Tremendous changes have occurred with the advent of the Internet and accessibility to information technology. A rapidly developing aspect of these changes has taken place in the realm of education, in particular, the open educational resource initiatives and Open CourseWare. Briefly defined, “Open Educational Resources and OpenCourseWare are part of the trend to make software, educational materials, and entire courses, freely available and accessible via the Internet, primarily to under-resourced nations or individuals, but also to any individual who wants free access to information.” (Singh, 2008) This would be in direct contrast to proprietary management of this educational information by means of password accessibility, copyrights and/or status as a member of an institution of higher learning. Even with the inherent problems, inconsistencies and legal aspects that are still to be “ironed out” this open movement is an exciting venture and speaks to a higher philosophical point of view. “My life is teaching. To have a chance to do that with a world audience is just amazing.” (Gilbert Strang - MIT Mathematics professor 2009) But how, exactly, do we present these new opportunities to the public or, in the context of this paper, to high school students? How many are even aware of this Open Movement? I hope to give a hypothetical answer to these questions by proposing an experimental model for introducing OER and OpenCourseWare to a public high school group of students. Rather than just a general introduction it will take the theme of social issues. The students will be able to use OER and OpenCourseWare while also researching social issues. It is my intention that in the process of making these students aware of the different facets of these resources it may prove helpful in other areas of their lives - their present studies, preparation for what’s to come when they enter college and an opportunity to experience self-reliance while participating in an independent project.

Keywords

business model · K-12 · OpenCourseWare · web 2.0