Course Hero officials at the time said that they responded aggressively to complaints brought under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, but that “as a user-generated content site, we don’t review the content … Unfortunately, at times we recognize that users may submit materials that they don’t have rights to.”
Building out the website’s resource-sharing platform remains Course Hero’s top priority. But its other two “big bets,” Grauer says, are (1) using the vast data at its disposal (in terms of the sorts of content and help students are looking for) to create its own content and (2) building out its portal for educators.
Course Hero purports to be all about helping students get better grades by giving them access to course materials and tutors. However, both contributors/tutors and clients describe this company as villainous.
Course Hero made news in business and technology publications last week by becoming the latest education technology company to see its value soar past $1 billion. This column explores an issue altogether different from Course Hero's valuation: Has the company become a valued player in the learning ecosystem in the eyes of faculty members?
How do I view a study document, Textbook Solution and Explanation, or Q&A in its entirety?
How do I add a course to my dashboard? Why would I want to add a course?
Course Hero was founded in 2006, one of a slew of websites that enabled students to post and download syllabi, worksheets, essays, previous exams and other course materials. Among its differentiators was that the materials were all tied to specific courses.
Grauer, the Course Hero CEO and co-founder, says the company combats potential academic misconduct in every way it can. Any time it identifies cases of abuse, "or where it becomes exceedingly clear that there is abuse," site monitors "remove that content.".
Oakley failed an early test in a course on circuits, she says, because she didn't understand a concept the professor had never introduced in class. Other students didn't fail -- and when she pressed, she learned that most of them had had an old exam of his that revealed the trick.
But its other two “big bets,” Grauer says, are (1) using the vast data at its disposal (in terms of the sorts of content and help students are looking for) to create its own content and (2) building out its portal for educators.
The company also two years ago started a fellowship program through the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, which in 2019 awarded grants of $30,000 to four tenure-track instructors and grants of $20,000 to four adjuncts or instructors off the tenure track.