Logan, UT (January 24, 2005) -- The Open Sustainable Learning Opportunity (OSLO) Group announced today that Utah State University has partnered with Rice University to provide free human support for self-learners and others taking advantage of Connexions materials at Rice University. OSLO Group Director, Dr. David Wiley, said, "It's an honor to work with the Connexions project. The Connexions team have executed on a great vision of the benefits open access to educational materials can provide. We're extremely proud to be providing what we hope will be a very valuable service for their users."

Open Learning Support (OLS) is social software that allows individuals to connect with each other, form study groups, and receive support for using Connexions materials in formal and informal educational settings.

In addition to Connexions, OLS also currently serves MIT's OpenCourseWare initiative and the joint MIT/Microsoft iCampus project. OLS will be integrated with additional educational materials from other collections over time.

Open Learning Support is funded by a grant from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.