About
#GoOpenVA is a collaborative initiative that enables educational entities throughout Virginia to create, share, and access openly-licensed educational resources (OER, also known as open education resources). OER are free digital materials that can be used or modified to adjust to student needs; they are openly-licensed unhampered by many traditional copyright limitations. #GoOpenVA encourages all Virginia educators and learners to create, share, and use digital resources with the end goals of providing equitable access to great learning materials throughout the state, and supporting new approaches to learning and teaching for all Virginians.
#GoOpenVA is one component of a coordinated system for providing digital learning materials and opportunities for Virginia’s students. A statewide learning management system (LMS) is being developed to be the one-stop-shop for digital learning, offering vetted digital resources and online courses, facilitated by either local teachers or state-certified online teachers. This learning space will incorporate components of Virtual Virginia and eMediaVA. #GoOpenVA will provide the creative space where educators in all areas of the state educational ecosystem can share and develop resources.
Become a Contributor!
Individuals
Individuals: All Virginia educators can contribute resources. However, this is a public site and you must accept the Terms and Conditions before posting. You will want to review our requirements and use our organizational rubric before logging in to post materials. Using the Open Author software on our site makes it very easy to upload materials but remember you want to include as much information about the resource as you think will help other teachers find your resource. Keep in mind that our site is designed so your posted resources can be edited by other #GoOpenVA members, to meet the needs of their students; however, you will always get credit for the original posting in any other versions. Individuals may also contribute through joining a Hub or a Group.
For more information, see our Help page.
Organizations
Organizations may provide resources through three different structures: Hubs, Groups, and/or Collections. A Hub is a smaller version of our #GoOpenVA site, and will some administrative work on the owner. Within a Hub, organizations can have maximum ability to create an interactive environment for their members. Groups can be open or closed, and do not require much administration. Group members can collaborate using discussions and share resources with each other. Organizations may also, besides being a Hub or a Group, create Collections or groupings of approved and vetted resources that support their mission or goals. These are one-way communications out to the #GoOpenVA community supporting a particular educational area.
For more information, see our Help page.