0:02:18.959,0:02:23.961
(2:19 D. Koller) Hi everyone! It's a real privilege for me to be able to speak with you

0:02:23.961,0:02:29.162
and thank you all for the amazing contributions that you're all making

0:02:29.162,0:02:34.216
toward making education accessible to a much, much larger number of people.

0:02:34.763,0:02:39.234
I'd also like to start off by thanking not only you, the individual volunteers,

0:02:39.234,0:02:43.604
but also the organizations that have been working with us here at Coursera

0:02:44.218,0:02:48.808
to help you and to help us with this amazing project.

0:02:48.808,0:02:54.048
And these include GUOKR in China, the Lemann Foundation in Brazil,

0:02:54.401,0:02:59.372
ABBYY Language services in Russia, the Slim Foundation in Mexico

0:02:59.581,0:03:04.714
and many other organizations that we hope will come on board soon and (unclear ...ully)

0:03:05.638,0:03:08.808
or that are already with us in order to help this translation project.

0:03:09.603,0:03:13.252
Coursera has always been an international platform.

0:03:13.252,0:03:22.065
As it happens, both my co-founder Andrew Ng and myself are not originally from the United States.

0:03:22.065,0:03:26.510
I grew up in Israel and Andrew grew up in Hong Kong and Singapore.

0:03:27.020,0:03:33.772
And so, we've always realized the importance of having an effort that spans the globe

0:03:33.772,0:03:36.205
and appeals -- and that's accessible to everyone.

0:03:37.542,0:03:41.038
In fact, even from the earliest days of the MOOC effort,

0:03:41.631,0:03:49.240
we had only 40% of the audience from the United States, 60% from outside the United States.

0:03:49.240,0:03:54.068
And that fraction of people outside the United States has only been growing over time,

0:03:54.068,0:03:58.784
where (check) now only a third of our audience comes from the United States.

0:03:59.317,0:04:09.820
And so, we're really excited to have -- to be able to expand that reach to an even larger number of people.

0:04:10.385,0:04:16.269
Half or more of our users are currently from countries where the primary language is not English.

0:04:16.786,0:04:19.511
Now, this is pretty incredible when you think about this.

0:04:19.778,0:04:21.601
Our courses are hard.

0:04:21.864,0:04:26.247
They're hard even if you're listening to them in your native language.

0:04:26.520,0:04:30.438
And if you're listening to them in a language where you have to simultaneously

0:04:30.438,0:04:34.753
think about understanding what's being said as well as to understand the material,

0:04:34.753,0:04:37.809
I mean, that's really an incredible challenge,

0:04:37.809,0:04:43.858
and it's quite amazing that these many people have been able to deal with that,

0:04:43.858,0:04:49.606
but at the same time, we realize that there's many many more for whom this is a barrier,

0:04:49.606,0:04:55.100
that is, that their inability to simultaneously understand English and the content

0:04:55.100,0:04:59.557
prevents them from having the benefit of access to our courses.

0:05:00.492,0:05:06.947
And so, because of that, we knew that we needed to make Coursera more accessible

0:05:06.947,0:05:12.354
and a better place for learners all over the world, regardless of what their native language is.

0:05:12.651,0:05:15.924
And so, we've been doing a number of things to help move that along,

0:05:15.924,0:05:20.865
we've been partnering with institutions that teach in native languages other than English,

0:05:20.865,0:05:28.819
and currently, we have, I think, ten different -- nine different languages offered on the platform

0:05:28.819,0:05:31.271
and we hope to increase both the number of languages

0:05:31.271,0:05:34.421
as well as the number of courses in each of those languages,

0:05:34.683,0:05:39.066
to make a much broader range of content available to people.

0:05:39.840,0:05:44.887
We've internationalized the user interface of the platform into six languages,

0:05:44.887,0:05:48.458
so as to make people whose native language is that language

0:05:48.458,0:05:50.449
feel at home when they came onto the site.

0:05:50.750,0:05:56.110
And now, in what I think is likely to be our biggest-impact project yet

0:05:56.405,0:05:59.735
in terms of increasing access regardless of language barriers,

0:06:00.013,0:06:02.698
we have the Global Translation Community project,

0:06:02.698,0:06:07.378
lead by my amazing colleagues Sébastien and Eli, here

0:06:07.387,0:06:10.310
and it's a -- all the credit goes to them, by the way.

0:06:11.867,0:06:17.328
So, we've been just awe-struck by the passion and commitment

0:06:17.328,0:06:22.775
that we've seen among all of you in joining this effort.

0:06:23.020,0:06:30.482
And I know we've heard from many of you that for you, this is an opportunity to give something back

0:06:31.636,0:06:39.312
but it's sort of, you know, I think there is an amazing opportunity here of free, high-quality education

0:06:39.312,0:06:43.654
and this is a way for you to share that education with people that,

0:06:43.654,0:06:49.564
you now, might not otherwise have access tools -- in many cases your fellow country-people

0:06:50.030,0:06:57.440
and it's really amazing that you decided to give of your time, your energy and your passions

0:06:57.451,0:06:58.590
to make that possible.

0:06:59.564,0:07:05.518
And I know that many people in your countries and in other countries that speak the same language

0:07:05.518,0:07:10.240
will be very grateful for your effort and I know we are as well: so thank you all.

0:07:11.915,0:07:15.245
(7:12 E. Bildner) Thank you, thank you so much for that introduction (inaudible) Daphne.

0:07:15.249,0:07:19.580
Again, just as I mentioned, my name is Eli and I work on the International Grow team

0:07:19.580,0:07:23.227
and we'll field some of the great questions that we're seeing coming in.

0:07:23.227,0:07:25.612
Just a couple of logistical notes:

0:07:26.106,0:07:29.818
I see there are a few questions about the nature of the community logistics

0:07:29.818,0:07:34.894
and Sébastien and I will get to those, I guess after (inaudible) Daphne.

0:07:34.894,0:07:40.754
So we'll let Daphne talk about more general stuff about Coursera and international growth

0:07:41.515,0:07:47.855
in a second. I see there are a couple more comments about the hangout being a little bit hard to hear,

0:07:47.855,0:07:53.739
if you're watching through YouTube, it might be better to click through to the link to the live hangout

0:07:53.739,0:07:57.262
and close the YouTube tab, so you can only hear it once. I hope that will take care of that.

0:07:57.654,0:08:01.676
So, with that started, with that all said, I wanted to - let's see,

0:08:02.195,0:08:06.280
I saw a question here about the effect, you know,

0:08:06.280,0:08:11.273
what impact Coursera will have on the globalization of higher education.

0:08:11.871,0:08:14.913
So, I guess, you characteristically (check) talked about that,

0:08:14.916,0:08:19.024
you know, what does this mean for having universities in many different countries

0:08:19.271,0:08:22.226
(inaudible) worldwide higher education (inaudible)

0:08:22.226,0:08:26.354
(8:23 D. Koller) So I think, in some sense, this is a tremendous opportunity

0:08:26.354,0:08:28.609
for higher education and for the world

0:08:28.609,0:08:35.696
because it allows people to see education as it's offered in parts of the world

0:08:35.697,0:08:38.700
that many will just never have the opportunity to visit

0:08:39.236,0:08:42.894
and so, you can view this as a way of allowing people

0:08:42.894,0:08:47.045
to share perspectives and opinions across national boundaries

0:08:47.054,0:08:54.148
and many of our courses, in fact, are very much contextualized.

0:08:54.148,0:08:57.229
So for example, if you're teaching a course on sociology

0:08:57.229,0:09:01.089
or on sustainability or on business, or many other topics,

0:09:01.089,0:09:03.962
the perspectives that you'd get from someone in China

0:09:03.962,0:09:09.101
is very different from what you would get from someone in Nigeria or in the United States.

0:09:09.101,0:09:16.444
So this ability to really get these diverse points of view and share those with other learners

0:09:16.444,0:09:21.651
is really, I think, one of the things that both the learners on our platform get

0:09:21.651,0:09:25.736
but also the instructors who are teaching benefit a lot from this.

0:09:25.736,0:09:28.821
So I think that's one aspect of globalization.

0:09:29.846,0:09:36.183
The other aspect, I think, is just the capacity issue that is present in many parts of the world.

0:09:36.190,0:09:41.710
Those of us who live in countries that are -- where the educational infrastructure is better developed

0:09:41.710,0:09:46.782
often take for granted the ability that we have to just sign up for a college

0:09:46.782,0:09:49.178
and obviously, we have to pass the admission criteria,

0:09:49.178,0:09:52.616
but if we do, then there is a place for us and we have the opportunity to learn;

0:09:53.122,0:09:55.769
but in many parts of the world, that's just not true.

0:09:56.125,0:10:03.580
And there are people that would dearly love to have the opportunity for an educational experience

0:10:03.580,0:10:05.611
and that opportunity is just not there for them,

0:10:05.611,0:10:09.283
because of a lack of capacity in the educational system,

0:10:09.298,0:10:10.638
because they don't have enough money,

0:10:10.638,0:10:15.688
because of social circumstances and -- or economic circumstances --

0:10:15.688,0:10:20.708
and this really, I think, allows the opportunity for people in those countries

0:10:20.708,0:10:23.715
to have access to something that just otherwise would not exist.

0:10:24.462,0:10:28.138
And hopefully, over time, the educational infrastructure will catch up,

0:10:28.937,0:10:34.057
maybe, perhaps, to some extent by having this content there

0:10:34.058,0:10:40.808
that helps further development and create more qualified instructors within the country.

0:10:41.338,0:10:46.579
And so we hope to actually use this as a spur to develop the develop--

0:10:46.589,0:10:50.130
-- to spur the development of educational infrastructure around the world.

0:10:51.811,0:10:55.178
(10:52 E. Bildner) Daphne, I guess we're seeing a couple of other questions come in.

0:10:56.528,0:11:00.386
How do you see Coursera interacting with other online initiatives in --

0:11:00.931,0:11:03.696
that are specifically focused on individual countries, you know,

0:11:03.696,0:11:09.546
Coursera is this international platform, but there are lots of local resources that come streaming up (check) to you

0:11:09.552,0:11:11.218
and how do you see that interaction working?

0:11:11.857,0:11:18.582
(11:12 D. Koller) So I think there is a diverse -- with this move towards online education

0:11:18.582,0:11:24.718
that really started out with the efforts that Andrew and I did at Stanford in September 2001,

0:11:25.185,0:11:27.755
there is now realization that there is a big opportunity there,

0:11:27.755,0:11:35.961
and there is a number of initiatives that are coming up to leverage that and move that forward.

0:11:36.565,0:11:40.906
You know, I think that some of these are efforts that are very,

0:11:41.356,0:11:43.865
in some sense, complementary to what we're doing.

0:11:43.865,0:11:51.297
So, for example, there are portals in certain countries, like Nadees (check) portal for example,

0:11:51.297,0:11:58.960
that is one of our Chinese partners, that really point to great content from Coursera,

0:11:58.960,0:12:01.981
from Khan Academy, from other resources

0:12:01.981,0:12:08.412
and serve as a place where people in that country can find out about great educational content.

0:12:08.828,0:12:14.244
And there a few that are a little bit more similar to what we're doing, so you could view this,

0:12:14.254,0:12:18.418
they're trying to do the same thing, but perhaps focused on the needs of a particular country

0:12:18.427,0:12:23.971
and I think that's totally fine, because there is a limited capacity to what we can host on Coursera

0:12:23.971,0:12:25.996
in terms of number of university partners,

0:12:26.000,0:12:32.758
and so if you have a site that says "I'm going to allow the many universities within a given country

0:12:32.758,0:12:40.041
that can't be on Coursera to still offer content in language, in -- you know, that's really,

0:12:40.041,0:12:45.424
that's about local -- that really focus on aspects that are tied to the local culture,"

0:12:45.424,0:12:46.894
I think that's absolutely fine (check).

0:12:47.609,0:12:51.784
(12:47 E. Bildner) Thanks. We get a great question coming in from Akram Dahab,

0:12:51.789,0:12:53.490
I guess in Chad. Thank you, Akram.

0:12:53.865,0:12:57.373
"What would you do to help people from poor countries with limited connection speed,

0:12:57.373,0:12:58.785
like Chad where I live?"

0:12:58.785,0:13:04.039
(12:59 D. Koller) Well, first of all, thank you so much for joining us from Tchad.

0:13:04.039,0:13:10.605
That's very far away and it's wonderful that people from all over the world are part of this effort.

0:13:10.605,0:13:12.121
So thank you for participating.

0:13:12.702,0:13:17.307
We completely realize that there are serious infrastructure issues

0:13:17.307,0:13:23.343
in allowing people from parts of the world where broadband internet, for example,

0:13:23.343,0:13:27.354
is not readily available, to access our kind of content.

0:13:27.977,0:13:30.605
And so, there is a two-part answer to this.

0:13:30.605,0:13:34.772
The first is that the digital divide is a prevalent problem

0:13:34.772,0:13:38.943
that we at Coursera are not going to be the solution for,

0:13:38.943,0:13:42.561
because there are only so many problems that an organization can tackle.

0:13:42.893,0:13:48.641
But fortunately, there is a number of organizations, governments and NGOs,

0:13:48.641,0:13:53.664
that are working to try and overcome those infrastructure issues in a much broader basis

0:13:53.664,0:13:56.288
and we're delighted to see that happening.

0:13:56.288,0:13:59.481
There has been tremendous progress in India, for example, recently,

0:13:59.481,0:14:01.609
and I hope other countries will follow suit.

0:14:01.973,0:14:08.629
At the same time, we're doing what we can on our side, until that happens, to try and increase access.

0:14:08.631,0:14:12.560
And that includes programs like the Global Translation Community,

0:14:12.560,0:14:14.668
which hope (check) to overcome language barriers,

0:14:15.362,0:14:19.460
the significant effort that we've made on building mobile apps

0:14:19.460,0:14:25.394
that allow those people who access the internet primarily by their mobile device

0:14:25.394,0:14:29.918
to have a much better experience, and that's specifically, I think,

0:14:29.918,0:14:32.607
common in developing countries.

0:14:33.800,0:14:37.920
And then there is a number of efforts that we've made in the Learning Hub project,

0:14:37.922,0:14:43.556
which are these physical spaces that have high broadband internet connectivity

0:14:43.556,0:14:51.257
in places like US embassies, or the digital libraries of the Slim Foundation in Mexico and Latin America,

0:14:51.257,0:14:55.387
as well as a number of other partners that we have around the world

0:14:55.387,0:15:01.023
that provide local hubs where people who don't necessarily have access to the internet

0:15:01.023,0:15:05.226
can come and study quietly, often with the guidance of the (inaudible)

0:15:05.226,0:15:09.777
and we see amazing learning outcomes in those places,

0:15:09.777,0:15:14.805
with much higher completion rates than we see in just the general population,

0:15:14.817,0:15:18.134
and people having incredible experiences with that.

0:15:18.134,0:15:19.501
And so that's another thing that we've done.

0:15:20.197,0:15:22.453
(15:20 E. Bildner) Thanks, Daphne. A couple of other questions:

0:15:22.893,0:15:28.845
Interesting one here from Mrityunjay, if I'm mispronouncing your name, Yunjay in a --

0:15:29.252,0:15:32.001
I'm not sure where you come from, thanks for asking the question:

0:15:32.246,0:15:36.818
"Will Coursera be focusing on elistic education, as in knowledge for the sake of knowledge,

0:15:36.834,0:15:39.261
or will be filling the gaps in reward system"

0:15:39.261,0:15:41.299
so, I guess, more of a kind of vocational education.

0:15:41.299,0:15:44.884
How do you think about that (inaudible) about Coursera's place is?

0:15:45.419,0:15:49.979
(D. Koller) So, we're committed to education in multiple forms.

0:15:49.997,0:15:56.832
We believe that it's wonderful that, if someone wants to study poetry or philosophy,

0:15:57.447,0:16:01.870
we think that has an important place, even though that might not, for most people,

0:16:01.870,0:16:03.905
be along their career projectory (check).

0:16:03.905,0:16:09.746
At the same time, we also realize that, for many people, one of their goals in education

0:16:09.746,0:16:13.614
is to increase their ability to provide for themselves and their families,

0:16:13.614,0:16:17.449
and have access to a more, you know, stimulating job than they currently do.

0:16:18.553,0:16:21.153
And so we really try to do both things:

0:16:21.153,0:16:25.010
we have a very broad range of disciplines represented on our platform,

0:16:25.660,0:16:30.617
including music and the arts and philosophy, and archeology

0:16:30.623,0:16:34.092
a whole bunch of topics like that, but also we simply --

0:16:34.092,0:16:37.850
there's a whole lot of topics that are much more applied,

0:16:37.850,0:16:43.907
and if you call them "vocational" in the sense that they cater only to academic disciplines,

0:16:43.907,0:16:47.489
but there are things like Android development, (inaudible) science,

0:16:47.489,0:16:51.676
programming, finance, accounting,

0:16:51.676,0:16:56.729
things that are really very much in line with the possibility of getting a better job.

0:16:56.729,0:17:03.956
Our recently launched specializations also are very much in that vein,

0:17:03.956,0:17:09.864
because there's not only a curriculum that allows -- that spans multiple courses

0:17:09.864,0:17:13.528
and allows one to achieve mastery in a given discipline

0:17:13.528,0:17:16.917
that can really give much stronger chances of a better job,

0:17:16.917,0:17:21.115
but is also accompanied with a capstone project, like a final project

0:17:21.115,0:17:27.277
that allows learners to demonstrate their ability to apply their skills in the context of the real world.

0:17:27.277,0:17:30.990
Problem (check) in that gets -- that's something that can then

0:17:30.990,0:17:33.939
be used as a part of their portfolio when applying for a job.

0:17:34.352,0:17:38.552
And so, we believe that we'd like to give those learners who want this

0:17:38.552,0:17:44.445
the opportunity to use the educational platform in order to make a better life for themselves.

0:17:45.142,0:17:48.086
(E. Bildner) Thanks Daphne. Interesting question here from Andres.

0:17:49.281,0:17:54.081
Andres asks "Udacity recently decided to discontinue their free certification programs,

0:17:54.441,0:17:58.672
so they changed their model somewhat. What's Coursera's view on, I guess, that."

0:17:58.672,0:18:04.625
But I guess, more generally, how do we think about for the importance of free education

0:18:04.625,0:18:09.174
and I guess, incorporating that into our own business and long term strategy?"

0:18:09.182,0:18:16.945
(D. Koller) Right. So, we are very committed to the notion of free education,

0:18:16.945,0:18:21.884
and having the content remain free and available to everyone.

0:18:22.824,0:18:30.705
(18:22) We have two kinds of outcomes, if you will, that we offer learners currently on the platform

0:18:30.705,0:18:32.550
and we view them quite differently.

0:18:32.883,0:18:37.706
There is our verified certificate and our statement of accomplishment.

0:18:37.706,0:18:42.346
We view the statement of accomplishment not as a credential or a certificate.

0:18:42.346,0:18:45.692
We view that as more of a memento that the learner can say:

0:18:45.692,0:18:51.021
"OK, I feel good because I took something away with me from the course."

0:18:51.021,0:18:56.984
It's not a credential because it doesn't have any kind of validation associated with it.

0:18:57.937,0:19:04.340
It's not identity-verified, so Eli here can take the class in my place and get a certificate

0:19:04.340,0:19:06.369
that says "Daphne Koller" and it's not, you know,

0:19:06.369,0:19:11.719
there is no guarantee that I was the one who did the work, and in fact it's Eli who did the work.

0:19:11.726,0:19:17.583
So -- and furthermore, creating one of these statements of accomplishment is really easy,

0:19:17.583,0:19:20.286
you can take the PDF and you can (inaudible),

0:19:20.286,0:19:22.606
you know, I can put my name instead of Eli's name --

0:19:22.606,0:19:24.257
(E. Bildner 19:22) Don't try this at home.[br](D. Koller) OK, don't try this athome (laughter)

0:19:24.257,0:19:28.717
But the point is that there is no academic integrity associated with the statement of accomplishment:

0:19:28.717,0:19:29.660
it's a memento.

0:19:30.303,0:19:35.256
The verified certificate that we offer as part of our Signature Track is a credential.

0:19:35.585,0:19:39.398
It's identity-verified, it's unforgeable because it has a verification code.

0:19:40.218,0:19:45.930
It's true that that one does have a modest cost, you know, $40-50 is about typical,

0:19:45.930,0:19:49.803
but at the same time, we have from the very beginning, day 1,

0:19:49.803,0:19:55.144
have had a financial aid program, so that learners from backgrounds

0:19:55.144,0:20:03.587
that don't allow them to afford that $40 or $50, can still basically fill out a very simple 1-page application

0:20:03.587,0:20:07.565
and we waive that $40 or $50 fee for that credential.

0:20:07.859,0:20:14.371
And so, you can basically say: "Look, it's free to those learners who need it to be free"

0:20:14.371,0:20:19.906
and the other ones who can afford the $40 or $50, which for a large number of our learners,

0:20:19.906,0:20:23.776
is, you know, not a very signi-- not a very onerous burden,

0:20:24.102,0:20:28.765
they help pay for the free education that we are providing to everyone.

0:20:30.195,0:20:33.268
(E. Bildner) Thanks, Daphne. All right, let's see.

0:20:35.198,0:20:40.168
Interesting question here from Rishkash. Apoplogies again, if I'm mispronouncing it --

0:20:40.168,0:20:41.611
(D. Koller) Rishikesh[br](E. Bildner) Rishikesh.

0:20:41.611,0:20:45.046
"Do you think that translating courses will get people to learn the subject?

0:20:45.046,0:20:47.900
Because I think the course will probably require English somewhere down the line."

0:20:47.900,0:20:52.942
So I guess, the question, more broadly, is, you know, right now, translations are focused on subtitles,

0:20:52.951,0:20:57.175
I guess the user interface is translated too, but how are we thinking about

0:20:57.175,0:21:01.515
helping people experience a full course in either in translation,

0:21:01.515,0:21:05.217
or in a language that's more comp-- that's a little easier for them to get along?

0:21:05.217,0:21:08.066
(D. Koller) No, I think that's an excellent question, thank you, Rishikesh.

0:21:09.401,0:21:18.288
So, right now, as Eli said, the translations are solely for the subtitles to the course.

0:21:18.472,0:21:22.728
And we realize that there is many parts of the experience,

0:21:22.728,0:21:32.002
like the assessments, for example, where you still need English in order to do the course completely.

0:21:33.540,0:21:35.906
So, let's see: where do we sit on that?

0:21:35.906,0:21:41.726
Right now, we think that there is still -- in certain courses, you can use Google Translate,

0:21:41.726,0:21:46.577
for example for some of the assessments, because if the questions are short and mostly,

0:21:46.577,0:21:52.757
are just like writing, you know, answering the multiple choice questions or writing a program,

0:21:53.082,0:21:57.433
you don't really need that much English if accompanied by Google Translate,

0:21:57.433,0:21:59.759
really, to do that.

0:21:59.759,0:22:01.729
But that's only a sub-set of courses.

0:22:02.852,0:22:07.079
In order to provide a fully translated course experience,

0:22:07.461,0:22:13.633
we would need to do some really fairly heavy lifting on the product's side, on the platform.

0:22:13.633,0:22:15.562
It's definitely something that we plan to do.

0:22:15.562,0:22:17.048
We haven't had a chance to do that yet:

0:22:17.048,0:22:19.756
we're a small company, there's many things that we'd like to do,

0:22:19.756,0:22:22.014
and we just haven't got around to this one

0:22:22.734,0:22:25.554
but we hope to get around to it soon,

0:22:25.842,0:22:31.422
and so be able to provide people with a much more internationalized course experience,

0:22:31.422,0:22:38.013
where you will also potentially have, you know, forums that are in different languages and, you know,

0:22:38.013,0:22:41.273
hopefully we will be able to do peer-grading in different languages,

0:22:41.273,0:22:46.101
so that people who speak Chinese will grade people who wrote their essays in Chinese and --

0:22:47.262,0:22:48.663
versus other languages.

0:22:48.663,0:22:54.012
and so, there is a lot of things that we still have to do and we hope to be able to get to that soon.

0:22:55.216,0:22:59.385
(22:55 E. Bildner) Thank you. Interesting question here from David. David asks:

0:22:59.385,0:23:01.069
"Will we ever see language courses on Coursera?"

0:23:01.069,0:23:04.606
I mean, you know, I love learning languages, (inaudible) people out there,

0:23:04.606,0:23:07.111
whether it's perfecting their English or different languages.

0:23:07.445,0:23:09.001
Have you got something we'll see in the future?

0:23:09.001,0:23:13.064
(D. Koller) You know, I hope the answer to that is yes.

0:23:13.067,0:23:17.713
We are in some ways, you know, dependent on our university partners

0:23:17.713,0:23:20.898
in which courses they elect to put on the platform.

0:23:20.898,0:23:24.768
Right now, we've not yet had someone jump up and say:

0:23:24.768,0:23:26.655
"I'd like to teach a language course."

0:23:26.655,0:23:30.327
We do have one course which is an English as a Second Language course,

0:23:30.327,0:23:33.759
intended for teachers of English as a second language,

0:23:34.776,0:23:43.137
but we don't have any real language courses and you can give this as a call to all our university partners:

0:23:43.137,0:23:48.347
If you're interested in offering a language course, please let me know and we'd love to have one.

0:23:48.971,0:23:51.619
(E. Bildner) Great and I look forward to that.[br](D. Koller) Yes, and me too.

0:23:52.378,0:23:59.331
(E. Bildner) Let's see. Here is a question from Mahmoud (check). Mahmoud asks:

0:23:59.331,0:24:02.050
"Does Coursera plan to set up any infrastructure

0:24:02.490,0:24:06.459
a distant (check) infrastructure in different countries to (inaudible) in person testing?"

0:24:06.715,0:24:10.907
I guess, you know, the idea being that that would be, you know,

0:24:10.907,0:24:16.912
if that would improve the authentication experience towards earning a verified certificate.

0:24:16.912,0:24:17.991
How do you think about that?

0:24:18.444,0:24:23.130
(D. Koller) I think that this is a very interesting notion,

0:24:23.130,0:24:26.871
and right now, we haven't seen a huge demand for it yet,

0:24:26.871,0:24:33.024
partly because I think the incidences, at this point, of cheating on our platform,

0:24:33.024,0:24:36.498
they are definitely there, but they're not hugely common

0:24:36.498,0:24:43.118
and so, it's not something that people really clamored for.

0:24:43.118,0:24:49.069
But I think as the stakes grow, you know, for example,

0:24:49.069,0:24:52.380
as more and more employers start recognizing these credentials,

0:24:52.380,0:24:57.075
or as universities start accepting them for credit and in some cases, perhaps,

0:24:57.513,0:25:00.614
we'll need to have a higher level of academic integrity,

0:25:00.614,0:25:03.219
at which point we might explore this possibility.

0:25:04.315,0:25:13.660
(E. Bildner) Great, thank you. Let's see here. So Christian (check) asks:

0:25:14.049,0:25:18.579
"How do we plan to give, can foster the strength of credentials."

0:25:18.601,0:25:23.166
So you own a verified certificate, you want to use it to improve your job--

0:25:23.166,0:25:28.275
to improve your carreer prospects, for getting any jobs, how are we working to improve that?

0:25:28.275,0:25:34.587
(D. Koller) Yeah. So we actually have an effort here at Coursera on what we call "credential value,"

0:25:34.587,0:25:39.388
which is really intended to address exactly that question, Christian, so thank you for that,

0:25:39.845,0:25:46.101
of demonstrating more broadly the value of our credentials to a number of constituencies:

0:25:46.101,0:25:50.879
to our learners, to employers, to educational institutions.

0:25:51.970,0:25:53.778
So we've done a number of things:

0:25:54.261,0:25:58.583
First is, for example, we've had a partnership with LinkedIn

0:25:58.583,0:26:02.473
that allows us -- that allows our learners via the click of a button

0:26:02.473,0:26:08.977
to post their credential on LinkedIn, so that employers can see that

0:26:08.977,0:26:14.316
and know that this person has achieved a lot of mastery in a very rigorous academic topic.

0:26:14.808,0:26:21.903
We're working with employers to recognize the value of our courses

0:26:21.903,0:26:26.887
and somehow, many employers have expressed their interest in using this for internal training

0:26:26.887,0:26:34.216
as well as have told us that they are excited about employee --

0:26:34.216,0:26:37.076
perspective of employees who come in with that type of credential.

0:26:37.432,0:26:42.377
One of our university partners, Duke University, recently did a survey among employers

0:26:42.377,0:26:47.996
in their geographical basin in North Carolina and discovered that, I think,

0:26:47.996,0:26:55.589
over 50% of employers are -- would be -- would consider the completion of one of the MOOCs

0:26:55.589,0:26:58.688
as a strong factor in hiring decision.

0:26:58.688,0:27:01.696
And so we're trying to encourage that as well.

0:27:02.423,0:27:08.716
And then, really, just making sure that our courses are strong and rigorous

0:27:08.716,0:27:13.677
and of high academic quality is, I think, eventually -- and it's already starting to happen --

0:27:15.227,0:27:22.215
the value of those will become clear just because of market forces.

0:27:22.561,0:27:28.829
The project-based courses, which allow students, for example in those specializations,

0:27:28.829,0:27:35.545
to create an artifact, to demonstrate mastery in terms of applying skills to a real world problem,

0:27:35.545,0:27:42.039
I think, will really help reinforce the fact that our learners emerge from a really valuable use of skills.

0:27:42.481,0:27:48.541
(E. Bildner) Thanks, Daphne. I see a couple of questions or comments on the (inaudible) tool, about --

0:27:48.541,0:27:52.050
specifically about, very specific GTC-related stuff.

0:27:52.050,0:27:55.897
So just remind once again, we'll take a couple more questions for Daphne

0:27:55.897,0:27:58.960
and then Sébastien and I will field the bunch of questions

0:27:58.960,0:28:03.807
that are specifically about the Translator Community and we'll let Daphne get on her day,

0:28:03.807,0:28:09.500
to try improve Coursera and do other things that all you folks are asking about.

0:28:09.500,0:28:14.691
So I guess, a couple more questions for Daphne. Interesting question here from Catalin,

0:28:15.060,0:28:17.573
who asks, you know, if there are any plans to allow

0:28:17.573,0:28:22.462
non universities and non institutions to create courses on Coursera, I guess, more broadly,

0:28:22.462,0:28:27.797
how are we thinking about building up a diversity of courses on the platform?

0:28:28.497,0:28:34.400
(D. Koller) So, right now, we're focused on working with our university partners

0:28:34.400,0:28:38.223
and some non-university partners that are offering mostly contents

0:28:38.223,0:28:41.434
in teacher professional development (check).

0:28:41.434,0:28:46.773
That is not because we believe that there is no good education to be had elsewhere.

0:28:46.773,0:28:52.437
So we know that there is great teachers to be had at institutions that are not among our partners as well,

0:28:52.437,0:28:57.334
it's just, you know, people out there in the world will not affiliate with any educational institution. (check)

0:28:57.675,0:29:02.846
So, we think -- I think it's great, Catalin, that you're producing your own course

0:29:02.846,0:29:04.816
and making it available to people.

0:29:05.646,0:29:16.661
We are -- we came into this with a model of having a very highly curated platform

0:29:16.661,0:29:21.529
rather than a more YouTube-like model that has anyone being able to upload content.

0:29:21.779,0:29:27.934
So, in order for us to maintain that level of curation, we would have to go and, you know,

0:29:27.934,0:29:33.863
examine the courses of people like you and evaluate them for quality and academic rigor,

0:29:33.863,0:29:40.145
and so on and so forth, and I'm sure we'd find some really amazing gems if we did that,

0:29:40.145,0:29:46.444
but we just don't have the capacity to do that level of screening,

0:29:46.799,0:29:56.464
nor do we have the ability to train a much larger number of instructors in the use of our platform

0:29:56.464,0:30:02.278
and in what we consider to be the best practices for high-quality content, and so on,

0:30:02.621,0:30:06.471
and so, I'm sure we're missing some really amazing things right now,

0:30:06.471,0:30:09.287
but as we're trying to, you know, build thing out,

0:30:09.287,0:30:15.789
it's better for us to maintain this somewhat narrow level of focus and hopefully in the future,

0:30:15.789,0:30:19.176
be able to broaden out to a larger number of providers.

0:30:19.657,0:30:22.494
(E. Bildner) Great, thanks. Maybe we can take one more question for Daphne.

0:30:23.371,0:30:25.666
It seems like a lot of people are interested in knowing

0:30:25.666,0:30:29.213
whether Coursera's certified courses are recognized by companies.

0:30:29.213,0:30:33.319
I know you talked about that a little already, but, you know,

0:30:33.319,0:30:35.950
have we seen any examples of companies saying, you know:

0:30:35.950,0:30:41.150
"If you take this course, you'll have an advantage in some way, either internally or --

0:30:41.150,0:30:43.879
what have we seen there with companies and Coursera?

0:30:43.879,0:30:47.719
(D. Koller) So, you know, the company is only 2-years old,

0:30:47.720,0:30:52.850
which is kind of hard to believe, given the amount of interest that we've seen and the --

0:30:52.858,0:30:57.635
and the amazing community that we've been able to build up, including yourselves,

0:30:58.205,0:31:05.756
but it's a relatively young company, with maybe only about a year's worth of actual "graduates,"

0:31:05.756,0:31:08.813
if you will, from courses, a year and half at the most,

0:31:10.214,0:31:19.271
and so, it takes a while for the market to catch up with the value of a particular form of education,

0:31:19.271,0:31:25.325
to recognize that yes, this is like -- this education provides real value

0:31:25.325,0:31:33.515
and the learners who emerge from this are, you know, really qualified to do what they claim they can do.

0:31:33.523,0:31:36.637
Nevertheless, even with that short time frame,

0:31:36.637,0:31:40.790
we've already seen significant recognition of these credentials by employers.

0:31:40.790,0:31:43.640
I've mentioned the Duke University study a moment ago,

0:31:44.309,0:31:48.093
that had surveyed several hundred employers in North Carolina,

0:31:48.429,0:31:51.729
and importantly, this was not surveyed on, for example,

0:31:51.732,0:31:57.586
here in the San Francisco Bay area of, you know, tech-savvy employers,

0:31:57.586,0:32:02.179
all of whom are sort of familiar with internet technologies and so on,

0:32:02.179,0:32:06.642
this was in a different part of the country, with a very diverse range of employers,

0:32:07.490,0:32:13.150
from very different sectors, and nevertheless, we see a very large fraction of them

0:32:13.150,0:32:16.037
-- I don't remember the exact number, I think 50 to 60% who said that

0:32:16.037,0:32:24.241
they will recognize the validity of these credentials in terms of preferring to --

0:32:24.986,0:32:27.797
treating these candidates in some preferen --

0:32:27.798,0:32:31.834
in some way preferentially recognizing they're bringing something that you need to the table.

0:32:32.020,0:32:38.710
And so, people are starting to see a very significant uptake on the value of these credentials,

0:32:38.710,0:32:42.799
and I think, in a year, this question probably would be asked (inaudible).

0:32:43.915,0:32:46.103
(E. Bildner) OK. Well, Daphne, I just want to thank you again,

0:32:46.103,0:32:50.320
I don't know if you have any heartening words for the GTC friends we have with us today.

0:32:51.218,0:32:55.055
( D. Koller) Sure, so, you know, I've already said this at the very beginning,

0:32:55.055,0:32:59.715
but I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you all again.

0:33:00.396,0:33:05.977
You have already 9 courses that have been translate

0:33:05.977,0:33:08.882
as well as the many others that I'm sure you'll contribute

0:33:08.882,0:33:14.440
towards making a hugely important dent in the issues of accessibility

0:33:14.440,0:33:21.433
to the vast majority of this world population that -- for whom English is not their native language.

0:33:22.382,0:33:28.712
So we're very, very grateful for your efforts, and also grateful for the efforts of Eli and Sébastien

0:33:28.725,0:33:32.765
and our translation partners for helping you make that possible.

0:33:32.765,0:33:33.890
So thank you very much.