The Teaching Company, doing business as Wondrium, is a media production company that produces educational, video and audio content in the form of courses, documentaries, series under two content brands - Wondrium and The Great Courses. The company distributes their content globally through a mix of Direct to Consumer models such as their streaming service Wondrium.com and TheGreatCourses.com,as well distribution through third party platforms like Audible, Amazon and Roku. Wondrium, founded by Tom Rollins in 1990, is currently owned by Brentwood Associates PE and is headquartered in Chantilly,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

History

In 1990, the company was founded by Thomas M. Rollins, former Chief Counsel of the

United States Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources The United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) generally considers matters relating to these issues. Its jurisdiction also extends beyond these issues to include several more specific areas, as defined by Sena ...

. Rollins had been inspired by a 10-hour videotaped lecture series by

Irving Younger Irving Younger (born Irving Yoskowitz; November 30, 1932 – March 13, 1988) was an American lawyer, law professor, judge, and writer. He is well known among lawyers and law students for his energetic talks on effective trial advocacy and legal ...

he watched while at

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each c ...

, and he began recruiting professors and experts to record lectures. Rollins invested all his money in the company, at one point using up all his credit cards, selling almost all his suits from his Washington days, and living in an attic. Because his company was for-profit, Rollins adapted course offerings to please customers; he threw out one course because the professor constantly insulted the viewers during lectures, and he asked some other professors to re-record segments that had unsupported political commentary. By 2000, the company was well established, with about $20 million (USD) in annual revenue. In October 2006, the company was acquired by

Brentwood Associates Brentwood Associates is a private equity firm in the US with groups focusing on leveraged buyout. The firm, which is based in Los Angeles, was founded in 1972. Their most recent fund was a $1.15bn fund raised in 2017. The venture capital group ...

, a private equity investment firm. In 2011 the firm had 200 employees. In 2016, the company began offering a streaming service, charging $20 (USD) per month, with on-line access to about 280 courses from its catalogue. In April 2021, the company announced the rebranding of its global streaming platform from the Great Courses Plus to Wondrium, along with new licensing agreements to include content from

Kino Lorber Kino Lorber is an international film distribution company based in New York City. Founded in 1977, it was originally known as Kino International until it was acquired by and merged into Lorber HT Digital in 2009. It specializes in art house films ...

, MagellanTV, and

Craftsy Craftsy, previously named Bluprint, is an American subscription video on demand service owned by TN Marketing. The service features online courses and other forms of video content surrounding crafts, hobbies, and lifestyle topics, as well as an o ...

Courses and instructors

As of December 2019, the company lists the following categories and numbers of courses: * Better Living (187) * Economics & Finance (27) * Fine Arts (31) * High School (39) * History (229) * Literature & Language (109) * Mathematics (48) * Music (36) * Philosophy & Intellectual History (120) * Professional (75) * Religion (83) * Science (191) The following academics, among others, have authored courses. This list covers only instructors about whom an article exists. * Gregory S. Aldrete *

Patrick Allitt Patrick N. Allitt (born 1956) is a British historian and academic who serves as the Cahoon Family Professor of American History at Emory University. He has written seven books on religious history, education, politics and environmental history ...

Stephen Alvarez Stephen Alvarez (born 1965) is an American photojournalist. He is founder and president of the Ancient Art Archive, a global initiative to record, preserve, and share high-resolution images of ancient artwork. Throughout his career, he has produced ...

* Dorsey Armstrong *

Kenneth R. Bartlett Kenneth R. Bartlett (born 1948) is a Renaissance historian, author, and professor at the University of Toronto, where he earned his Ph.D. degree in 1978. He was editor of ''Renaissance and Reformation/Renaissance et Réforme'' from 1985 until 1990 ...

Arthur T. Benjamin Arthur T. Benjamin (born March 19, 1961) is an American mathematician who specializes in combinatorics. Since 1989 he has been a professor of mathematics at Harvey Mudd College, where he is the Smallwood Family Professor of Mathematics. He is ...

* Jonah Berger * Ira Block * Bob Brier * Edward B. Burger *

Sean M. Carroll Sean Michael Carroll (born October 5, 1966) is an American theoretical physicist and philosopher who specializes in quantum mechanics, gravity, and cosmology. He is (formerly) a research professor in the Walter Burke Institute for Theoretical ...

* Phillip Cary * Thomas Childers * David Christian * Eric H. Cline *

Jodi Cobb Jodi Cobb is an American photographer, living in Washington, D.C. She was named White House Photographer of the Year in 1985, and has received awards from Pictures of the Year International, World Press Photo and the National Press Photographers ...

* William R. Cook *

Anne Curzan Anne Curzan is a professor of English at the University of Michigan since 2012 and dean of its College of Literature, Science, and the Arts since 2019. Biography Curzan received a bachelor of arts in linguistics ''summa cum laude'' from Yale Un ...

Philip Daileader Philip Daileader is a professor of history at The College of William & Mary in Virginia. He was born in Queens, New York, on October 25, 1968, and grew up in Central Islip, New York. He attended St. Anthony's High School in Smithtown and then S ...

* Dennis Dalton * Leo Damrosch * Daniel Drezner * William Dunham * Malcolm David Eckel *

Sylvia Earle Sylvia Alice Earle (née Reade; born August 30, 1935) is an American marine biologist, oceanographer, explorer, author, and lecturer. She has been a National Geographic explorer-in-residence since 1998. Earle was the first female chief scien ...

Bart D. Ehrman Bart Denton Ehrman (born 1955) is an American New Testament scholar focusing on textual criticism of the New Testament, the historical Jesus, and the origins and development of early Christianity. He has written and edited 30 books, includin ...

John Esposito John Louis Esposito (born May 19, 1940) is an Italian-American academic, professor of Middle Eastern and religious studies, and scholar of Islamic studies, who serves as Professor of Religion, International Affairs, and Islamic Studies at Ge ...

Brian M. Fagan Brian Murray Fagan (born 1 August 1936) is a prolific British author of popular archaeology books and a professor emeritus of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Biography Fagan was born in England where he received hi ...

* J. Rufus Fears *

Alexei Filippenko Alexei Vladimir "Alex" Filippenko (; born July 25, 1958) is an American astrophysicist and professor of astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley. Filippenko graduated from Dos Pueblos High School in Goleta, California. He received a ...

* Jane Friedman * Sylvester James Gates *

Eamonn Gearon Eamonn Gearon is an author, Arabist, and analyst. Gearon's career goal has been the development of understanding and insight between the Greater Middle East and the West. Gearon is best known for his book ''The Sahara: A Cultural History'' (2011) ...

* Steven L. Goldman * Anthony A. Goodman * Robert Greenberg * Annie Griffiths * Patrick Grim * Allen C. Guelzo *

Richard J. Haier Richard J. Haier is an American psychologist who has researched a neural basis for human intelligence, psychometrics, general intelligence, and sex and intelligence. Haier is currently a Professor Emeritus in the Pediatric Neurology Division of ...

* James Hall * Ken Hammond * Kenneth W. Harl * Donald J. Harreld * Robert Hazen * Craig Heller * Kathleen Higgins *

James Hynes James Hynes (born August 23, 1955) is an American novelist. Biography Hynes was born in Okemos, Michigan,''Contemporary Authors Online'', Thomson Gale, 2004. and grew up in Big Rapids, Michigan. He currently resides in Austin, Texas, where ...

* Peter H. Irons * Luke Timothy Johnson * Ed Kashi * Douglas Kellner * Eileen Kennedy-Moore *

Alan Charles Kors Alan Charles Kors (born July 18, 1943) is Henry Charles Lea Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Pennsylvania, where he taught the intellectual history of the 17th and 18th centuries. He has received both the Lindback Foundation Awar ...

* Joseph Koterski * Richard Kurin * Edward Larson *

Mark Leary Mark Richard Leary, Ph.D. (born November 29, 1954) is a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University (Durham, North Carolina). His research has made significant contributions to the fields of social psychology and personality psycholo ...

* Seth Lerer *

Amy-Jill Levine {{Infobox academic , name = Amy-Jill Levine , image = , alt = , caption = , birth_name = , birth_date = {{birth year and age, 1956 , birth_place = , death_date = , death_place = , nationality = American , other_names = A. J. ...

* Allan Lichtman * Don Lincoln * Jodi Magness *

Clancy Martin Clancy Martin (born May 7, 1967) is a Canadian philosopher, novelist, and essayist. His interests focuses on 19th century philosophy, existentialism, moral psychology, philosophy and literature, ethics & behavioral health, applied and professiona ...

* John McWhorter * John Medina * Michael Melford * Andrew B. Newberg *

Ashton Nichols Brooks Ashton Nichols (born 1953) is the Walter E. Beach ’56 Distinguished Chair Emeritus in Sustainable Studies and Professor of English Language and Literature Emeritus at Dickinson College. His interests are in literature, contemporary ec ...

* Steven Novella * Sherwin B. Nuland * Joseph Nye * Robert A. Oden * Pamela Radcliff * Mark Ravina * Richard Restak *

Daniel N. Robinson Daniel Nicholas Robinson (March 9, 1937 – September 17, 2018) was an American psychologist who was a professor of psychology at Georgetown University and later in his life became a fellow of the faculty of philosophy at Oxford University. C ...

* Rick Roderick * Jeffrey Rosen * David B. Ruderman * Robert Sapolsky *

Joel Sartore Joel Sartore is an American photographer focusing on conservation photography, speaker, author, teacher, and a long-time contributor to ''National Geographic'' magazine. He is the head of The National Geographic ''Photo Ark'' project, a 25-yea ...

Benjamin Schumacher Benjamin "Ben" Schumacher is an American theoretical physicist, working mostly in the field of quantum information theory. He discovered a way of interpreting quantum states as information. He came up with a way of compressing the information in ...

John Searle John Rogers Searle (; born July 31, 1932) is an American philosopher widely noted for contributions to the philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, and social philosophy. He began teaching at UC Berkeley in 1959, and was Willis S. and Mari ...

Jeremy Shearmur Jeremy Shearmur (born 13 June 1948) is a British former reader in philosophy in the School of Philosophy at the Australian National University, who retired at the end of 2013. He is currently an emeritus fellow, lives in Dumfries, Scotland, a ...

* Michael Shermer * Tom Shippey * Seth Shostak *

Ronald K. Siegel Ronald Keith Siegel (January 2, 1943 – March 24, 2019) was an American psychopharmacologist who was an associate research professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles. Siegel ...

* Jeremy Silman * Jennifer Simonetti-Bryan * Robert C. Solomon * Richard B. Spence * Michael Starbird *

Jonathan Steinberg Jonathan Steinberg (8 March 1934 – 4 March 2021) was the Walter H. Annenberg Professor of European History Emeritus and Chair of the Department of History at the University of Pennsylvania. Career Steinberg received his undergraduate degree ...

David R. Stone David Russell Stone (born 1968) is an American military historian and the William Eldridge Odom Professor of Russian Studies in the Strategy and Policy Department at the U.S. Naval War College. Stone received a Bachelor of Arts degree in histo ...

* Steven Strogatz * Michael Sugrue * James Tanton * Timothy Taylor * David Thorburn * Neil deGrasse Tyson *

Elizabeth Vandiver Elizabeth Vandiver (born 1956) is an American classical scholar. She is the Clement Biddle Penrose Professor of Latin and Classics at Whitman College, having previously taught at the University of Maryland, College Park. She received the presti ...

* Indre Viskontas * Irwin Weil * Arnold Weinstein *

Eric R. Williams Eric R. Williams is an American screenwriter, professor, cinematic virtual reality director, and new media storyteller. He is known for developing alternative narrative and documentary techniques that take advantage of digital technologies.Binst ...

Gary K. Wolfe Gary K. Wolfe (born Gary Kent Wolfe in 1946) is an American science fiction editor, critic and biographer. He is an emeritus Professor of Humanities in Roosevelt University's Evelyn T. Stone College of Professional Studies. Life Wolfe was bo ...

* Richard Wolfson * Molly Worthen * Michael E. Wysession * Michael Yamashita * David Zarefsky

Business model

Courses are offered on DVD, direct Internet download (video or audio), or streaming. In 2018, the firm's competitors included

MOOC A massive open online course (MOOC ) or an open online course is an online course aimed at unlimited participation and open access via the Web. In addition to traditional course materials, such as filmed lectures, readings, and problem sets, m ...

s such as Coursera and

Khan Academy Khan Academy is an American non-profit educational organization created in 2008 by Sal Khan. Its goal is creating a set of online tools that help educate students. The organization produces short lessons in the form of videos. Its website also i ...

. In 2016, the firm was earning $150 million annually in revenue. The target market for the courses is primarily "lifelong learners". Customers tend to be older professionals and retirees who have had successful careers. As of 2018, the catalog included over 600 different courses, ranging in cost from US$35 to over US$500. The firm sometimes sends recruiters to sit in on the lectures of college professors identified as being good teachers, to assess whether they might be suitable for course development; the best prospects would do a lecture for the Teaching Company, and if enough customers liked what they saw, the company would develop the course. Professors submit detailed outlines for each course, and company personnel would work with them to make sure that each 30 minute lecture was coherent and logical. The production quality of the courses is "a cut above" free courses offered on YouTube, according to a report in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. Chief executive Paul Suijk described ''The Great Courses'' as the "

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...

of learning".

Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...

has been a fan of the series.

Reactions

American conservative analysts described the social science courses offered by The Teaching Company as more suitable to general audiences than what is offered at traditional American

liberal arts college A liberal arts college or liberal arts institution of higher education is a college with an emphasis on undergraduate study in liberal arts and sciences. Such colleges aim to impart a broad general knowledge and develop general intellectual ca ...

s. Noting that the company's audience is not similar to current U.S. college admissions, the indicated result was that the catalog has had less emphasis on issues such as

sexism Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers pri ...

and

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagoni ...

, more common to historical lenses used after the 1960s, to prioritise content that describes "everything the civilization has figured out so far and to discover new things". The conservative analysts further note that the survey format of instruction predominates, with few in-depth courses on Western-specific thinkers or philosophical schools, and more emphasis on covering the fundamentals of a subject, as if it were an introductory college course.

References

Bibliography

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External links

WondriumThe Great Courses
{{Authority control Alternative education Companies based in Fairfax County, Virginia High school course levels Education companies established in 1990 1990 establishments in Virginia Adult education in the United States Subscription video streaming services 2006 mergers and acquisitions