= Guidelines for a School of Open course =
Below are some questions to think about in creating a School of Open course. 
 
What course are you interested in creating as part of the School of Open? 
When  you think about creating a course, ask yourself, "What do I want to  help people DO?" versus "What do I think people should know or learn?"  For example, I want to help:
 
 
How can open content, tools, or processes help people do what they do better?
Open practices include using the content, tools and processes shared with us, enabling others to use, share and adapt what we create, and supporting  transparency in our content, tools and processes. If a course involves  teaching or learning about any of these practices, either broadly or in a  particular field, then it probably fits in the School of Open. 
 
Is there a specific aspect or mechanism that keeps people from taking advantage of open stuff?
Think  about the key obstacles that discourage someone from learning about  openness, applying open tools, or sharing their work openly. For  example, what might cast doubt into a musician's mind when it comes to  using openly licensed material? Why might a graphics designer refrain  from sharing her/his works openly? Are there good reasons for not going  fully open or are certain misconceptions playing a role?
 
Getting started
  1. Go to http://schoolofopen.org and get familiar with the other courses to see how yours might be structured.
  2. Join the discussion and introduce yourself and your field of “open” interest: https://groups.google.com/group/school-of-open. See if others are interested in building it as well. Someone might already be developing a similar course.
  3. Register for a P2PU account at http://p2pu.org.
  4. Start creating! You can create directly on the P2PU platform or use http://pad.p2pu.org  for planning and collaborative editing. When you're at a point that's  ready for feedback, email the discussion list at  school-of-open@googlegroups.com for community review. More about our  course review process at http://pad.p2pu.org/p/school-of-open-course-review 
 
= Course creation support =
Below are some resources and additional exercises that others have found helpful for developing their courses.
 
Take a course on how to make a course! 
The  first step to creating a successful P2PU course is to identify the  skills your peers will learn. In the School of Open context, the skill  involves some aspect of openness, such as finding open content, sharing  media, CC licensing, remixing music, or editing Wikipedia. Learn how to  make a course in half an hour: 
https://p2pu.org/en/groups/make-a-course/
 
Who are you trying to help? Think about the course from the learner's standpoint. 
Who  will be taking the course? What real world questions is s/he likely to  ask? What needs is s/he likely to have and barriers s/he is likely to  run into? 
 
Create a user scenario:
 
What can you reuse and build on?
Do  openly licensed resources already exist that explain/teach any of this?  Are people already teaching or learning about related topics elsewhere  that you can tap to collectively build the course?
 
Document your thinking behind the course and learning activities
The learner may ask, why am I doing this? What am I learning? Be transparent about the learning objectives.
 
= FEEDBACK on the Guidelines above =