A key element to the repository is a bartering arrangement: schools that use the knowledge-base need to commit to sharing their resources derived from public funds. The NDRB content will be under Creative Commons non-commercial, share-alike licensing, which allows it to be freely distributed without a problem and used for teaching purposes.
Resources range from tutorials, activities and interactive games covering entire courses to individual photographs, audio clips and worksheets.
The schools ministry said that it will provide about 30 million GBP (about 32 million euro) and that this figure will soon increase significantly.
To host the repository the NDRB will use Agrega, software developed for a similar project and funded by the Spanish government. Agrega is licensed under the EUPL (European Union Public License).
The UK repository will be hosted on the educational network, Janet. It will be managed by the North West Learning Grid, a regional body consisting of representatives of eighteen local authorities, and the British open source IT service provider Sirius will provide support.
Gary Clawson of the Northwest Learning Grid called the NDRB the missing link in the country's digital resource strategy. "We have a great infrastructure, we have lots of media rich resources and we have implemented learning platforms in all schools. But despite this, schools have been unable to share resources with other schools because of different technical solutions implemented across different local authorities."
Clawson: "Repository licence costs are a real barrier, with school licence costs that seemed to be almost like a tax on sharing. We had to create a project that could grow both nationally and internationally without cost restrictions, and now because of the use of open source we are able to do so."
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