Open University Powers Educational Software Library

The Reusable Educational Software Library (RESL) database gives access to shared case studies, reports, software and other resources. The site, which can be accessed at

http://www.resl.ac.uk, is powered by the Open University’s Knowledge Network, a web-based system for exploring, sharing and building knowledge and experience of teaching and learning.

The university’s RESL team hopes that the library will lead to an increased sharing of ideas about software reuse across the higher education sector. RESL is among public sites that are underpinned by the Knowledge Network’s flexible technology, which is also used extensively in sharing expertise about teaching and learning among the OU’s own community.

Dr Doug Clow, lecturer in interactive media development, is a member of the RESL and Knowledge Network team. He said: “We hope that our technology will be used to its full potential by the higher education community. RESL provides an opportunity for collaborative sharing of ideas about software reuse and that is something that I think can benefit the whole community.”

The Knowledge Network has recently been earmarked for international praise. A panel of jurors described it as a project of “exceptional quality” when it was nominated as a finalist at the 2002 European Academic Software Awards, which were staged in Ronneby, Sweden, last week.

The network was developed for the Open University and the wider education community by the Institute of Educational Technology; its website can be found at http://iet.open.ac.uk

The institute is a centre of international excellence for teaching, research and development of educational technologies in the service of effective learning. It runs a programme of postgraduate courses in open and distance education. Further information about its courses can be found at http://kn.open.ac.uk/public/

EDITOR’S NOTES

The Knowledge Network holds more than 1,000 documents about teaching and learning, published by more than 300 members of staff at the Open University. More than 800 web pages give access to more than 140 broad topics. Statistics show that an average of 150 staff view more than 200 documents and 500 web pages each week.

MEDIA CONTACTS

Chloe Roberts

Institute of Educational Technology

01908 659533

c.k.roberts@open.ac.uk

Neil Coaten

Open University Media Relations

01908 652580

n.d.coaten@open.ac.uk