The Teaching Company,

doing business as A trade name, trading name, or business name, is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is a "fictitious" business name. Registering the fictitious name w ...

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 East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography an ...

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 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 class ...

, 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, 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 *

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 *

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 * Phillip Cary * Thomas Childers * David Christian *

Eric H. Cline Eric H. Cline (born September 1, 1960) is an author, historian, archaeologist, and professor of ancient history and archaeology at The George Washington University (GWU) in Washington, D.C., where he is Professor of Classics and Anthropology a ...

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 Photographer ...

* 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 Univ ...

* Philip Daileader *

Dennis Dalton Dennis Gilmore Dalton is a professor of political science from the United States. From 1969 until 2008, Dalton was the Ann Whitney Olin Professor of Political Science at Barnard College, Columbia University. Dalton's work had a particular focus on t ...

* Leo Damrosch * Daniel Drezner * William Dunham *

Malcolm David Eckel Malcolm David Eckel is Professor of Religion and Director of the Institute for Philosophy and Religion at Boston University, US. Early life and education Eckel received a B.A. from Harvard University, a B.A. and M.A. from Oxford University. Wh ...

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 scient ...

* Bart D. Ehrman *

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 Geo ...

* Brian M. Fagan * J. Rufus Fears * Alexei Filippenko * 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 Anthony A. Goodman (born January 11, 1940) is an American breast cancer surgeon and author. He is Adjunct Professor of Medicine at Montana State University WWAMI Medical Sciences Program and is Affiliate Professor in the Department of Biological ...

* Robert Greenberg * Annie Griffiths * Patrick Grim * Allen C. Guelzo * Richard J. Haier * James Hall * Ken Hammond *

Kenneth W. Harl Kenneth W. Harl is an American scholar, author, and classicist. He received his B.A. in Classics and History at Trinity College, and his M.A. and PhD at Yale University. He was a Professor of History at Tulane University in New Orleans until his re ...

Donald J. Harreld Donald James Harreld is a former professor of history with a dual appointment in European studies at Brigham Young University (BYU). Harreld specialized in the early modern history of the Netherlands. He was also the executive director of the Si ...

* 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, wher ...

Peter H. Irons Peter H. Irons (born August 11, 1940) is an American political activist, civil rights attorney, legal scholar, and professor emeritus of political science. He has written many books on the Supreme Court of the United States, U.S. Supreme Court an ...

Luke Timothy Johnson Luke Timothy Johnson (born November 20, 1943) is an American New Testament scholar and historian of early Christianity. He is the Robert W. Woodruff Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins at Candler School of Theology and a Senior Fello ...

* Ed Kashi * Douglas Kellner * Eileen Kennedy-Moore * Alan Charles Kors *

Joseph Koterski Joseph Koterski, S.J. (November 28, 1953 – August 9, 2021) was an American Jesuit priest, philosopher, author, and professor at Fordham University in the Bronx, New York. Biography In 1976, Koterski graduated with a H.A.B. degree in Classics ...

Richard Kurin Richard Kurin (born November 27, 1950), an American cultural anthropologist, museum official and author, is the Acting Provost and Under Secretary for Museums and Research at the Smithsonian Institution. He is a key member of the senior team managi ...

* Edward Larson * Mark Leary *

Seth Lerer Seth Lerer (born 1955) is an American scholar who specializes in historical analyses of the English language, in addition to critical analyses of the works of several authors, particularly Geoffrey Chaucer. He is a Distinguished Professor of Liter ...

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 Don Lincoln (born 1964) is an American physicist, author, host of the YouTube channel Fermilab, and science communicator. He conducts research in particle physics at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, and was an adjunct professor of physics ...

* Jodi Magness * Clancy Martin * John McWhorter * John Medina *

Michael Melford Michael Melford may refer to: * Michael Melford (journalist), English sports journalist * Michael Melford (photographer), American photographer * Michael Melford (rugby union), English rugby union player {{hndis, Melford, Michael ...

* Andrew B. Newberg * Ashton Nichols *

Steven Novella Steven Paul Novella (born July 29, 1964) is an American clinical neurologist and associate professor at Yale University School of Medicine. Novella is best known for his involvement in the skeptical movement as a host of '' The Skeptics' Guid ...

* Sherwin B. Nuland *

Joseph Nye Joseph Samuel Nye Jr. (born January 19, 1937) is an American political scientist. He and Robert Keohane co-founded the international relations theory of neoliberalism, which they developed in their 1977 book ''Power and Interdependence''. Togethe ...

* Robert A. Oden * Pamela Radcliff * Mark Ravina * Richard Restak * Daniel N. Robinson * Rick Roderick *

Jeffrey Rosen Jeffrey Rosen may refer to: * Jeffrey Rosen (legal academic) (born 1964), U.S. academic and commentator on legal affairs * Jeffrey Rosen (businessman), American billionaire businessman * Jeffrey A. Rosen (born 1958), U.S. lawyer who served as Depu ...

David B. Ruderman David B. Ruderman is the Joseph Meyerhoff Professor of Modern Jewish History at the University of Pennsylvania. From 1994 to 2014 he was the Ella Darivoff Director of Penn's Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, where he also held ...

* 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-year ...

* Benjamin Schumacher *

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 *

Michael Shermer Michael Brant Shermer (born September 8, 1954) is an American science writer, historian of science, executive director of The Skeptics Society, and founding publisher of '' Skeptic'' magazine, a publication focused on investigating pseudoscientif ...

Tom Shippey Thomas Alan Shippey (born 9 September 1943) is a British medievalist, a retired scholar of Middle and Old English literature as well as of modern fantasy and science fiction. He is considered one of the world's leading academic experts on the ...

* 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 Jennifer Simonetti-Bryan is deemed the best American wine educator, consultant and Master of Wine.mastersofwine.orgMasters of Wine, Jennifer Simonetti-Bryan profileRobinson, Jancis, JancisRobinson.com (September 6, 2008/ref>Weekes, Claire, ''Harpers ...

* Robert C. Solomon *

Richard B. Spence Richard Brian Spence (b. ''ca.'' 1951)"Spence, Richard B. 1951-."
''

Michael Starbird Michael P. Starbird (born 1948) is a Professor of Mathematics and a University of Texas Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Texas at Austin. He received his B.A from Pomona College and his Ph.D. ...

* Jonathan Steinberg * David R. Stone * Steven Strogatz * Michael Sugrue * James Tanton * Timothy Taylor * David Thorburn *

Neil deGrasse Tyson Neil deGrasse Tyson ( or ; born October 5, 1958) is an American astrophysicist, author, and science communicator. Tyson studied at Harvard University, the University of Texas at Austin, and Columbia University. From 1991 to 1994, he was a p ...

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 pres ...

* Indre Viskontas * Irwin Weil * Arnold Weinstein *

Eric R. Williams Eric R. Williams is an American screenwriter, professor, Cinematic virtual reality (cine-VR), cinematic virtual reality director, and new media storyteller. He is known for developing alternative narrative and documentary techniques that take adv ...

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 ...

* Richard Wolfson * Molly Worthen *

Michael E. Wysession Michael E. Wysession (born December 6, 1961) is a professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, and author of numerous science textbooks published by Pearson Education, Prentice Hall and the Savvas Learning C ...

Michael Yamashita Michael Yamashita is a Japanese-American photographer. Early life and education Born in 1949 in San Francisco, California, and raised in Montclair, New Jersey. Yamashita graduated from Montclair Academy in 1967. He graduated from Wesleyan Unive ...

* 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, ma ...

s such as

Coursera Coursera Inc. () is a U.S.-based massive open online course provider founded in 2012 by Stanford University computer science professors Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller. Coursera works with universities and other organizations to offer online cour ...

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 capac ...

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 prima ...

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 antagonism ...

, 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