Richard Ludlow and Academic Earth
Venture: Academic Earth
Founder/CEO: Richard Ludlow
Richard Ludlow is the founder and CEO of Academic Earth, a website dedicated to offering free access to university-level lectures and other educational videos and content from several prominent post-secondary institutions in the United States. The site offers lectures on several topics. While several lectures are available free of charge online, Academic Earth serves as a hub for open education, allowing users to ‘grade’ lectures on their content. Although students cannot get credits from this site itself, it is a valuable tool for students and teachers both inside and outside the formal academic system who wish to further their knowledge without spending hours with a search engine. Academic Earth also provides a list of online universities for users who may be interested in obtaining a degree. In order to monetize this venture, Ludlow’s plans for Academic Earth included opportunities for revenue through advertising and sales of tutoring services.
Richard Ludlow, 26, is a Yale graduate and enthusiastic entrepreneur, who delayed his entrance Harvard Business School and a job with McKinsey & Company to focus on the development of Academic Earth. Ludlow holds a BA and MA in Economics and an MBA from Harvard Business School and is no stranger to ventures. Besides Academic Earth, he also founded the non-profit Students for Organ Donation, an organization that seeks to promote registration for organ donation among students.
I was impressed with the quality of the site and the ease of access to academic content, the transparent ability to rate online lectures in order to promote the best content and the redirection to formal institutions for accreditation. I would hope that one day such a venture would graduate to include accreditation, especially for students who may not have the time or means to attend regular classes or be enrolled in conventional distance education.
References
About. (2012). Academic Earth. Retrieved from http://www.academicearth.org/about/
Leiber, N. (2009). America’s Most Promising Social Entrepreneurs. Business Week. Retrieved from: http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/04/0403_social_entrepreneurs/2.htm
Richard Ludlow: Academic Earth – CEO (2011). Biography. Yatedo Beta. Retrieved from http://www.yatedo.com/p/Richard+Ludlow/famous/4c56f00066ae61514a5c7831c982fb77
Richard Ludlow. (2012). CrunchBase. Retrieved from http://www.crunchbase.com/person/richard-ludlow
Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
gillian 9:44 am on June 2, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Despite the fact that sites such as Academic Earth cannot provide accreditation, I do love the idea that the halls of acedemia are being opened to those who may never get a chance to experience them directly. It truly supports the value of lifelong learning.
Denise 3:16 am on June 3, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
It is great to have access to the videos, but I do wonder if they really can claim that they are “Offering free online classes and in-depth online learning,”
denise