Topic Oriented Open Learning (TOOL) platforms: a novel approach for open education – experiences of two initiatives

Independently and unknowingly of each other, in two different subject fields, open learning platforms arose, that address similar needs and have similar set-ups, and differ from existing open education formats such as Open Educational Resources (OER) repositories and MOOCs. They appear to form a specific new type of platform, that we dubbed ‘Topic Oriented Open Learning’ (TOOL) platform. They combine domain specificity, OER, and tools to facilitate the learning process. This combination is new. Existing commercial domain-specific platforms and educational felt needs inspired to the creation of these platforms. We describe these two examples and experiences with their usage and extract generic characteristics of TOOL platforms. Compared to existing approaches, TOOLs make it easier to use OER in teaching. By linking TOOLs to institutional learning management systems they engrain the usage of OER in the daily teaching routine and thus offer a unique opportunity for promoting of open education