Skip to main content
Wednesday, March 27, 2024 | Home

From the Provost

Posted: Wednesday, May 13, 2015

WebEx Session to Discuss Coursera Announcements: May 19

As you are aware, SUNY has a contract with MOOC platform provider Coursera. Coursera has alerted SUNY to a rapid, competitive RFP process to create Specializations, a series of courses leading to a capstone project. Several of our campuses are well positioned to respond by focusing on existing academic content that can be formatted for massive online distribution. The potential impact is significant. Johns Hopkins University has been extremely successful in providing learning opportunities with its Data Science Specialization. There is also an opportunity to generate considerable revenue through the Coursera Specialization Certification process. To encourage creation of content beginning this summer, Coursera has offered the following:

  • Up to $100,000 advance on production costs (to be recouped from Verified Certificate revenue from the specializations)
  • Instructional design, marketing, and project management support
  • Additional production support as needed (graphic design, post production)

The RFPs are very targeted and are currently limited to the following content areas. Detailed information and proposal forms are provided below:

Coursera has also announced that the multinational technology company Splunk will offer a $100,000 grant to a selected Coursera partner to produce a Specialization in Big Data, which will be further supplemented by production support resources by Coursera if desired.

  • Big Data (Splunk) (PDF): learn the key tools and techniques to harness big data.

The announced timeline is as follows:

  • May 25: Expressions of Interest Due
  • June 1: Proposal Submission Deadline
  • June 5: Selection Deadline
  • August 1: Specializations Announcement Date
  • September 15: First Course in Specialization Launches
  • Mid-October: Second Course in Specialization Launches
  • Mid-November: Third Course in Specialization Launches
  • December: Full Specialization Launches

SUNY will host a WebEx conference call on Tuesday, May 19, at 10:00 a.m. for all campuses that intend to express interest in this opportunity. Those who are interested may come to Bulger Communication Center 120 to participate or call in from their home or office phones. Please dial (855) 830-3230 and enter code 232 538 8451. Questions regarding this opportunity may be sent in advance to lisa.stephens@suny.edu.

Loading