SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Udemy, the world’s largest destination for online courses, today announced 365 percent growth in its instructor community, with its top 10 instructors now earning combined course revenue of over $5 million. The company also announced a new “Summer of Teaching” grant, offering instructors a chance to win $5,000 plus 100 percent of their course revenues for life.
“Our instructors are blazing a new path for educators,” said Dinesh Thiru, vice president of marketing at Udemy. “We’re at an unparalleled time where technology meets education, and we can now say unequivocally that with minimal time investment, any expert, anywhere, can teach the world.”
Diverse Instructor Community Growing Fast
To help instructors create and publish amazing courses quickly, Udemy works to foster an instructor community that shares experiences and best practices. Audrey Heinesen, Ed.D., leads this effort and came to Udemy with strong credentials: a tenure at the New York Times and a Doctorate in Instructional Design from Teachers College Columbia University.
“We knew early on that teaching online is a new phenomenon, and it can be solitary and intimidating to go it alone,” said Dr. Heinesen, director for teaching and learning at Udemy. “Instructors are invited to a vibrant, supportive, private Facebook community where people learn from each other how to teach online, improve video and audio quality, and attract more students. All instructors receive ongoing education on how to create and promote their courses, with experienced instructors often sharing learnings in videos, blog posts and emails.”
Small Time Investment, Big Potential
Rewards for a Udemy online course trump a small initial time investment. Most Udemy instructors publish their initial courses in 14-28 days, while going about their normal work and home lives. Ongoing course management - responding to student questions, updating materials - generally takes 5-15 hours per month, a small fraction of the time required to conduct similar activity in an in-person learning environment.
“Udemy has a great return-on-investment for instructors, financially speaking, particularly as compared with traditional adult learning environments,” said Dr. Heinesen. “When you consider the number of hours that go into a typical semester-long, in-person course, you’ll find many non-tenured instructors earn little more than minimum wage.” In contrast, taking into account course development, filming and ongoing student interaction, Udemy’s top instructors earn anywhere from $200-$750 per hour for each course.
Although the site has only existed for three years, Udemy courses already have a long life cycle and large audiences. Top instructors typically earn 10-20 percent of total course earnings in the first month, but they continue to amass revenues over the next 12-18 months.
“I cannot tell you how excited I was to see so many sales and students coming in when I released my first course, How to Design a Logo," said Tara Roskell, Udemy instructor and freelance graphic designer who describes her course as an annuity. “It's amazing that even eight months later, my course still earns significant revenue month on month.”
Course revenues for Roskell’s How to Design a Logo course, first published in July 2012, now total more than $30,000.
Since April 2012, the Udemy instructor community has grown 365 percent, and the total number of Udemy lectures has grown 474 percent. Growth in the Udemy instructor community reflects increasing interest in teaching online, as well as significant advancements in technology associated with course creation, video and publishing.
The Udemy platform is free for anyone to use and enables instructors and students to easily collaborate with one another. Tools include instructor and student auto-notifications for questions and new materials, as well as customer service management and payment processing. Instructors determine prices for their courses or whether to offer their course for free. Udemy charges a 15-30 percent marketplace fee for courses sold through the platform. Since the site’s launch in early 2010, thousands of instructors have joined to teach classes for free or for an average of $20-$250 a course.
The top instructors for subject matter categories and their associated course earnings include:
Web Development - Victor Bastos $452,985.78; 7,502 students (teaching since 11/11)
Photography - Ken Schultz $65,003.37; 4,157 students (teaching since 6/12)
Graphic Design - Tara Roskell $30,371.92; 3,702 students (teaching since 7/12)
Business Software - Huw Collingbourne $128,729.83; 4,214 students (teaching since 7/11)
IT Certifications and Training - Chris Bryant $260,822; 13,000 students (teaching since 7/11)
Yoga - Dashama $43,599.59; 981 students (teaching since 7/12)
Video, Animation, and Multimedia - Miguel Hernandez $146,512.81; 2,882 students (teaching since 7/11)
Writing and Content Development - Len Smith $59,532.72; 2,926 students (teaching since 1/12)
Udemy “Summer of Teaching” Udemy Grant
Udemy is currently offering a $5,000 “Summer of Teaching” grant plus 100 percent of course revenues for life. Any instructor who signs up by August 31, 2013 at udemy.com/teach is automatically entered for a chance to win.
About Udemy
Udemy is the world's largest destination for online courses. With over 8,000 courses available on-demand via the iPhone, iPad and web, Udemy is democratizing education by making top-quality content from the world’s experts dramatically more affordable for anyone, anywhere. Udemy enables students to learn when and where they want, helping them get promoted, break into a new industry, start a company, or further a passion. Udemy’s course creation platform empowers instructors of any type to teach online and earn income from online courses. Through Udemy for Organizations, businesses, schools, and organizations can also leverage the power of online learning to train their employees, students, and members.
Founded in 2010, Udemy is funded by Insight Venture Partners, Lightbank, MHS Capital, 500 Startups and other investors responsible for funding Internet giants like YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter and Yelp. Udemy is headquartered in San Francisco. Web: www.udemy.com |Twitter: @udemy | Facebook: www.facebook.com/udemy.
