Here’s the latest presentation created by the University of Michigan OER team. Last week, I presented this slideshow in two sections of a UM undergraduate Sociology class. The goal was to explain the not only the history of open educational resources initiatives, but also to discuss the student-centric publication model we’re proposing for the University of Michigan called the dScribe model.

Much to my surprise, the students were quite excited to actually become dScribes – actually eager to help faculty prepare materials for publication on our forthcoming OER site. Many said it would be a worthwhile experience to work alongside (even if it were asynchronous) their instructor and with the OER team to assemble course materials for publication. Responding to a question about whether they would utilize resources generated by a school-wide OER initiative, many said it would allow them to “shop” for classes and also better plan out a curriculum. When asked about the benefit of creating an open educational environment for people around the world to access, many agreed that it was a really meaningful endeavor.

The largest concern, however, revolved around two familiar arguments. First, that an OER initiative like this would simply give away a UM education: “Why would I or my parents pay 40,000 a year when I could just get it for free?” Second, posting resources online for anyone to access would simply provide classmates with one more reason not to attend class: “If everything is available online, no one would show up.”

I guess it’s refreshing to know that these were the two central concerns. MIT OCW has been pretty successful at deflating these arguments, saying that MIT OCW is not an MIT education and that it is not meant to replace the classroom experience. I did my best to present versions of these arguments and after finishing, most seemed somewhat convinced that they had the upper hand by being the students who would actually receive a diploma. And, the fact that class materials would not be ready for public view until the end of the semester – or after – meant that not showing up to class (or relying on previous semester’s OER material) would not be a substitute for the in class experience. Overall, these presentations and positive reactions provide our team with an eagerness to finish up the back end work of software development, learn from our pilot initiatives, and get this student-centric model scaled-up across the University.

For now, download or view the presentation on slideshare.net: here