz review, which shows the final grade (out of 100), the time taken and other information.

If you need to enter a mathematical formula or special symbols, please refer to the teachers' hints, in Week 0 or at the beginning of the exercise.