Showing exam marks in a student app? Registering for a course at another institution? It can be done easily with the Open Education API. No wonder this API won the Dutch Golden API Award on 23 November. “This is a compliment to all the institutions working with us on the Open Education API,” said SURF‘s Jelmer de Ronde.
“Seamless connectivity in education”
There were a total of nine APIs (Application Programming Interface) nominated for the Golden API, all APIs with social impact. So there was considerable competition. The Open Education API was declared the winner by the jury, which summarised its motivation as follows: “The Open Education API, with its excellent OpenAPI specification, provides seamless connectivity in education. The API is easy to use, thanks in part to its excellent documentation!”
Success through collaboration
Jelmer de Ronde is a technical product manager at SURF and works on the development of the Open Education API. “We are very proud of the Golden API Award. But we are not doing this alone: the Open Education API has only become possible because a large number of educational institutions are working together on it. And precisely because of that collaboration, the Open Education API has become a standard for the education sector. It is very nice to see that this is also seen and appreciated outside our sector.”
Open Education API: exchanging data easily
APIs enable interactions between applications, systems and devices without human intervention. Data are thereby made reusable for new purposes. For example, for mobile apps, which combine or present information in new ways. The Open Education API focuses specifically on the exchange of data between systems in education, for example student information systems, timetable applications and student apps. Among other things, this API makes it easier to develop cross-institutional applications.
About the Golden API Award
The Golden API Award is an initiative of the Knowledge Platform APIs. To further increase the quality of APIs, experts from various government organisations work on a Dutch API Strategy and Design Rules in the Knowledge Platform APIs. With the presentation of the Golden API Award, they reward the developers of beautiful APIs with social impact.