"That's been somewhat a welcome surprise, as CU did not necessarily expect to make money when it began offering the courses three years ago," she explained at the Denver Post. "The courses help disseminate research funded by tax dollars and have the potential to introduce millions of people to CU". "The courses are helping professors teach students differently and, in the case of one faculty member on the Colorado Springs campus, crowdsource research functions". The CU system (coursera.org/boulder and coursera.org/cusystem) has produced more than a dozen high-quality, video-based courses for Coursera and is offering several specializations, or multi-course units on one topic. These specializations end with a capstone project –at a price around of $300– that can allow to earn some transfer credit towards Master's degrees. Coursera keeps half of that revenue.
The edX engineering team has released Dogwood.2. "This release fixes a few installation problems, applies some security fixes, and lets learners audit courses without offering certificates," said Ned Batchelder, an edX manager. Instructions for upgrading previous Dogwood installations Complete documentation
Companies and universities are shifting their traditional marketing efforts into digital initiatives. According to the Chief Marketing Officer Council: More than a third of CMOs (Chief Marketing Officers) say that digital marketing will account for 75 percent or more of their spending within the next five years. 28% of marketers have reduced their advertising budgets to fund more digital marketing. By 2018, Internet advertising will be poised to overtake TV as the largest advertising segment. Among the 25 hottest skills on LinkedIn, four are related to marketing: SEO/SEM, campaign management, channel marketing, digital and online marketing. For adding digital marketing skills to your resume, the edX.org portal hosts great courses on social media marketing, e-commerce, data analytics, SEO and digital economy. This is a selection: Introduction to Marketing – The University of British Columbia Digital Branding and Engagement – Curtin University Digital Marketing, Social Media and E-Commerce for Your Business – The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania – April 18, 2016 Introduction to Marketing: Tools to Set Enterprises Apart – The University of Edinburgh – May 9, 2016 Reputation Management in a Digital World – Curtin University – May 30, 2016
Jono Bacon, Director of Community at GitHub, speaker and author, will be the Keynote Speaker at the 2016 Open edX Conference, scheduled for June 14-17 at Stanford University. Jono Bacon is one of the top worldwide experts in community management. He has led communities at Canonical and XPRIZE and is the author of the critically-acclaimed The Art of Community. See his talk “The Future of Community” from OSCON 11 below. Jono Bacon's ideas will inspire directions for the Open edX community. As Molly de Blanc, an edX manager, has said, "we are a young community, still defining who we are and our shared culture and goals. Open edX 2016 is an opportunity to get to know each other beyond our code and work. We are finding new ways to collaborate, directions for the project, and how to shape our work. With years of experience in supporting, developing, and growing communities, Jono will add a new perspective to this conversation and to our understanding of the potential and power of a great community."
Udacity's corporate-oriented strategy, based on its vision of bridging the gap between real-world skills, education and employment using MOOCs, has proven to be effective. Now it has 4 million registered users and 11,000 paying students. Its nanodegree program shows a completion rate of 60%, while the academic courses on Coursera or edX.org have only 2%. Although Udacity does not disclose its financials, its annual revenue is believed to be $24 million. The company has only said that it is growing at rate of 30% per month and is profitable. Until now, Udacity has raised $160 million in funding from investors and its valuation is $1 billion. This educational start-up, funded by the German computer scientist Sebastian Thrun, plans to use the funds from this latest round to expand into China, the Middle East, and India.
