Coursera launches Ollie for minute-long AI learning feeds

Coursera’s AI – Coursera on Wednesday unveiled a new app, Ollie, built to deliver AI-personalized, minute-or-two lessons pulled as short video clips from its course library. Subscribers to Coursera Plus can scroll through recommended content, quiz themselves, and discuss less

For many learners, education has meant settling in for a full lecture. Coursera is betting that’s no longer the only way people want to study.

On Wednesday. the online learning platform announced a new app called Ollie. designed around lessons that take only a minute or two to complete. The experience begins with short vertical videos—often around 90 seconds—clipped from Coursera’s library of learning materials. Users can browse a front-page feed built around their interests, or scroll right to go deeper into a topic.

When something catches their eye, the app offers a quick check for understanding: users can watch the video and then take a matching or multiple-choice quiz. They can also discuss the material by voice or text with Coursera’s AI.

A cartoon mascot named Ollie presides over the program, taking on a role similar to Duolingo’s owl. To keep users coming back. the app layers in game-style features including day-by-day streaks. badges. leaderboards. and reward tokens called beans. As users collect enough beans by completing lessons. they can cash them in for streak freezes and other rewards. including customizations to Ollie’s appearance.

The effort grew out of Coursera’s push to rethink what learning can look like in the modern era, says CTO Mustafa Furniturewala. A small AI incubation team based out of Coursera’s Mountain View headquarters developed the experience, aiming to use AI to customize offerings for individual users.

Much of the code, Furniturewala says, was written by Claude Code under the supervision of experienced human engineers. AI tools were also used to locate and cut the lesson snippets from longer course materials.

Material from Duke University. Vanderbilt University. AWS. and Microsoft is already available through the program. which is available to subscribers with paid Coursera Plus plans. Furniturewala also said some lessons—regularly generated updates to reflect topics in the news—are even created by AI. He emphasized that controls are in place, including human oversight, to ensure videos are accurate and “pedagogically sound.”.

The short format is built for people who study on the go. Furniturewala said he sees the lessons as a better alternative to scrolling through social media: a tool for studying in short increments while drawing on Coursera’s expertise in the science of learning and on extensive user testing.

“Instead of doomscrolling through some other apps, if I get engaged with this, it’s actually helping me learn a lot of different topics,” Furniturewala said.

So far, popular topics include subjects that users already frequently study through Coursera’s traditional lessons—especially artificial intelligence itself. Wine, however, has also surfaced as a surprising standout in the new, shorter format.

That contrast reflects a deeper shift at Coursera. The company helped define modern online learning in its earlier years with course offerings closer to traditional university coursework. including the ultra-popular machine learning classes taught by Coursera cofounder and AI pioneer Andrew Ng. whose work with Stanford’s massive open online course platform helped lead to Coursera’s creation.

Coursera, though, has long used technology to offer alternatives to the traditional college model. From its early days. it used AI evaluations to test learner understanding and deployed web forums to connect remote students who could not get together in person. Now. the short lecture clips inside Ollie are designed to link back to full courses where applicable. and Coursera Plus subscribers still have access to more traditional course material.

“You can always go a lot deeper into any topic that you want,” Furniturewala said.

Coursera plans to measure how the new AI-driven learning feed affects subscriber retention. Furniturewala said that. even though the app is designed for quick sessions. some users are spending 30 minutes or more on it. Still, he pointed out that it remains shorter than a traditional college lecture. The gamified design—daily streaks familiar to users of Wordle or Duolingo—along with a deep library of content is intended to keep people coming back for a bit of learning each day.

“It is very addictive, but in this case, you feel like it’s addictive for a good reason,” Furniturewala said. “You end up learning and piquing your curiosity quite a bit.”

Coursera Ollie AI-powered learning Coursera Plus edtech short form education Claude Code Mountain View Duke University Vanderbilt University AWS Microsoft gamification streaks beans quizzes Andrew Ng Udemy merger