Wiki for digital learning resources to launch next year

Minister Plasterk of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science wants Wikiwijs, the open platform for digital learning materials, to be up and running at the start of the 2010-2011 school year. A beta version of the wiki should be available online this year.

Wikiwise, for which the first plans were presented to the House of Representatives in December, should become an open education platform on which electronic textbooks are offered in wiki form and on a non-commercial basis. The wiki focuses in the first instance on primary and preparatory education, and in the second instance on MBO, HBO and WO. The open, digital learning material must be able to be supplied and edited only by teachers and employees of relevant organisations.

According to Minister Ronald Plasterk of Education, Culture and Science, teachers and other stakeholders have started the Wikiwijs project ‘with diligence’. As an example, the Open Learning Materials Bank cited above, a search engine that should open up the available range of open digital learning resources.

The Wikiwijs project must be properly managed by Kennisnet and the Open University. They will according to the plan of OC&W is developing a multi-year step-by-step plan that should be ready this summer. A beta version of Wikiwijs should then come online in the second half of 2009, while the website should be accessible to all schools at the start of the 2010-2011 school year.