How it works

Work on a passion project.
Master skills.
Get college credit.

OpenCitizen offers an expert-created process for learning and problem-solving that helps people achieve a goal of their choice—and earn college credit along the way.

Join a group or gather your own team

With the help of the group facilitator, get introduced to the OpenCitizen project structure. Meet others interested in the same goals as you. You’ll give each other feedback and motivation throughout the program.

Choose a topic you’re passionate about

Brainstorm personal, community, or work goals you’d like to achieve. With your team, interview community members and collect data to find new opportunities. Finally, build consensus around one favorite.

Start a project

Produce real work to move your project forward

Using OpenCitizen’s open-inquiry process, follow a structured process to research, plan, and take meaningful action on your project. Learn to build a robot, launch a community event, write an essay for publication, or do something entirely different.

View case studies

Earn ASU badges and college credit

Individuals who complete projects through OpenCitizen can receive ASU-backed badges and course credit for key skills learned during the project, including Problem Identification, Research, Project Management, and Operations.

How we support you


01

Problem selection and ownership

Learn techniques for selecting your goal, whether it is to take action on a community issue, learn a new topic, or build something. At the end of this element, you’ll have your project defined and ready for research.


02

Research

Learn the critical life skill of asking questions that are small enough to be answered in iterative research steps. Distill your research into useful lists, tables, and maps, and use it to refine your problem statement.


03

Project planning

Turn your research into a plan for action or outcomes. Create the timelines, work plans, and budgets that you need to then carry out your action.


04

Project operations

Use your plan and take your ideas and learnings and put them out into the world. Document your experiences to share during learning and reflection.


05

Learning and reflection

What advice do you have to share with others? What went well? What could have gone better? Share your lessons learned with the global community of OpenCitizen teams and individuals to help us all learn faster.

Get started

Ready to launch a positive initiative in your community but not sure how to start? Working on a problem or goal but need more support? OpenCitizen is meant for you! Fill out our Get Started form, and we’ll reach out in 24 hours. We can’t wait to collaborate with you!

Let's go!