Stepik received lots of questions on how the platform and courses will work in the near future, so we prepared a collection of the most frequent of them and answers to them. This article will be updated continuously.
The latest update is March 14, 2022.
Above all, we would like to express our support to anyone in a stressful or dangerous situation. If you have any issues with Stepik technical performance, contact us at support@stepik.org.
Will Stepik limit access for users from Russia or other countries in any way?
Stepik doesn’t plan on restricting its functionality for anyone. Unfortunately, we can’t predict every potential issue and limitation, but we would really like to be able to keep our platform available for all our learners and instructors.
Has Stepik already been affected by any restrictions?
No restrictions or sanctions haven’t directly impacted Stepik. However, we use external services and have to adjust our work according to the changes that involve them. For example, it applies to payment systems.
What services does Stepik use, and how do they work now?
For payments in rubles, we use Yookassa. It currently operates normally. However, starting from March 9, 2022, Visa, MasterCard, JCB and American Express card transactions from foreign banks have been suspended (the article is in Russian), so for purchasing a course, you can only use cards issued in Russia.
For payments in USD, we use Paddle. At this moment, it hasn’t introduced any restrictions, but Visa and MasterCard limitations also apply to it, as well as suspension of PayPal services in Russia, starting from March 18, 2022. Other cards can be used to pay via Paddle.
Whether payments will work in our apps depends on what system you use. The iOS app uses Apple's own payment system that currently doesn’t accept cards issued by Russian banks. Purchases on Android devices work the same as at the website.
For payments for PRO subscriptions, we use Stripe. Unfortunately, on March 1, 2022, Stripe introduced restrictions for the Russian banks that are currently under sanctions and for Visa and MasterCard cards issued in Russia, which can lead to issues with paying from the territory of the Russian Federation. Contact us if you need any help with the Stripe payments.
Some courses use integration services: iframe for video steps, external statistical and grading systems. If these services introduce any limitations, they won’t work at Stepik either.
Stepik team uses other Russian and foreign services for our internal purposes, and we are monitoring them as well.
What cards are you accepting at the moment?
We don’t accept direct payments. For that, we use acquiring services, such as Yookassa, Stripe and Paddle. They might not accept payments from specific territories or from specific banks and cards. For example, Stripe and Paddle currently don’t accept Visa and MasterCard cards issued in Russia, while Yookassa has similar limitations for foreign cards. We monitor the situation and will submit alternative payment methods when possible.
Are there any problems with payouts to instructors of paid courses? What are the predictions on that account?
If your paid courses are in rubles, we transfer payouts in the beginning of each month. We didn’t encounter any issues in March and don’t expect any issues in the future. We will contact you if any concern arises.
For paid courses in USD, payouts are made automatically through Paddle. There are no issues at the moment, but we recommend you keep track of possible changes in your Paddle profile.
Will the Stepik website and apps work if internet censorship will be implemented in Russia?
We are not familiar with cases of total restriction of access to the internet, and can’t predict what exactly may be disabled and what consequences such a situation may have.
Where are the videos uploaded to Stepik stored? Might they be blocked?
The videos that are uploaded to Stepik directly from your computer or via a link are stored on Stepik servers and are safe. However, the videos embedded via iframe (which is a rare case) are stored at the service they were uploaded on (for example, YouTube or Vimeo), and their accessibility depends on their work.
Do you plan to leave the Russian market?
Stepik is also present outside the Russian market, many of our users, instructors and corporate clients are from other countries. We keep working in Russia with all the learners and instructors, but the current situation makes it impossible to predict every possible issue. We will monitor the situation and update recommendations.
Can learners download courses?
Stepik mobile apps allow downloading of video steps to watch them offline. Instructors can enable downloading in their courses (by publishing the course as open and making every lesson with videos public). Downloading the entire course from the website or mobile apps isn’t possible because courses include not only theoretical text or video steps,
but also practical assignments that require online access to be checked by our automatic system.
How can instructors download videos and other materials from their course?
You can download steps in bulk via API, Stepik has a script for it. https://github.com/StepicOrg/Stepik-API/blob/master/examples/export_course.py. The materials will be in an archive with steps as .step files.
Our API documentation:
https://github.com/StepicOrg/Stepic-API – documentation and examples
http://bit.ly/stepic_api_docs – short description of API
https://stepic.org/api/docs/ – API autodocumentation
Can I move my courses that I've previously published on Coursera, EdX, or Udemy? Is it possible at the moment to create paid and open courses?
Yes, creation of courses is available at Stepik. We welcome any courses, both MOOCs and paid. Read or Terms and Conditions, or contact us at support@stepik.org to discuss transfer and publication of courses.
How can I keep track of how you currently function or contact you?
We continue to be active in social media, such as VK https://vk.com/rustepik (in Russian). We also have a Telegram channel for instructors (in Russian). If you have any questions, contact us at support@stepik.org.