The Platform Cooperativism Consortium (PCC) at The New School in New York City (USA) and MONDRAGON Co-op. & MTA-MONDRAGON UNIVERSITY Mondragon, Gizpuzkoa (Spain) jointly offer Platform Cooperatives Now! , an online course to introduce, incubate, and accelerate platform cooperatives. 

Course Description

When markets fail and safety nets of governments break down, people cooperate, organize, and show possibilities for building a better world. When the government does not invest enough to stop structural inequalities and racism, regulate big tech companies, or create digital infrastructure, what do people do? What choice do they have but to turn to each other? 

In moments of crisis, things that had been considered impossible can become common sense: The Great Depression gave rise to the original New Deal. Platform co-ops can be the new common sense, providing better livelihoods now!  

This course equips participants with the skills they need to succeed as cooperative entrepreneurs in the fast-growing gig economy. It allows learners to study and get involved with a generation of young, cooperative entrepreneurs.

Dates

August 30, 2021 – December 17, 2021

Registration

Please follow this link to register.

Cost

Course Fee – $150 or $40

Global North – ($110 tuition + $40 registration fee = $150)
Global South – ($40 registration fee only)

Click on “Platform Co-op Now Scholarship” on the Registration page to see if you qualify. 

Students residing in countries which, according to the UN Guidelines, fall under the Global South categorization benefit from a 100% discount on the tuition. (These students are still responsible for the $40 university registration fee.) 

Who Can Take This Course?

● Determined to launch digital platforms that offer decent, dignified work, 

● Committed to researching the cooperative digital economy,

● Interested in shaping policy in this sector,

● Members of cooperatives or startups who want to transition their enterprise to a platform cooperative.

Supported Languages

● This course will largely be offered in English and Spanish.

● The readings for the first four weeks will be solely available in English.

● The language of the Research Track that starts in October will be English.

Instructors

R. Trebor Scholz
Trebor Scholz is a community-engaged researcher, activist, and founding director of the Institute for the Cooperative Digital Economy at The New School in New York City. Scholz is also an Affiliate Faculty at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. Learn more at: https://platform.coop

Jose Mari Luzarraga Monasterio
Monasterio is a social entrepreneur from MONDRAGON devoted to human-centered globalization through ‘teampreneurship.’ Co-founder of Mondragon Team Academy (MTA world), he is building an international community of ‘teampreneurs’ and young leading change-makers.   Monasterio has been an ASHOKA fellow since 2015.

What You’ll Learn From This Course

● Advance your understanding of platform capitalism and the gig economy

● Learn about worker cooperatives 

● Develop an action plan for your platform co-op

Partners:

The course is globally supported by CICOPA-CECOP, Diesis network (Europe), and Tazebaez.

Local Partners

Confecoop (Colombia)

Cooperative College (UK)

Cooperative Support Service (Nigeria)

CoopTech (Poland)

Cudecoop (Uruguay)

Écosystème Pour les Plateformes Collaboratives Collectives (Canada)

Escuela Andaluza de Economía Social (Spain)

Espazocoop (Spain)

Facttic (Argentina)

Florida Universitaria (Spain)

Gapatma – Demokrasi Ekonomi (Indonesia)

I TRES COOP (Peru)

Ibero Puebla (Mexico)

Incubator.coop (Australia)

Industree (India)

Institut Mines-Télécom (France)

Legacoop Liguria (Italy)

LSP2I – Institute for Indonesian Co-operative Development Studies (Indonesia)

Plateformes en Communs (France)

Platform Co-ops Germany (Germany)

Red Root Artist Cooperative (Philippines)

Start.coop (USA)

Sulabatsu (Costa Rica)

Unidad de Innovación Social de Navarra (Spain)

Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia (Colombia)

Universidad Fundepos (Costa Rica)

Universidade do Paraná (Brasil)

Usach (Chile)

Zuhura Innovations Africa (Kenya)

What’s in It for Me and My Community?

● Learn about platform capitalism, the gig economy, and the cooperative digital economy

● Understand the process of building a platform co-op

● Familiarize yourself with the ecosystem of platform co-ops

● Connect with hundreds of people in this global community

● Develop a business plan and deck for your project

● Learn new skills

● Work with local partner organizations

● Share your existing knowledge and experience

● Join our post-course alumni network

How Does It Work?

● This is a pass/fail certificate course

● Duration: 15 weeks

● Time commitment: 12 lectures over 15 weeks

● Total hours including discussion and prep time: 66 hours

● Lectures are offered asynchronously; you can access them flexibly on any device

● Downloadable resources

● Live discussions

● Inspiring, thoughtful speakers

How Will I Know That I Have Succeeded?

To successfully graduate, participants will submit the following material.

● Research Track:
Researchers, interested policymakers, and people with other, non-entrepreneurial backgrounds submit a 3000-word paper. 

● Entrepreneurs produce a 500-word essay and a 3-minute video for Part 2.

What’s My Time Commitment?

Part 1 (August 30—September 30): 16 hours spread out over 4 weeks (4 hours of lectures broken up into 15 minutes topical segments, 1 hour-long global zoom meeting a week, 3 hours of reading, writing, online discussion per week)

Part 2 (October 4—December 17): 50 hours spread out over 10 weeks (10 hours of lectures, 8 hours of Zoom meetings, 8 hours of local partner meetings, and 16 hours of teamwork). The total time commitment, including lectures, discussion, and teamwork over 10 weeks, is 66 hours.

Why the PCC and Mondragon?

The Platform Cooperativism Consortium and Mondragon U are leaders in the digital worker co-op space. We taught the first and second editions of this course with 828 students from 55 countries, 49 global partner organizations, and 299 new platform co-op projects.

Will I Receive A Certificate?

If you consistently attend the sessions, and successfully submit the deliverables, you will receive a certificate.

What They Said About the Course

“The PCC and Mondragon put together a truly diverse set of cooperators from around the world, creating a network of sharing and collaboration, true to the cooperative spirit. We, at SEWA Cooperative Federation, have been inspired to work harder towards including India’s informal women workers into this network.”– Salonie

“Platform Coop Now! has been an incredible opportunity to connect with dozens of practitioners, get insights, and inspiration. The course has been a rare opportunity to gather at a global level and foresee what’s ahead for platform co-ops. After years of sporadic meetings around the globe, the platform co-op community had the chance to learn together and build solid collaborations. This approach, that goes beyond mere lessons, is essential to overcome the common challenges that we are facing all over the world at a level of single initiatives and as a whole movement.”– Damiano

“Platform Coops Now! provided me with the knowledge and global contacts I needed to get started in the platform cooperative ecosystem. It has been a hugely valuable and inspiring experience.”– Alfred

“I think that it was a great course. The experience and the enthusiasm of Trebor and his team was great. The conjunction between PCC and Mondragon is great and I hope that it can continue. The practical vision but with a solid theoretical background was most valuable.”– Anonymous

Questions?

If you have questions, please email platformcoops@mondragon.edu