Coursera

Business model

The current phase of business development is focused on user acquisition. Currently some of the courses are available for free. A list of ways to generate revenue includes verified certification fees (started in 2012 as Signature Track), specialization in areas of expertise. Other possibilities include introducing students to potential employers and recruiters (with student consent), tutoring, licensing, sponsorships and tuition fees. As of 2012 Coursera was reported to have 1.5 million students signed up for its programs serving at 100 online courses. In September 2013, it announced it had earned $1 million in revenue through verified certificates that authenticate successful course completion. As of December 2013, the company had raised $85 million in venture capital. John Doerr suggested that people will pay for "valuable, premium services." Any revenue stream will be divided, with schools receiving a small percentage of revenue and 20% of gross profits.

In January 2013, Coursera announced that the American Council on Education had approved five courses for college credit. As the journalist Steve Kolowich noted, "whether colleges take the council's advice, however, is an open question." The courses that were recommended to degree-granting institutions for college credit are:

Coursera will offer proctored exams at the end of these courses through ProctorU, an online proctoring service that connects proctors and students via webcam. The service will cost $60–$90.

Coursera provides a Financial Aid program that is designed for those who face significant economic hardships, so that those individuals with genuine needs may be given the chance to earn a Course Certificate at no cost.

Courses

Coursera offers all its courses "accessible for free"; some courses have the option to pay a fee to join the "Signature Track". Students on the Signature Track receive verified certificates, appropriate for employment purposes. These students authenticate their course submissions by sending webcam photos and having their typing pattern analyzed.

Many specializations are fee-based, but even these courses can be audited for free, with the restriction that one cannot submit quizzes for that course. Courses such as "How To Create A Website In A Weekend" restrict the peer-review or collaboration function of the curriculum to students who have paid a required fee.

Coursera courses last approximately four to ten weeks, with one to two hours of video lectures a week. These courses provide quizzes, weekly exercises, peer-graded assignments, and sometimes a final project or exam. Courses are also provided on-demand, in which case users can take their time in completing the course with all of the material available at once. As of May 2015 Coursera offered 104 on-demand courses.

Coursera also offers "specializations" - sets of courses that help increase understanding of a certain topic. As of May 2015 the website listed 28 specializations.

Coursera and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have partnered to offer a business degree that will be available to anyone. Students have options to register and complete business courses offered by University of Illinois on Coursera. This option is available in a free version (which lets the student watch the video lectures and do the assignments, without being graded) and a paid version (which includes the certification at the end of the course). In addition, students may register for University of Illinois iMBA program to achieve fully accredited Masters in Business Administration. This iMBA degree would cost about $20,000, which is just a fraction of what the MBA degree costs at any other top-ranked school in the United States of America. Coursera and University of Illinois iMBA websites give details and requirements.

Coursera offers a mobile app for iOS and Android operating-systems.

History

Keystroke biometrics

Analysis of keystroke dynamics during typing is used in combination with webcam images to confirm the identity of fee-paying "signature track" students during tests and quizzes.

IT infrastructure

Coursera runs the nginx web server on the Linux operating system on the Amazon Web Services platform with the primary stack in Scala on the Play framework. Data is stored in Amazon S3, and site search is handled by CloudSearch that indexes over 4.3 million documents on the site.

Coursera API

Coursera has a set of APIs called Coursera App Platform, allowing third-parties to create apps and make them integrated with the Coursera functionality. Coursera App Platform is currently in beta. Now, there are a number of integrations available for third-parties.

1. OAuth 2 API
2. Learning Management Systems integration via LTI
3. Catalog API, enabling third-parties to obtain the list of all courses, sessions, instructors and more
4. Shibboleth/SAMLv2 for partner schools

Country restrictions

In January 2014, Coursera blocked their courses for users in Cuba, Iran and Sudan as a result of US sanctions to those countries.