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Introducing Coursera Skill Tracks: A tailored, data-backed learning solution to help functional teams develop critical and verified skills

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Introducing Coursera Skill Tracks: A tailored, data-backed learning solution to help functional teams develop critical and verified skills

By Patrick Supanc, Chief Product Officer

Today at Coursera Connect, our annual conference, we announced the launch of Skill Tracks, our data-backed learning solution mapped to specific occupations that guides learners from foundational knowledge to expert proficiency through verified skill paths. 

Skill Tracks are powered by Coursera’s Career Graph, our proprietary system that analyzes millions of labor market data points, third-party competency frameworks, and our skills taxonomy, to precisely map the relationships between jobs, skills, and learning content, ensuring organizations can close skill gaps quickly.

View a Skill Tracks video here.

The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025 finds that 63% of employers see skill gaps as the biggest barrier to business transformation, with nearly 6 in 10 workers needing reskilling within the next five years. With Coursera Skill Tracks, leaders can ensure their teams have the right skills to boost innovation, productivity, and retention.

Key features include:

  • A tailored learning experience – In addition to world-class content from industry leaders and universities like Microsoft, AWS, Yale, and Stanford, learning leaders can customize Skill Tracks with their own content, ensuring alignment with their organization’s specific tools, workflows, and business priorities.
  • Rigorous and verifiable credentials – Learners progress toward credentials based on real-world assessments, providing both motivation and proof that skills are not only learned but also demonstrated.
  • Real-time insights and alignment to business goals – Regular tracking of learning progress and continuous content updates ensure Skill Tracks stay current with market demands, align with changing skill requirements for roles, and directly connect skill acquisition with business performance and growth.

Starting today, four Skill Tracks are available:

  • Software and Product – Covers the most critical skills in mobile development, product management, UX design, web development, and software development 
  • IT – Includes necessary skills in computer systems and architecture, cybersecurity, IT management, IT support and operations, and network engineering 
  • Data – Develops critical skills in data analysis, data engineering, data management, and AI and machine learning
  • GenAI – Teaches practical applications of artificial intelligence for employees and leaders across customer service, human resources, data, finance, legal, marketing, product, sales, and more

Over the coming months, we’ll introduce additional Skill Tracks and enhanced features, including skill diagnostics to help learners start at the right level and verified skill paths with performance-based skills evaluation to produce credentials that reflect practical, job-ready expertise.

According to Matthew Dearmon, Ph.D, Informatica’s Senior Director, Talent Management and Leadership Development, “At Informatica, we have the only data management platform powered end-to-end by artificial intelligence, so it is vital that our teams and leaders are not just up-to-date, but are also looking ahead. Having a tailored learning solution aligned with real-time skills in demand for specific roles is essential to helping our technical leaders thrive when working with AI – and beyond.”

Paola Vera, Talent Management Head at Interbank added, “Coursera’s personalized learning approach has been a catalyst in helping Interbank build a data-driven, future-ready organization. Having targeted learning journeys informed by real-time labor data and aligned to specific occupations and career stages, can help ensure teams master the right skills for their role.”

Skill Tracks are available to existing Coursera customers with access to the full catalog. New customers can purchase Skill Tracks individually or bundled with the full catalog.  

Learn more about Coursera Skill Tracks and discover how a tailored, data-driven learning approach can accelerate skills development, technology adoption, or workforce transformation.

Click here to watch CEO Greg Hart’s keynote at Coursera Connect 2025, with a Skill Tracks demo and more.

Expanding Career Pathways with New Partners and Professional Certificates

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Expanding Career Pathways with New Partners and Professional Certificates

By Marni Baker Stein, Chief Content Officer, Coursera

Today at Coursera Connect, our annual conference, we announced a major expansion of our partner network with several new world-class universities and forward-thinking industry leaders. Each new partnership deepens our commitment to helping learners around the world master the skills they need to grow their careers. 

In a world defined by rapid technological change, learners need flexible, affordable ways to keep pace. That’s why we’re expanding access to career-focused content across all levels of learning, from entry-level Professional Certificates to stackable courses that lead toward degrees. 

Welcoming our new partners
We’re proud to welcome our newest partner, Anthropic, one of the world’s leading AI research companies. Together, we’ll help learners and institutions apply the latest advances in AI, safely, effectively, and ethically — unlocking new ways to learn, teach, and work.

In addition to Anthropic, we’re also excited to welcome several new university and industry partners, expanding our reach across industries and disciplines:

  • Hult International Business School – Global business education with campuses worldwide
  • Minnesota State University, Mankato – Comprehensive U.S. public university
  • University of the Arts London – Europe’s largest specialist creative arts university
  • College of Engineering: University of Miami Top rated Educational and Research University
  • Universitat Politècnica de València – Spain’s leading STEM and engineering university
  • UC Santa Barbara – Top 10 U.S. public research university

Leading organizations joining Coursera as industry partners include:

  • AAPC – U.S. leader in medical billing and coding
  • Harvard Business Publishing – Publisher of Harvard Business Review content
  • ISSA (International Sports Sciences Association) – Global leader in fitness and wellness certification
  • Pearson – Global leader in learning and assessments
  • Skillshare – A creative learning community for personal and professional growth

These new partnerships strengthen our ability to deliver accessible, job-relevant learning for the modern workforce — spanning industries from healthcare and cybersecurity to generative AI, creative technology, and public policy.

Expanding Career Pathways with Courses and Professional Certificates
Professional Certificates on Coursera are designed to prepare learners for in-demand jobs, and many require no prior experience and can be completed in under six months. So far this year over 2.5M learners have enrolled in entry-level certs globally.

We’re excited to add new certificates from Microsoft, AAPC, and EC Council — creating even more opportunities for learners to gain job-ready skills.

Getting a head start on a degree with new AI and emerging tech courses from Illinois
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, one of Coursera’s most innovative university partners, has launched four new open courses that explore emerging technologies shaping the future of work. These courses are stackable into Illinois’ for-credit iMBA and iMSA degree programs and offer learners a meaningful head start toward a flexible, affordable graduate degree. 

Courses now available:

These new offerings build on UIUC’s reputation for delivering high-quality, future-focused education on Coursera and offer learners an on-ramp to graduate-level learning with real career impact.

Coursera’s partner network includes some of the world’s most respected universities, industry leaders, and global organizations, all working together to deliver credentials that combine academic excellence with practical skill-building. As new technologies accelerate changes and lifelong learning becomes essential, we’re proud to work with our partners to expand access and create new opportunities for learners globally.

Watch Coursera CEO, Greg Hart’s keynote at Coursera Connect 2025 for demos of these new capabilities here.

Learn more about Skill Tracks here.

Read about our Product Announcements here.

New AI-powered innovations on Coursera: Role Play for Authors, Course Builder for Partners, Skill Tracks for Enterprise, and more

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New AI-powered innovations on Coursera: Role Play for Authors, Course Builder for Partners, Skill Tracks for Enterprise, and more

By Patrick Supanc, Chief Product Officer 

Today at our annual conference, Coursera Connect, we announced several new and expanded AI-powered product capabilities designed to better serve our learners, partners, and customers. These innovations will help learners master the right skills to grow their careers, enable partners to create high-quality and engaging content, and empower employers to drive better outcomes with their learning programs.

Role Play: Building essential skills through real-world practice

Launching next month, Role Play is a new course activity that enables learners to build job-ready skills and practice soft skills through dynamic, back-and-forth interactions with AI personas: 

  • Author-controlled and customizable — Educators and partners can design realistic scenarios, assign roles, and help learners practice key skills that align with course objectives.
  • Build learner confidence and career readiness — Learners receive personalized, actionable feedback and are better prepared to apply their skills on the job.
  • Serve employer and institutional needs — Role Play offers a new, scalable way to develop and assess in-demand skills like leadership and collaboration.

Expanding Course Builder to Partners
Course Builder is our GenAI-powered authoring platform, enabling institutions to use AI to design courses at scale. Since its launch in 2023, Course Builder has helped our enterprise customers to launch over 4,000 new private enterprise courses and reduced median course creation time by 87%. 

We’re now excited to make Course Builder available to our educator partners, helping them build and scale high-quality content for Coursera’s global learning catalog at a much faster pace. Every feature has been designed with speed, simplicity, and pedagogical excellence in mind, and built on insights from Coursera’s extensive learner base. New and enhanced features include:

  • Authoring from Scratch with just a course idea — no outline or material required.
  • Course Ingestion of existing materials with standard formats like Common Cartridge.
  • Instructional Design Guidance from an AI-powered coach.
  • Hands-on Learning integrations, like Dialogue and Role Play.
  • AI-graded questions to power your assessments.*

These new features are currently available to a select number of partners and enterprise customers. We will continue to refine them based on feedback before making them broadly accessible.*

Enabling Smarter Assessments and Supporting Learner Motivation
Effective learning requires both rigorous evaluation and sustained momentum. These new capabilities give educators scalable ways to assess higher-order skills while helping learners stay motivated through timely feedback and milestones.

  • AI-Graded Questions — Design open-ended assessments across formats like essays, code, and video. AI-generated rubrics and automated scoring save time and ensure fairness.
  • AI-Powered Peer Review — Enhance the peer review process with AI scoring and immediate feedback. Learners can reattempt assignments to improve scores, and gain deeper insights.
  • Helping Learners Maintain Motivation and Momentum — Support good learning habits with new session-level milestones, timely nudges, and moments of recognition to help boost completion rates.

Safeguarding Academic Integrity
Employers want learning tied directly to the roles and tasks of their teams — and they need proof that those skills transfer on the job. That’s why verified skill assessments matter: they show real mastery, not just course completion. Over the last year, we’ve enhanced our academic integrity features, and since May, have proctored over 15,000 exams — reducing plagiarized submissions by 90% and overall misconduct by 95%. We’re expanding these tools to uphold rigor and consistency at scale:

  • Coursera Proctoring & Locking Browser — In the GenAI era, it is critical for instructors to have the ability to monitor webcam, microphone, and screen activity. Browser locking can restrict access to external applications or resources, maintaining fairness during high-stakes assessments.
  • Course Profiles — New Course Profiles will make it easier for institutions to enforce consistent integrity standards across their programs. These centralized settings enable key academic integrity features at scale to protect the credibility of their learning and credentials.

Announcing Skill Tracks – a tailored, data-driven learning solution
We’re also excited to announce Skill Tracks, a data-backed learning solution mapped to specific occupations that guides learners from foundational knowledge to expert proficiency through verified skill paths. Powered by Coursera’s Career Graph, Skill Tracks precisely map the relationships between jobs, skills, and learning content. Key features include:

  • Tailored learning – Combine content from leading universities and industry partners with your own materials to match company tools, workflows, and priorities.
  • Verified credentials – Learners advance through real-world assessments that prove skills are mastered, not just completed.
  • Business goals alignment – Ongoing tracking and updates keep learning current with market needs and directly tied to business performance.

Starting today, four Skill Tracks are available: GenAI, Software and Product, IT, and Data, with more to follow. Each Skill Track offers a structured learning experience that clearly defines the critical skills and courses employees need at each role and experience level. Click here to read the announcement. 

We have also made significant strides in increasing global access and reducing language barriers to learning: 

  • We now have 5,600 courses available in up to 26 languages. This means over half our catalog is now available in multiple languages — enabling more than 50% of the world’s population to take a course in their native language on Coursera. 
  • By the end of the year, we’ll expand AI dubbing to nearly 1,000 courses across five languages — bringing world-class instruction to more learners in more languages than ever before.

We’re excited to build the foundation for learning in the age of AI. By combining powerful technology with trusted content, we’re ushering in a new era of opportunity — one where every learner can prove their skills, every institution can scale its impact, and every organization can keep pace with change.

Watch Coursera CEO, Greg Hart’s keynote at Coursera Connect 2025 for demos of these new capabilities here.

Learn more about Skill Tracks here.

Read about our Content announcements here.

Do People Ever Mispronounce Your Name?

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A writer and a teenager share stories about their “unpronounceable” names. Can you relate?

Lottery Jackpot

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What would you do if you were a winner?

Word of the Day: raconteur

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This word has appeared in 31 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year. Can you use it in a sentence?

Weekly Student News Quiz: Summer Movies, Earthquake, Google

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Weekly Student News Quiz: Summer Movies, Earthquake, Google

Welcome to a new school year of weekly news quizzes for students!

Above is an image related to one of the news stories we followed this past week. Do you know what it shows? At the bottom of this quiz, you’ll find the answer.

Have you been paying attention to current events recently? See how many of these 10 questions you can get right.

Word of the Day: ancillary

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This word has appeared in 110 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year. Can you use it in a sentence?

Growing Up With A.I.: A Multimedia Challenge for Teenagers and Educators

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Show us — in words or images, audio or video — how this technology is affecting you and the teenagers you know. Contest dates: Sept. 10-Oct. 22, 2025.

Over 100 Free New York Times Articles About How A.I. Is Changing Our World

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To go along with our contest, here are scores of recent, free Times articles, videos, opinion pieces, videos, quizzes and podcasts about the effects of this world-changing technology. Which pieces most interest you?