In 2000, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the nation's premier private research institutions, did something unheard of in the upper echelons of higher education: it began making some of its educational materials available online-free of charge. To provide these materials to anyone, anywhere with an Internet connection, MIT began posting course syllabi, documents, podcasts, and even videos of lectures on YouTube, iTunes and its own Web site. Other prominent institutions followed suit, and as The New York Times noted, the Open Education Movement was born.

In 2007, Novell became the first corporate, for-profit software company to join the Open Education Movement, posting 10 of its training courses online-also free of charge. This year, Novell has added more courses and added important features to its OpenCourseWare Web site, http://ocw.novell.com, reenergizing its commitment to Open Education and once again proving itself an industry leader.

Novell is reenergizing its commitment to Open Education and once again proving itself an industry leader.

Meeting the Challenge: OpenCourseWare

OpenCourseWare (OCW) is the posting of free educational materials on the Internet. Today more than 200 educational institutions such as universities and colleges, have posted more than 13,000 courses online, combining their efforts in The OpenCourseWare Consortium, a non-profit organization sponsored by The William and Flora Hewlitt Foundation.

Educational institution members of the consortium agree to post at least 10 courses on the consortium's site. Additionally, corporations, institutions, other business and non-profit entities may join the consortium as affiliate members by agreeing to also publish at least 10 projects or commit resources in support of consortium goals.

According to the consortium, OCW projects must:

• be free and open digital publication of high quality educational materials, organized as courses.
• be available for use and adaptation under an open license.
• typically not provide certification or access to instructors.

The goal of distributing knowledge and skills to a wider audience is evident in the first two criteria. The third criterion, however, reveals why so many education institutions are willing to contribute to the OCW movement—education creates its own market.

Education creates its own market.

One reason why education creates its own market is because simply gaining knowledge through free access to content is not the same as a full educational experience. Generally students need degrees or other credentials to assure potential employers that knowledge has been correctly mastered and understood. Furthermore, skill in using the knowledge is acquired not only from personal interaction with instructors, but also from feedback and involvement with peers in a classroom setting.

In other words, OCW offers an opportunity to gain the knowledge offered, but not necessarily the skills taught, in a classroom experience. According to James D. Yager, senior associate dean for academic affairs at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, "Students take courses because they want interaction with faculty, they want interaction with one another. Those things are not available on O.C.W." (Jingying Yang, New York Times [March 30, 2010])

As a result, many of the premier organizations participating in the Open Education Movement see OCW as a compliment, instead of a competition, to their for-pay programs. As the purpose statement of the Open Yale Courses Web site makes clear, it "does not grant degrees or certificates. Nor does it offer direct access to Yale faculty. Its purpose is not to duplicate a Yale education."

"Training is not just about the number of seats we fill in a classroom. It is about customer satisfaction and extending our reach." — David Coughanour

Proving Itself a Leader: Novell and Open Education

As noted, Novell became one of the very first for-profit software companies to join the Open Education Movement. By joining the OpenCourseWare Consortium as an affiliate member in 2007, Novell committed itself to posting 10 of its training courses for free access.

This year Novell has expanded its commitment to Open Education by adding six more courses to its OpenCourseWare site, with plans to add more. Significantly, one of the new additions is one of our hot new courses, 3101 - SUSE Linux Enterprise 11 Fundamentals.

What's more, we have added a useful new link to our site, the Learning MarketPlace, which is a new concept that brings together in one place a variety of free learning resources for Novell products such as SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server. From there you can access e-learning documents, join discussion groups, or download tools and software, all in one place.

Visit our OpenCourseWare site and get the training that will help you operate Novell products more efficiently.