Novell Joins OpenCourseWare Consortium to Drive Linux, IT Training

Novell today announced it has joined the OpenCourseWare Consortium, a global initiative of higher education institutions designed to create open educational content using a shared model. Novell is among the first commercial enterprises to participate in the OpenCourseWare Consortium, joining the likes of MIT, Harvard Law School, and a number of other leading universities around the world. Novell also launched today its first certification focused on the Linux desktop, reflecting growing interest in open source alternatives to existing proprietary desktops. As a result, Novell customers gain important new training tools for maximizing the value of their Novell investments.

"In the spirit of the open source software model, the OpenCourseWare Consortium is a collaboration of over 100 institutions worldwide working to promote the free and open digital publication of high quality educational materials, organized as courses," said John Dehlin, director of the OpenCourseWare Consortium. "It is only fitting that Novell, a leader in open source and a pioneer in IT training, is among the first commercial enterprises to join the Consortium. We warmly welcome Novell to the OpenCourseWare Consortium, and hope this serves as a model for more commercial enterprises to share their knowledge in the education arena."

The OpenCourseWare Consortium has three primary goals. First is to extend the reach and impact of opencourseware by encouraging the adoption and adaptation of open educational materials around the world. Second is to foster the development of additional opencourseware projects. Finally, the consortium aims to ensure the long-term sustainability of opencourseware projects by identifying ways to improve effectiveness and reduce costs. Novell will be contributing an initial 10 training courses under the terms of its membership in the Consortium, ranging from general-purpose introductory courses on Linux to more specialized courses focused on migration to Novell's Linux and Open Enterprise Server platforms. Novell's opencourseware library is located at http://ocw.novell.com.

"Contributing to the open education community is crucial to our mission," said MaryJo Swenson, vice president of Novell Training Services. "We want people effectively using Novell products. By expanding the reach of open education into the corporate world, we can reach thousands of people interested in advancing their knowledge and skills."

Also on the training front, Novell today launched its Novell Certified Linux Desktop Administrator 10 program. This certification will validate the skills of administrators managing Novell's award-winning SUSE® Linux Enterprise desktop. With increasing traction in the market around the Linux desktop, the new certification will give customers confidence they can get the expertise they need to maximize the value of Linux desktops in their environment - Novell.