The coalition has opened the NYCOG Learning Center at learn.nyopengov.org. It offers two free online courses: FOIL: Getting the Records (11 lessons, about an hour) and Open Meetings Law: Doing Business in Public (12 lessons, about 70 minutes). Each course has short captioned video lessons, a quiz after every lesson and a final exam. Pass the exam and you get a certificate.
The courses are written for clerks and records officers, board members and other officials, and for residents, reporters and advocates who want to know what the law requires rather than what they have been told it requires. They are not legal advice, and they do not replace the training the state requires of some officials.
Both courses are in beta. The content is complete, but we want to know where it is unclear, where a quiz question is unfair and what is missing before we take the label off. Take a course, then fill out the two-minute survey at the end or write to learning@nyopengov.org. If you would rather read first, our FOIL guide and Open Meetings Law guide cover the same ground in less depth.
