Coursera starts to turn a profit

The Silicon Valley-based company brought in $220,000 in the first quarter after it started charging for verified completion certificates, its co-founders said. The company also receives revenue from an Amazon.com affiliates program if users buy books suggested by professors.

People tend to treat things they pay for differently than things they receive for free, a common observation in economics. By encouraging students to take advantage of low-cost courses, they might see more students complete the courses rather than simply casually observing. The low costs for MOOCs and similar platforms help to make education more accessible and affordable. With just an Internet connection and a computer, companies like Coursera might well change the nature of education in the near future, leaving traditional institutions to fade into the past.

The vast majority of users are just dropping in to take free courses, but the company introduced a “Signature Track” to try to put more weight behind the end-of-course awards issued by universities that offer courses through its platform. Users who pay for this have to submit a photo ID of themselves to the company and are also tracked based on their “unique typing pattern” to ensure that people who take tests or turn in assignments are who they say they are. Prices are set around $50 so far.

Free to consumers does not mean free to produce, so profits are necessary to keep the company, and the idea, moving forward into the future. 

The company remains interested in keeping courses free, Koller said. That’s how the company took off in the first place, as one of the top providers of massive open online courses, or MOOCs. But a free course does not mean a free end product, so the company is looking at commercializing its certificates. It suggests users can put Signature Track certificates on their resumes as "professional development" or "additional coursework." Coursera is committed to only offering courses from elite universities.

More:
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/04/08/coursera-begins-make-money