Notre Dame Opencourseware officially launched its website on 20 September 2006 with eight courses. The courses represent fifteen different departments (several are cross-listed offerings) including Africana Studies, Philosophy, Theology and Peace Studies.
Notre Dame celebrated the launch with a mini-conference entitled "The Ardent Search for Truth and its Unselfish Transmission," taking a phrase from Pope John Paul II's ex corde ecclesiae.
Sample courses include: Islamic Societies of the Middle East and North Africa: Religion, History, and Culture; Faith and the African American Experience; and Nature and the Built Environment.