Contest rules and guidelines

What is a module?

There is no hard and fast definition of the length or size of a module; it could be half a page of text or it could be the equivalent of 10 or more pages of text. Somewhere in the middle is most likely -- 3-6 pages. You can think of the proper length as that which is needed to treat a concept in sufficient detail so someone can read it and make sense of it. If the module depends on the understanding of other concepts, these should generally not be treated in your module but you can assume will be treated in a separate module. For the purpose of this contest you can assume that pre-requisites exist and the judges will not be judging you on whether or not the pre-requisites exist at the time you write your module. Over time these pre-requisite modules will be written, either by you or others.

Submitting content

Open Education Cup participants are strongly encouraged to publish their modules well ahead of the submission deadline. Authors new to Connexions may need time to learn and adjust to the authoring interface as well as the features and options provided by the CNXML language, and those wishing to upload Word, OpenOffice Writer, or LaTeX documents will also need time to prepare those files using the importer templates provided as well as perform post-import edits as necessary. By starting the authoring and publication process early, contest participants will ensure that they have the time to work through any difficulties and the opportunity to contact Connexions for additional support as necessary.

Authors are strongly encouraged to include relevant information such as bibliography, glossary, links to prerequisite material, and related links. If you have any questions regarding the authoring process, or if you experience any trouble publishing your contest entries, please do not hesitate to contact Jonathan Emmons, Connexions' community development specialist, at cnx@cnx.org for assistance. Connexions will be offering a series of web-training sessions for those interested, and will be available for individual support as necessary. Again, participants are strongly encouraged to begin the authoring and publication process early in order to identify barriers and request assistance in a timely manner.

To enter a module in the contest, authors MUST complete BOTH of the following steps (in the order specified):

• Publish the module in Connexions
• Fill out and submit the "Submit Module" form at (External Link)

Getting started

For a quick start on creating a Connexions module visit the Create a Module in Minutes tutorial at (External Link) or visit the New Author Guide at http://cnx.org/content/col10404/latest/ for a short course to get stated using Connexions. For a more detailed description of Connexions take a look at the Connexions Tutorial and Reference material at http://cnx.org/content/col10151/latest/ . We also strongly encourage you to review the module on Importing and Exporting at (External Link) to get up to speed on the most effective way of authoring new content or leveraging content that you may already have written in Word or LaTeX and want to make available in Connexions.

A number of modules have been include as a resource that you may find useful as you prepare your contest entry, including:

• The chapter Parallel Computing by Charles Koelbel provides a solid framework for the envisioned collection of modules.
• Resources, help pages, and tutorials for Connexions authors.
• Exemplar modules that illustrate how to leverage Connexions to produce high-quality educational materials.

Sponsor recognition

Finally we want to thank all the sponsors for their generous support. Without the support of BP, Chevron, Connexions, NVIDIA, Rice, Sun Microsystems, Total S.A., and WesternGeco we would not have been able to kick-start the Open Education Cup at SC08 in Austin, Texas. Without the interest of our sponsors and that of the community for advancing our ability to educate and train the next generation employees we could not have brought you this opportunity. Please make sure you thank each of our sponsors when you meet them at SC08.

Happy authoring!