Open courseware and other open educational resources are beginning to draw the
attention of higher education policymakers and other leaders. Why? Simply put, these
web-based educational tools hold the promise of both reducing the cost of higher
education and helping learners to complete their degrees by providing access to top
quality course materials and instruction.
By radically reducing the costs of course content, delivery of instruction, textbooks,
and related materials these open resources can make college more affordable. Further,
by enabling 'learning-from-anywhere' for students who have work and family obligations,
the same technologies provide expanded access to higher education for millions
of nontraditional learners.