open-lectures

Prototype for a web platform that aggregates free and public university lectures available on platforms like YouTube

The plan is basically to make an interactive version of the following list: https://hr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suradnik:Danijel.Korent/Popis_besplatnih_i_javno_dostupnih_sveu%C4%8Dili%C5%A1nih_video_predavanja

(Disclaimer: I'm not a web developer and I have no idea what I'm doing)

The latest version is online here: https://otvorena-predavanja.hr

English version URL: pending

Short-term todo

• Translate everything to English
• Buy an English domain and move the hosting there
• Change the title from "KB" to something more descriptive
• [DONE] Add a report "dead link" button on each course
• Add wiki and phpBB to supplement this app on the English domain

Planned features

Basic

• [DONE] List of categories
• [DONE] In each category: a list of courses with links to YouTube playlists
• [DONE] Counter of total hours for all lectures in the database

Extended

• [DONE] Search option
• List all courses of a specific university/professor
• [DONE] Reporting dead links
• [DONE] View counter for each lecture

Community

• Rating the courses or single videos
• Adding annotations and tags to the lectures
• Option to register/login
• Platform marks your watched videos or courses
• Discussion/QA forum for each video
• User can put courses on the todo/want-to-watch list

Technical info

Technology Stack

• Backend: PHP with custom MVC-like structure
• Database: Dual support for either MySQL or SQLite
• Frontend: Tailwind CSS with Alpine.js for interactivity

File Structure

open-lectures/
├── admin/                 # Admin panel interface
│   ├── category/         # Category management
│   ├── courses/          # Course management
│   ├── lecturer/         # Lecturer management
│   ├── university/       # University management
│   └── login/            # Admin authentication
├── assets/               # Static assets
│   ├── css/             # Stylesheets
│   └── images/          # Images and icons
├── database/             # Database layer
│   ├── config.php       # Database configuration
│   ├── repo.php         # Repository pattern implementation
│   └── storage.php       # Data storage abstraction
├── partials/             # Reusable UI components
│   ├── header.php       # Site header
│   ├── footer.php       # Site footer
│   ├── layout.php       # Main layout template
│   ├── admin_layout.php # Admin layout template
│   ├── course_modal.php # Shared modal markup for public course cards
│   ├── course_card.php  # Individual course card component
│   ├── course_stats.php # Statistics section component
│   └── course_grid.php  # Course grid container component
├── api/                  # API endpoints
│   ├── report-broken.php     # API endpoint for reporting broken links
│   ├── track-course-description-view.php  # API endpoint for tracking description views
│   └── track-video-view.php  # API endpoint for tracking video link clicks
├── helpers/              # Helper functions
│   ├── helpers.php       # Core helper functions (URL/path utilities)
│   └── course_helpers.php # Course data transformation utilities
├── categories/           # Public category pages
├── category/             # Individual category view
├── search/               # Search functionality
├── stats/                # Statistics and analytics
└── index.php            # Main entry point

Configuration

All runtime options now live in config.php inside the $appConfig array. Use the global config('section.key') helper after including config.php to read any value.

Core Keys

• app.*: Site name plus error-reporting flags (e.g., disable display_errors in production).
• database.driver: Switch between mysql and sqlite.
• database.mysql.*: Host, username, password, database, port, and charset for the MySQL connection.
• database.sqlite.*: File path, schema file, and permission mask for the SQLite database.
• paths.uploads.*: Filesystem destinations for category, lecturer, and university uploads.
• urls.assets: Base URL used when rendering static assets.

Database Setup

1. Choose the engine by setting database.driver to either mysql or sqlite.
2. For MySQL, fill in the database.mysql credentials.
3. For SQLite, adjust database.sqlite.file and database.sqlite.schema if you store the DB elsewhere.
4. The schema helper (database/sqlite_schema.sql) is applied automatically when a new SQLite file is created.

Database Structure

The application uses a SQLite database with the following tables:

Core Tables

admin - Administrator Accounts

• id (INTEGER PRIMARY KEY) - Unique admin identifier
• name (TEXT NOT NULL) - Admin display name
• email (TEXT NOT NULL) - Admin email address
• password (TEXT NOT NULL) - Hashed password
• created_at (TEXT NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP) - Account creation timestamp

categories - Course Categories

• id (INTEGER PRIMARY KEY) - Unique category identifier
• name (TEXT) - Category name (e.g., "Biologija", "Matematika")
• image (TEXT) - Category image filename

courses - Course Information

• id (INTEGER PRIMARY KEY) - Unique course identifier
• name (TEXT) - Course title
• language (TEXT) - Course language (e.g., "Engleski")
• year (TEXT) - Course year
• n_lectures (INTEGER) - Number of lectures
• t_duration (INTEGER) - Total duration in hours
• course_code (TEXT) - University course code
• description (TEXT) - Course description
• link_1 (TEXT) - Primary video link (YouTube playlist)
• link_2 (TEXT) - Secondary link (university page)
• image (TEXT) - Course thumbnail image URL
• universityId (INTEGER) - Foreign key to institutions table
• categoryId (INTEGER) - Foreign key to categories table
• lecturerId (INTEGER) - Foreign key to lecturers table
• broken_reports (INTEGER DEFAULT 0) - Number of times the community flagged the primary link as broken
• views (INTEGER DEFAULT 0) - Number of times the course description modal has been viewed (description views)
• video_views (INTEGER DEFAULT 0) - Number of times users have clicked on video links to watch the course

institutions - Universities/Institutions

• id (INTEGER PRIMARY KEY) - Unique institution identifier
• name (TEXT) - Institution name
• country (TEXT) - Country location
• city (TEXT) - City location
• u_image (TEXT) - Institution logo image filename

lecturers - Course Lecturers

• id (INTEGER PRIMARY KEY) - Unique lecturer identifier
• firstName (TEXT) - Lecturer's first name
• lastName (TEXT) - Lecturer's last name
• l_image (TEXT) - Lecturer profile image filename

Sample Data

The database comes pre-populated with:

• 1 admin account (admin@gmail.com)
• 14 categories including Biologija, Kemija, Fizika, Matematika, Povijest, Psihologija, Računarstvo, Ekonomija, Elektrotehnika, Filozofija, Pedagogija, Politologija, and Nekategorizirano
• 17 institutions including major universities like MIT, Stanford, Yale, Columbia, Harvard, Oxford, and others
• 99 lecturers from various universities
• 102 courses covering diverse subjects from biology and physics to computer science and philosophy

Database Features

• Foreign Key Relationships: Courses are linked to institutions, categories, and lecturers
• Image Management: Support for category, institution, and lecturer images
• Multilingual Support: Courses can be in different languages
• Metadata: Comprehensive course information including duration, lecture count, and descriptions
• Dual Link System: Both video links and official course pages
• Broken Link Reports: Every course tracks a broken_reports counter that increments whenever a visitor clicks the "Report broken link" button in the public catalogue. The endpoint at /api/report-broken.php safely records reports using prepared statements, so admins can locate and fix the most fragile playlists first.
• View Tracking: Each course tracks two separate view counters:
  • Description Views (views): Increments when a visitor opens the course modal to view the description. Tracked via /api/track-course-description-view.php.
  • Video Views (video_views): Increments when a visitor clicks on video links (the thumbnail image or "Play Now" button) to watch the course. Tracked via /api/track-video-view.php. Both counters use session-based deduplication to prevent multiple counts from the same user session. Both counters are displayed in the course modal alongside broken link reports.

API Endpoints

/api/report-broken.php

• Method: POST
• Purpose: Report a broken link for a course
• Request Body: {"course_id": <integer>}
• Response: JSON with success boolean and optional message

/api/track-course-description-view.php

• Method: POST
• Purpose: Track a description view (increments views counter when modal is opened)
• Request Body: {"course_id": <integer>}
• Response: JSON with success boolean and count (updated view count)
• Note: Uses session-based deduplication to prevent multiple counts per user session

/api/track-video-view.php

• Method: POST
• Purpose: Track a video link click (increments video_views counter when user clicks video link)
• Request Body: {"course_id": <integer>}
• Response: JSON with success boolean and count (updated video_views count)
• Note: Uses session-based deduplication to prevent multiple counts per user session