About MASSOLIT

Some frequently asked questions about who we are and what we do.



About MASSOLIT

Why was MASSOLIT established?

MASSOLIT was created in order to give more people access to the knowledge and insight of the world's best academics.

Who is behind MASSOLIT?

MASSOLIT was founded by Chris Tudor in September 2013. Prior to founding MASSOLIT, he taught at Oxford University (2010-11) and worked as a strategy consultant specialising in education (2012-13).

Since then, the team has grown to twelve people, including eight content developers, a head of sales, a digital marketing assistant, an account manager and a finance manager.

Where does the name MASSOLIT come from?

In Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita, a book written in the Soviet Union between 1928-40 but not published until 1967, MASSOLIT is the place where all the writers meet up and hang out.

Lectures & Courses:

How long is an average lecture?

Most lectures are between 8-12 minutes in length.

Are lectures coded to the curriculum?

To a large extent, yes. In some cases, subjects may be more wide-ranging than a single specification option and/or designed for extension and enrichment.

How many lectures are there for each subject?

MASSOLIT currently features 8675 lectures across 1425 courses. These are split across twelve subject areas as follows:

  • 372 lectures across 82 courses in Biology
  • 251 lectures across 46 courses in Chemistry
  • 847 lectures across 137 courses in Classics & Ancient History
  • 184 lectures across 32 courses in Economics
  • 293 lectures across 50 courses in English Language
  • 1824 lectures across 213 courses in English Literature
  • 213 lectures across 41 courses in Geography
  • 551 lectures across 91 courses in Government & Politics
  • 1627 lectures across 277 courses in History
  • 168 lectures across 31 courses in Law
  • 644 lectures across 106 courses in Mathematics
  • 113 lectures across 21 courses in Media Studies
  • 529 lectures across 90 courses in Philosophy & Religious Studies
  • 172 lectures across 31 courses in Physics
  • 675 lectures across 129 courses in Psychology
  • 328 lectures across 64 courses in Sociology

Click here to download a full list of our courses and lectures [.xls, 572 KB]

How are topics for lectures chosen?

In some cases, schools get in touch to ask us to cover certain subjects, which we are more than happy to do.

In most cases, however, it's a combination of looking at the specification to see what needs to be covered, speaking to the contributor to get their opinion on what would be the most useful topics to cover, and thinking about what would work best in the video format.

How many lectures are added each year?

We are planning to add 300-400 courses in the next year, which equates to about 2,000 lectures.

Where can I find a list of recently-added lectures?

The course list is arranged in terms of which courses have been added most recently.

Can I see any sample lectures?

Yes. We have a regularly-updated YouTube channel where you can check out some of our videos.

Access & Functionality:

Why do you charge for lectures?

We need money to cover our costs (e.g. server and hosting costs, camera equipment, post-production software, travel up and down the country, etc.). Charging a small annual subscription fee seems like the fairest way to do it.

Access and Outreach is extremely important to us, and we welcome discussions with Outreach & Access officers (or equivalent) at both Schools and Universities as to how we best do the right thing with this, so please get in touch.

Can staff and students watch lectures at home?

Yes. Once your school has signed up, all staff members and students will have their own username and password, which means they can watch lectures whenever and wherever they like.

If my school subscribes, do we automatically get access to new lectures?

Yes. If you subscribed today, you'd not only get access to the 1425 courses that are on the site right now, but everything else that is added over the next 12 months.

Can teachers check whether students have watched lectures set for them as homework?

Yes. We have powerful analytics tools whereby teachers can see who has watched what, and when. We can even tell you how much of each video has been watched!

Is there a limit on the number of students and teachers who can log in to watch a lecture at the same time?

There is no limit. Everyone in the school could watch the same lecture at the same time if they liked.

Are there any lectures freely available online?

Yes. We have a regularly-updated YouTube channel where you can check out some of our videos.

Alternatively, we provide free access to one lecture from each our lecturers, so you can see what they're like. You can start having a look at some of these via our contributor list.

Can lectures be downloaded for offline viewing?

No, although this is something that we are thinking about doing in the future.

Subscriptions:

Can we choose to subscribe to lectures in individual subjects?

Each subject collection is available as a separate 12-month subscription, but you can save up to 40% per subject with a multi-subject subscription.

Your Personal Data and How it's Used:

What personal data does MASSOLIT have on file?

Our database contains all the information you provided to us when you registered for an account: your full name, your email address, your school, and an encrypted version of your password. In addition to this, we store the date (and time) your account was created, the date (and time) of your last sign-in, and your IP address at your last sign-in.

Can I request to see my personal data?

Yes. If you would like to see the personal data that MASSOLIT has in its database, simply get in touch and we will send your full user record.

Do you share personal data with third parties?

Yes. Some of the things you do on the MASSOLIT website are shared with Google Analytics. We share data when you visit any page on the site, as well as whenever you play a video.

We also share data with Wistia, the company that hosts all our videos and whose video player we use. Data is shared with Wistia whenever you visit a page with a video on it and (again) whenever you play a video.

We share data with HubSpot, the company that facilitates our customer relationship workflows and interactions. For all users this includes support tickets. For teachers and users with elevated privlidages this includes activity on our website also.

It is important to note that all this data is anonymised before it reaches third parties. We don't send any personally-identifiable information like your name or email address. With Google, we also anonymise your IP address.

Can I request my personal data to be deleted?

Yes. If you would like us to delete the data we have on file, simply get in touch and we will permanently delete your user record.

Are you compliant with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)?

Yes. If you have any queries, complaints or suggestions with regards to how we handle personal data, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Why do you share this data? What is it used for?

Google Analytics, HubSpot and Wistia collate data from individual user sessions to provide an overview of how much the site is being used. We might use Google Analytics to check how many times videos on the site were watched in the last thirty days, for example, or to see how many times students from a particular school have watched videos since the beginning of term.