Home :: News :: Downloads :: Forums :: Join  

 
Guidelines for submission of modules to the online learning libraries
 
  1. The goal of the free online learning library is to create a public repository of valuable interactive learning content that can constantly be worked on and improved by the community of our site users. The values we ascribe to include two fundamental principles:
    1. Although we provide materials for learners of all types and ages, the online learning library must be a child-friendly environment.
    2. Learning content must be valuable and of interest to a wider community. Valuable doesn't mean you have to be an educational genius, but it does mean that others should be able to derive some benefit.
  2. These guidelines are guidelines and not rules, meaning that they are intended as a helpful guide
  3. Acceptance of any material is at our own sole discretion. We are not under any legal obligation to publish everything submitted to us, and we can and will modify these guidelines at any time to comply with new legal requirements or new problems emerging from the administration of the library.
  4. While we will do everything we can to process submissions promptly, we cannot provide any assurances about timing.
  5. Unacceptable content. Unacceptable material includes but is not limited to:
    1. Obscene and pornographic content; content which exceeds the maturity level of our intended audiences.
    2. Material which extols violence or incites any kind of intolerance (e.g. racism, inter-religious intolerance).
    3. Material which is libellous, in breach of copyright, infringes privacy rights, or similar.
    4. Content which is pseudoscientific, grossly inaccurate, absurd, or which seeks to immorally or unprofessionally manipulate the state of knowledge.
    5. Crypto-advertising (material which has the more-or-less hidden purpose of marketing a product rather than contributing to education).
    6. Material which is illegal or immoral in any other way.
  6. We regret that we may also be unable to publish material:
    1. Which would lead to bandwidth or other technical difficulties on our website.
    2. Material which in our opinion could not be of interest to others.
  7. Policies as regards non-English languages:
    1. We have a responsibility to the community of our site users to ensure that content is acceptable. However we can only meet this responsibility if we can understand the material being submitted to us. We cannot guarantee the inclusion or exclusion of any specific non-English languages, but in general the "can-we-understand-it" principle applies.
    2. We have a pretty good understanding of: Spanish, French, German.
  8. Policies as regards age suitability:
    1. The principle "the online learning library must be a child-friendly environment" does not mean that everything must be suitable for children's education. Corporate training materials are fine, for example. It means that nothing which could be deemed "unsafe for" or "not for viewing by" children can be published.
  9. Items already accepted may be re-assessed and removed from the libraries at any time without notice or stated reason.
  10. The responsibility for educational modules and any legal problems with them remains firmly with the author(s), even if they are accepted for publication here.
A note about developing
 
If you are in the middle of creating a large module, you will probably wonder how charitable we are with incomplete material or minor mistakes! Well, we develop modules ourselves as well using the Qedoc system, so we're well aware how easy it is to make mistakes and how difficult it is to actually get an educational project finished. In a sense, no module could ever be finished, and we hope that new authors will come along and extend existing modules, so that a constant process of change emerges.
 
Advice for companies
 
It might seem to good to be true. Are we really some people giving away software for free to commercial organisations? Well, yes-ish and a little bit no. It depends what you submit. If you're a commercial organisation, we apply the rule about "value to a wider audience" rather more strictly. Here are some guidelines which will help you get free use:
  • Be philanthropic.
  • Don't mention any of your company's products or employees by name.
  • Ask yourself: if I donated this quiz to a local school, would they be pleased or would they look at me incomprehendingly?
  • If your quiz is at all business-related, it should be about general business practices or technologies actually used in just about any company and which might be taught in the 1st year of a general business-related degree or training course. Try to avoid being specific to the needs of your own employees.
  • Examples.
    • Things we have accepted from companies: introductions to Microsoft Office and Adobe products.
    • Things we have rejected: training programmes related to niche-market products created by the company itself.
  • Self-advertisement: if you create a good module, it's only fair that you should get to mention your company name, but limit it to a short textual sponsorship note in the module description or a logo in the presentation - keep your company out of the educational content, and ensure that the educational value by far outweighs any self-reference.
If your module is not accepted, the worst case scenario is that you'll be given the option to buy a licence for the Qedoc eLearning Designer. Then you'll be able to continue without being dependent on these guidelines.
 
If in doubt...
 
Ask before investing huge amounts of time in quiz creation!