Week in Edtech 12/17/25: Coursera–Udemy Merger Shakes Online Learning, AI Platform Wars Heat Up, Purdue Mandates AI Skills, Higher Ed Faces Consolidation, and More! Feat. Isabelle Hau of Stanford Accelerator for Learning!
1 hour 11 minutes Posted Dec 26, 2025 at 1:00 pm.
] Coursera and Udemy announce a $2.5B all-stock merger forming a 175M-learner platform [00:00:30] Michael Horn on Coursera’s growing leverage over university partners [00:02:08] Ben Kornell explores Coursera’s potential to become a global university [00:05:40] Dhawal Shah explains...
Coursera and Udemy announce a $2.5B all-stock merger forming a 175M-learner platform
Michael Horn on Coursera’s growing leverage over university partners
Ben Kornell explores Coursera’s potential to become a global university
Dhawal Shah explains the financial motivations behind the merger
Michael Horn compares the deal to the 2U–edX acquisition
The hosts discuss channel power and aggregation in edtech
Debate on Coursera’s acquisition strategy and platform future
Dhawal Shah on why these businesses may perform better as private companies
Ben Kornell outlines Coursera’s two paths: efficiency or AI-led reinvention
Gaps in online learning around mentorship and advanced skills
OpenAI’s latest release and rising competition with Google Gemini
Why content and IP still matter in the AI era
Purdue introduces an AI competency requirement for graduates
Isabelle Hau, Executive Director of the Stanford Accelerator for Learning, on human-centered and social AI in education
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Show notes
Send us Fan Mail Join hosts Alex Sarlin, Ben Kornell, Michael Horn and Dhawal Shah as they break down major moves in online learning, AI, and higher education shaping the end of 2025. ✨ Episode Highlights: [
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