Several leading colleges and universities are offering free courses online. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and other competitive schools led the way, but a growing number of institutions are posting their courses online at no charge and offering lecture notes, sample tests, and making video and audio files of actual lectures available for free. The websites attract thousands of visitors per month. These activities, which differ from 'distance learning' courses that are offered by schools for credit and require payment of a fee, are designed to 'democratize' education. The schools want to make the best resources available to more people, and they also hope to attract more interest from potential applicants as well. The pioneering 'OpenCourseWare' program from MIT was launched in 2003. It offers the syllabus and class notes for 1,500 courses online for anyone who wants to use them. By November 2007, MIT plans to publish materials from all of its courses from all of its schools. The University of Notre Dame began its program with eight free courses, including class plans, links to required readings, lecture notes, and homework assignments. Yale University announced that it plans to produce digital videos of undergraduate lecture classes to make them available at no charge to the public as well. Several smaller liberal arts schools are following the lead of the larger institutions.