Edward Hess, professor at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, is teaching a “massive open online course” (mooc) starting in January on Coursera – the free online education platform founded this year by two Stanford University computer scientists. So far, more than 26,000 students have signed up.
“I usually teach 120 or 130 students a year,” says Prof Hess. “Do you know how many years I would have to live before I could teach that many students?”
His class, on how to help a private business grow, is among the first MBA-level moocs offered on Coursera. It is, he says, “an opportunity to help lots of people learn from each other and become more successful”.