The September OCWC webinar is on collaborating with students to generate OCW materials. Many appreciate and value OCW material because it is a production of those who possess the highest form of knowledge in their own respective fields. There are many world renowned scholars who have opened their courses to the public, and they are an inspiration for numerous reasons. While acknowledging their contribution, we must pay close attention to the student collaboration initiative. Students also have good knowledge of their discipline, and for them to collaborate with faculty to produce OCW material gives them a stake in their own learning, and this is significant for various reasons. Instructional specialists stress that a student making a course portfolio via frequent communication with a faculty member enhances learning on the student’s part. OCW project managers stress the cost efficiency involved in producing OCW contents. For my money, it is a great investment for the future. It is always a great investment when we encourage our students to partake in a meaningful activity, think about intellectual property in digital contents, and just get them ready to lead the initiative on OpenCourseWare. Who knows? In a couple years, one of these students could become a faculty member who takes the lead in opening up education.

This month’s speaker is Garin Fons from the University of Michigan. UM’s dScribe team collaborates with graduate students to produce contents for their Open Michigan project. An active member of OCWC, the dScribe team has offered to open OERca, its platform for collaboration to the OCWC community. Come to the webinar to hear about the processes and the system of dScribe. The webinar is on September 3rd at 10AM EDST(GMT-5). You may sign up by emailing meena@ocwconsortium.org.