The Open Learning Exchange seeks to build a Syrian Education Library Network (SELN) to reduce the learning gaps for Syrian adolescents and young adults. The SELN will be a repository of free learning resources shared by organizations in five countries. It will provide Syrian youth and organizations that serve them with access to Arabic and English multimedia learning resources. Members will be able to add resources, create courses, rate and comment on resources, and create new topical collections. Although the SELN will be accessible by individuals, the primary beneficiaries of the SELN will be member organizations who will be able to download to local libraries the resources and course needed for their programs.
The SELN will be developed on top of OLE’s existing PLANET software (Personalized Learning Achieved by Network Enabled Teams). PLANET was developed and implemented by OLE over the past decade and it has been deployed for the past two years with adolescent Syrian refugee girls at the Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan. PLANET already includes hundred of Arabic and English learning resources.
The SELN will provide an international shared repository of open learning resources for use in the Middle East and beyond by organizations serving Syrian refugees. While organizations will be able to use PLANET as their own learning management system, the PLANET system will not be required in order to access the SELN repository. In other words, individuals, local schools and communities, government agencies, and educational organizations will be able to access and use these resources independent of the PLANET system.
