Connexions

Connexions is a global storage of educational content that is provided by Rice University. The entire collection is available free of charge. Learners can here the content they need to explore.

Connexions was one of the first initiatives were, together with other projects, such as MIT 's OpenCourseWare or the Public Library of Science, forerunner to the idea of ​​open educational resources that educational content shared, reused, connected and can be continually improved and should.

Topic

Connexions contains educational materials for all audiences, from children on students to professionals. The materials are divided into small modules that can be processed to form larger rates. The materials are written by people of all kinds, many are provided by professors. However, the collection also contains well-known musical content created by a part-time music teacher ..

The course contents are available in many languages ​​, which results from the influence of the open content licenses.

Copyright

In order to ensure the legal content reusability, Connexions requires that the materials of the authors under the license of the Creative Commons Attribution License (currently version 3.0) are provided. This license ensures that the corresponding author reserves the right not to be called when the content is reused. The authors grant others the right to copy their content, distribute and show. In addition, the work may be re-used and changed, but under the condition that reference is made to the original author.

Compared to other open education projects

• Connexions is a collection of data from around the world in an ever-growing number of different languages. Not only content of a particular (high) school are included. In addition, materials are collected, ranging from school days through to higher education, and industrial training.
• Connexions can be used anywhere by anyone. Both the use of the materials, as well as the adaptation and repatriation is allowed in the repository and desirable.
• Connexions is organized from the bottom up, not from top to bottom, as is the case with many other educational projects. Thus, anyone can join and take a leading role.

Technical details

Three central features enable the collaborative environment of Connexions:

• Copyright licenses, secure recognition for achievements, but parts allow Creative Commons "attribution " licenses
• Semantic markup of documents in XML ( extensible markup language ) that they can be searched and combined. The corresponding markup language called " CNXML ".
• Workspaces that support the collaboration and provide shared space, as well as opportunities to version content and derive content from existing modules.

Financing

The Connexions project was initiated in 1999 and originally supported by individuals and Rice University. This support has been enhanced significantly by grants from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.