The Great Courses
The Great Courses is the brand applied by The Teaching Company, a Chantilly, Virginia company, to its recordings of lectures by university professors and high-school teachers. It sells the courses in CD, MP3, DVD, and MPEG-4 formats.[1]
[edit] Background
The company was founded in 1990 by Thomas M. Rollins, former Chief Counsel of the United States Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources and a graduate of Harvard Law School, who noticed the effectiveness of videotapes in learning during his study.[2] He initially tried to create a government program to produce tapes for the public, but was unable to do so because of legal restrictions.[3] After leaving office, he sought out top professors to create courses for sale to the public.[4]
As of 2011 the company offers more than 350 courses, which span more than 5,000 hours of content across several subject categories: business and economics, fine arts and music, ancient and medieval history, modern history, literature and English language, philosophy and intellectual history, religion, science and mathematics, and social sciences.
Course offerings are targeted to adult education and life-learners, typical of what would be seen in a university or college undergraduate program for non-majors; there is also a series for high school students.[1][2] Courses include supplemental booklets with outlines of the individual lectures, recommended reading lists, general bibliographies, and questions to consider. Full printed transcripts are also available.
Courses are available in many formats including CD, DVD, and audio and video downloads.[1]
On October 2, 2006, the company was acquired by Brentwood Associates, a private equity investment firm.[5]
[edit] Partial list of instructors
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ a b c . "The Teaching Company". The Catalyst. 2006-04-21. http://www.thecatalyst.org/resource/2006/04/21/The-Teaching-Company/. Retrieved 2009-06-21.
- ^ a b Bales, Kate (February 16, 1994). "Ivy League Courses for Price of a Video". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1994/02/16/news/16iht-videduc.html. Retrieved 2009-06-21.[dead link]
- ^ According to the Kate Bales article, several states forbid federal intervention in education to develop the concept of home education.
- ^ Teaching Company website - Our history
- ^ "Berkery, Noyes & Co. represents The Teaching Company in its sale to Brentwood Associates", October 3, 2006.
[edit] References
- Linda Mathews (1996-03-31). "Adult Education; No Tests and You Can Hit Rewind". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A06E6D61539F932A05750C0A960958260.
- Kendra Nordin (2003-01-28). "From the college lecture hall to your headphones". Christian Science Monitor. http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0128/p15s01-lecs.htm.
