Although higher education institutions have traditionally made some efforts to impact the broader communities in which they reside, the digital environment has provided unprecedented opportunity to share the university’s teaching activities with audiences outside of their enrolled student populations. While responses from universities have been understandably varied, a movement has gradually coalesced around the web-based distribution of higher education course materials. Having been considered in one way or another at hundreds of institutions, this movement has now firmly taken hold at numerous universities across the world, as they publish materials adapted from the traditional setting for enrolled students to the online setting for non-enrolled learners. Ithaka's research project will thoroughly examine a spectrum of general interest online courseware initiatives, from Fathom to MIT’s OpenCourseWare to Webcast.Berkeley. It will offer a critical analysis of this movement’s development, its success factors, its impact, and its future, including:

• What strategic objectives drive universities to launch these initiatives (or to elect not to do so)?
• What key success factors inform their development?
• What impacts are they having, both on the university itself and outside its traditional walls?
• What sustainability plans were developed for these initiatives and how are they playing out?

Jointly funded by Ithaka and the Hewlett Foundation, this project will investigate the development of OCW initiatives at numerous academic institutions, both in the United States and around the world. Its objective is to provide senior academic leadership with actionable, strategic intelligence around activity in this space. It launched in June 2008 and is expected to be completed in mid-2010.

We have already begun to interview dozens of individuals from a variety of programs in this field. For more information, contact Taylor Walsh at taylor.walsh@ithaka.org.