OpenScout stands for “Skill based scouting of open user-generated and community-improved content for management education and training”. OpenScout is co-funded by the European Commission within the eContentplus Programme as a Targeted Project.

OpenScout aims at providing an education service in the internet that enables users to easily find, access, use and exchange open content for management education and training. The management education market is largely diversified, training topics range from general management and leadership to very specific issues like managing risks in banking industry. This results in a growing need for management education and content. The OpenScout service addresses this need by facilitating access to already existing open learning materials.

To build a wide and large scaled educational internet service OpenScout will:

• inter-connect a large pool of open content repositories to form a federated content base on which OpenScout services operate.
• provide to end users federated, skill-based search and retrieval web services that can be integrated into Learning Management Systems as well as social network platforms.
• provide an integrated tool library and support mechanisms that enable users to modify, adapt and localize materials to their need and context.
• establish an Open User Community that opens up their content and exploits the infrastructure in real contexts of use.

OpenScout can be used by learners directly but also by training and education institutions that search for learning content to integrate it into their learning offerings.

IMC focuses on the development of OpenScout services and their integration into the Learning Management System CLIX and into existing social network platforms. Moreover, IMC supports the dissemination of the project results.