Yale’s former president to Coursera

The recent president of Yale University has moved to lead a major MOOC platform.  Richard “Rick” Levin will become the new CEO of Coursera.

Anya Kamenetz asked for my thoughts, and I had two.  First, that Levin would be a fine fundraiser.  After all, that’s a primary function for university presidents, and Levin has a great track record of this at Yale.

Second, “He’s also a consulting economist, so he’s probably going to try and solve the xMOOC economic sustainability problem.”  Anya responded:

The money problem is a big one. Coursera’s growth so far has been funded by investment. They have been experimenting with different ways to attract revenue. Advertising, the most obvious choice, would likely be off-putting to students and university partners. At the end of 2012, Coursera announced a recruitment service, where employers would pay for access to users. But this didn’t get much traction.

Let’s see where Levin takes Coursera.  They now have a fascinating combination of talent.