The OCW Initiative consists of free and public digital courses of high caliber university-level learning resources. These resources often include course syllabi, articles, videos, audio lectures, and evaluation tools, as well as theme-based content. In 2002 MIT started the initiative by offering 50 open online classes on its website. The number of classes and materials grew into more than 2,000 open courses, as of 2010.
The success of MIT's Initiative helped create the OpenCourseWare Consortium. It was founded in 2005 and is comprised of more than 90 countries throughout the world. The consortium is an international society of hundreds of universities and associations committed to advancing OpenCourseWare and its influence on global instruction.
Taking an online OCW course does not mean an education is obtained from the sharing university. Certificates and degrees are not able to be obtained by completing courses. No access to faculty is available when taking the courses and as well as some materials in entirety. A database of available courses is online.