The open education working group: Bringing people, projects and data together

Abstract

New areas of research and discovery benefit from a space in which a community can discuss key questions, interact and be allowed to grow. For the open education data community these questions are still crude and fundamental. For example: what exactly is open education data, why is open data relevant to education and how can we use open datasets to meet educational needs? The Open Education Working Group inaugurated by Open Knowledge, a community-based notfor- profit organisation that promotes open knowledge in the digital age, is beginning to explore the relationship between data and education by exposing projects and bringing together people working on related activities. This chapter will consider initial discussions and explorations related to open data in education that have taken place through recent online activity and workshops. It will also look at the creation of a working group established with the intention of taking these discussions further.