Why do prestigious private colleges like MIT, Tufts, and Notre Dame make their $40,000+ curricula available for free online?
These and other universities publish their course material online for anyone and everyone to see through an initiative launched by MIT.
OpenCourseWare (OCW) users do not have access to faculty and no certification or degree is awarded if they complete a course. But they are not required to register or financially contribute in any way. Much of the material provided, including lecture notes, problem sets, syllabi, reading lists, and simulations, comes directly from world-renowned professors. It’s the same material which students enrolled in the universities use.
So the question remains: why would these expensive universities give their valuable material away for free?
Altruism or Business?
Part of the purpose of OpenCourseWare is altruistic–universities are able to more effectively fulfill their mission of education by reaching out digitally to learners from all over the world. These are learners who would otherwise never have been able to participate in courses because of financial or geographic obstacles. However, private universities are also businesses which have to turn a profit.
Does OpenCourseWare make business sense?
A Testing Ground?
Only 32% of MIT faculty state that the feedback they receive through OCW allows them to improve the quality of their course material. Perhaps the others may not be interested.
The audience which professors can reach online is certainly more diverse than the ones they have in the classroom in terms of age, social and educational background, which means course material must often be reworked to give it more universal value. A challenge of this type can lead to innovative conceptual breakthroughs. Anyone who has taught knows that teaching is a highly valuable learning experience–but it all depends on attitude.
Spread your name…
As OCW gains subscribers, MIT is solidifying its position as a go-to source for science and engineering (and more) for people all across the globe, spreading its name as far as the internet will reach. Those who go looking for reliable educational material online will increasingly stumble across MIT resources, which range from physics and nuclear engineering to the humanities. For example, today MIT ranks in the third organic position (without personalization) when I search Google for Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
…but keep your fame
It’s probably not very surprising that publishing high-quality educational material online for free attracts a lot of attention and helps spread a name world-wide. However, a question comes to mind: if they are giving it all away for free is anyone still willing to pay to have the same education on campus?
The answer is in MIT’s student body, which includes many students who used OCW in high school because they wanted to learn about more advanced subjects or were just curious what college courses were like. These students decided that it was worth it to pay full price despite the fact that they had had free access to very same course materials or, perhaps, precisely because of it.
How To Align Your Business With The OpenCourseWare Model
MIT and other universities’ OpenCourseWare projects are huge endeavors undertaken by big enterprises. Scaled down for a small business they could be comparable to a company blog or newsletter. Many small companies–especially those that make money off of the expertise and consultation which they provide–don’t see why they should put their advice online for anyone to see for free.
However the OpenCourseWare story should help you understand the hidden benefits in a seemingly altruistic undertaking. Sharing advice for free will help you to spread your name and reputability without devaluing your product–consultations are still based on one-on-one interactions which are not possible through a blog. If anything, publishing your expertise online will provide you with valuable feedback which will help you to improve the quality of your offering.
Learning is a process which starts with knowing “about” something and evolves to knowing how to “do” something. There is and always will be a limit to online learning, a point at which knowledge must be applied to practical situations, and this step usually requires in-person, individual work.
Making your knowledge publicly available will only increase the demand for the work which you do best and which no written word or video tutorial can replace. What’s more, putting your thoughts on a subject down in words or video will help on the third step of the learning process–knowing how to “teach” something. You’ll be surprised at how publishing open access, informative material online will help your business to grow–on the inside and out.
Do you believe in giving away content for free? Please let me know in the comments below and if you liked this post, please subscribe to our e-mail newsletter!
Images from top to bottom: Francisco Diez, opensourceway
