New York University is closing down its for-profit electronic learning operation, NYUonline, and moving some of its curriculum and staff into its School of Continuing and Professional Studies. NYUonline, which was started about three years ago, translated NYU's educational content into online courses. It had been headed by Gordon Macomber, the former president of Macmillan Reference USA.
In establishing the for-profit venture, NYU had hoped to eventually take the company public, but with the worsening economic conditions Macomber said he couldn't see when an IPO would happen. In addition to moving some portions of NYUonline into NYU, Macomber is in the process of divesting the unit's iAuthor, an authoring tool that helps users create multimedia courseware.
The most popular course developed by NYUonline was one for corporations that dealt with how to incorporate e-learning into their training processes. "I still think electronic learning will be a profitable business," Macomber said.
