The online video instruction company Udemy on Tuesday made a pair of announcements, touting the combined revenue of $5 million that its top ten instructors have raked in and rolling out a new "Summer of Teaching" grant that it hopes will lure in even more course leaders.
"Udemy has a great return-on-investment for instructors, financially speaking, particularly as compared with traditional adult learning environments," Dr. Heinesen, the director for teaching and learning at Udemy, said in a press release. "When you consider the number of hours that go into a typical semester-long, in-person course, you’ll find many non-tenured instructors earn little more than minimum wage."
The new grant will provide an instructor with a $5,000 incentive in addition to the revenues the bring in from their Udemy content.
Additionally, Udemy revealed the identities of its top eight highest-earning instructors by subject category. According to the release, they are:
- Web Development - Victor Bastos $452,985.78; 7,502 students (teaching since 11/11)
- Photography - Ken Schultz $65,003.37; 4,157 students (teaching since 6/12)
- Graphic Design - Tara Roskell $30,371.92; 3,702 students (teaching since 7/12)
- Business Software - Huw Collingbourne $128,729.83; 4,214 students (teaching since 7/11)
- IT Certifications and Training - Chris Bryant $260,822; 13,000 students (teaching since 7/11)
- Yoga - Dashama $43,599.59; 981 students (teaching since 7/12)
- Video, Animation, and Multimedia - Miguel Hernandez $146,512.81; 2,882 students (teaching since 7/11)
- Writing and Content Development - Len Smith $59,532.72; 2,926 students (teaching since 1/12)