The leader of a company known for light-hearted lessons from celebrities is moving into more academic topics—and starting to offer college credit.
Aaron Rasmussen, co-founder of MasterClass, this week announced the launch of Outlier, an online provider of university-level courses. While MasterClass offers taped lectures on cooking by chef Gordon Ramsay, guitar shredding by musician Carlos Santana and creative writing by youth fiction author Judy Blume, the first Outlier courses teach calculus I and introductory psychology.
Although the Outlier topics are decidedly more staid, they may serve a higher purpose. That’s because Rasmussen thinks he can help students reduce the cost of earning degrees.
Outlier joins the ranks of several other online course providers that market their a-la-carte classes (rather than complete degree programs) as more affordable options for earning college credit despite having no accreditation of their own.