Remember the OCWC Toolkit?

The OpenCourseWare Consortium’s Toolkit came about from the Discussion forum on the Consortium website in 2007. People asked questions like how to install a CMS for an OER project or what to say when talking to top administrators about starting a project. Contents were added by community members to create what became the OCWC Toolkit. Years have passed, and many things have changed. There is much more diversity in open educational practices, technology has advanced greatly, and the way people think about open and sharing has also evolved.

People still have questions, though.  Some questions are from people just starting with open education, and are similar to the questions asked several years ago.  Other questions come from people who are trying new things. We’ve gathered together the most frequently asked questions to start something more useful than a one-size-fits-all toolkit – The Open Education Information Center. The Info Center aims to answer questions on all aspects of open education, serving as the an information and discussion hub.

We want to expand the Open Education Information Center and make it really useful, no matter your level of experience or your role. The Info Center is a community effort to share “what and how” of open education. You can help us make this an excellent resource by submitting your questions, suggestions, and information about open education. On the Info Center page, you will see a “Submit Info” button.  You can submit questions and answers, or submit a question only. Towards the bottom of that page, you will see a list of events. If you know of an event related to open education, you can submit that information, too.

One great feature of the Info Center is the Community Forum function. Each page of the Info Center presents a topic, and at the end of the page, you will be able to join a conversation on that topic. Browse through the topics of interest and share with us your expertise and thoughts. Your experiences and ideas are very valuable to others. Let’s build the Open Education Information Center together to be THE place to find everything on open education.