Background
The company was founded in 1990 by Thomas M. Rollins, former Chief Counsel of the United States Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources and a graduate of Harvard Law School, who noticed the effectiveness of videotapes in learning during his study. He initially tried to create a government program to produce tapes for the public, but was unable to do so because of legal restrictions. After leaving office, he sought out top professors to create courses for sale to the public.
As of 2012 the company offers more than 400 courses, which span more than 6,000 hours of content across several subject categories: business and economics, fine arts and music, ancient and medieval history, modern history, literature and English language, philosophy and intellectual history, religion, science and mathematics, and social sciences.
Course offerings are targeted to adult education and life-learners, typical of what would be seen in a university or college undergraduate program for non-majors; there is also a series for high school students. Courses include supplemental booklets with outlines of the individual lectures, recommended reading lists, general bibliographies, and questions to consider. Full printed transcripts are also available.
Courses are available for online video and audio streaming, on the company's iPad app, or may be purchased in many formats including CD, DVD, audio and video downloads, and verbatim transcript books.
On October 2, 2006, the company was acquired by Brentwood Associates, a private equity investment firm.
Read more about this topic: The Great Courses
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