0:00:00.390,0:00:04.140
So, how fast will these studies trickle to[br]improvements on

0:00:04.140,0:00:08.331
the MOOC format, or even improvements in[br]education in general?

0:00:08.331,0:00:10.856
Well, pretty fast, I would say.

0:00:10.856,0:00:13.490
To explain this, I'll need to describe how[br]startups work.

0:00:14.770,0:00:17.495
Here's the startup iteration cycle.

0:00:17.495,0:00:22.396
We see that we have a product, such as the[br]Coursera portal for Coursera.

0:00:22.396,0:00:25.272
It can be used to measure all kinds of[br]data.

0:00:25.272,0:00:28.032
That could be via A/B testing, for[br]instance,

0:00:28.032,0:00:30.447
as I just explained, or maybe using other

0:00:30.447,0:00:33.690
metrics, enrollment in a course or the[br]click-through

0:00:33.690,0:00:36.442
on emails that have been sent to the[br]students.

0:00:36.442,0:00:38.458
Armed with all this data, the startup

0:00:38.458,0:00:40.978
engineers can learn about areas that would[br]need

0:00:40.978,0:00:46.230
improvement, and they can generate new[br]ideas and things to do and build that in.

0:00:46.230,0:00:48.830
The whole cycle is not groundbreaking,[br]sure.

0:00:48.830,0:00:50.230
I'm not claiming it is.

0:00:50.230,0:00:53.280
The difference is that this cycle is not[br]bothered

0:00:53.280,0:00:56.320
by the usual very slow methodology of[br]education research.

0:00:57.720,0:01:01.685
Sure, this data can be spun off into[br]papers, and that's what education

0:01:01.685,0:01:06.312
researchers have to do, are currently[br]doing, because that's what their job is.

0:01:06.312,0:01:08.284
But, by the time those studies are

0:01:08.284,0:01:11.140
published, the engineers will have already[br]gone

0:01:11.140,0:01:13.860
through several iterations of this cycle,[br]and

0:01:13.860,0:01:17.124
the newly published results will already[br]be obsolete.

0:01:17.124,0:01:21.188
They'll, they will already have improved[br]the platform.

0:01:21.188,0:01:25.878
The big, big, difference with five years[br]ago is that now education is the next area

0:01:25.878,0:01:28.692
where software engineers can make an[br]impact, and

0:01:28.692,0:01:31.704
hundreds are working on making it more[br]efficient.

0:01:31.704,0:01:36.480
This is completely new, and you can expect[br]it to show effects very, very fast.

0:01:37.530,0:01:40.282
Just as for many other industries that you[br]know of,

0:01:40.282,0:01:43.690
such as the book industry, the travel[br]industry, et cetera.