Sebastian Thrun, the pioneer of Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) stepped down as Chief Executive officer of Udacity, the for-profit that offers MOOCs, last month. MOOC, which was seen as a game changer, has gone through its own set of challenges.
In an interview with The Hindu , Thrun, now the founder, chairman and president of Udacity, speaks about the evolution and challenges of MOOC and the firm’s plan for India, its second biggest market after the US.
What has been the journey for MOOC since you pioneered it in 2011?
The MOOC model has become a very potent education tool. But it cannot achieve success only with people passively watching videos. We have evolved from MOOCs alone to a model where we guarantee many of our students a job based on the skills learned online, or we fully reimburse their student tuition.
What have the significant lessons been?
MOOC has very poor engagement and success rates. We have been able to materially change those through dedicated individual student services and strong collaboration with Silicon Valley industry giants like Facebook and Google.
You have said the free model of online education has not worked. Why?
Most students don’t complete even a single course for many reasons: engagement, mentorship, accountability and peer interaction. We have changed this with our nanodegree programme.
What is the way forward?
The velocity around MOOCs has slowed, but the new Udacity model is moving very fast. We would love to extend our job guarantee (or money back) to all geographies, including India. Top-notch Indian employers like Flipkart have hired Udacity nanodegree graduates based solely on their performance in our programme, without an in-person interview. The idea of “interviewless hiring” is new and a trend we will see in the changing global job market.
In a country like India, what should be the approach towards MOOCs?
We need to help students who don’t have Internet access, and increase the number of scholarships. We believe Udacity has the right programmes for a huge technology industry that is desperately looking for new talent.
What has Udacity’s experience in India been? What is the way forward?
We have been happy with the Indian students at Udacity and the number of employers working with us. India is our second largest country, after the United States. We have dedicated operations on the ground in Bengaluru.
You talked about making people pay for online courses and extra services. But will it work in price-conscious India?
So far, we are optimistic with our approach to India and have introduced localised pricing, but it’s too early to tell.
Do you plan to tie up with companies to sponsor specific technical certifications that India’s students can take?
We have already teamed up with companies like Flipkart, Tata Trust and others in addition to our international partners like Google and AT&T. We are in conversation with a number of other companies in India.
How do you plan to expand your nanodegree programme in India?
We have just started our focused approach to India. Right now, we need to execute in growing our student base, getting more partners on board and making sure people know who Udacity is, so that when they need to make a decision on education, we are the name they go to. It’s a long process but we are excited and optimistic about the potential of the market.
