10 Years of Aquent Gymnasium

It’s officially been a decade since we launched our free online learning platform in 2013. To celebrate 10 years, we’re taking a look back at some of the milestones that helped make Gymnasium what it is today. Join us for a scroll down memory lane.

Video credits and special thanks to Eric Yang (motion graphics and video production) and Jamie Loftus (voice-over and [OG] animation).

A Decade of Stats

160k students from over 200 countries
225k course enrollments
18k credentials issued
Over 50 million hours of lessons streamed
Over 1,000 new students join every month

Not a student? Join Gymnasium for free.

2012

Summer of Learning Pilot

Aquent shows the creative community some love during the Summer of Learning in 2012 by providing creative professionals classes on HTML5 and career skills.

The Summer of Learning homepage hero. — Aquent’s thesummeroflearning.com homepage circa July 2012.

Aquent’s Summer of Learning webcast Transform HTML Into HTML5 and YouTube channel.

2013

Aquent Gymnasium Launches

Aquent Gymnasium officially launches with two full courses following the success of the Summer of Learning — first Coding for Designers (July) and then Responsive Web Design (October) in 2013.

Aquent Gymnasium promo video from July 2013.

Gymnasium homepage circa 2013 with original yellow color theme. — Gymnasium homepage (soft launch) with original torch logo and yellow color theme in June 2013.

Gymnasium homepage circa 2013 with updated Aquent orange color theme. — Gymnasium homepage with Aquent orange theme rebrand in October 2013.

Gymnasium catalog with its first two courses in 2013. — The Gymnasium catalog featuring Coding for Designers (July) and Responsive Web Design (October) in 2013.

2014

Gym Shorts Drop

Gymnasium releases the short course format Gym Shorts, learning within an hour or less, with Defeating Busy.

Aquent Gymnasium: Behind the Scenes (2014)

2015

Relaunch on Open edX

Gymnasium relaunches in November 2015, built on the Open edX platform, developed by MIT, Harvard, and edX.

Open edX Conference 2015 Talk — Building the Plane While Flying It: Migrating an Existing MOOC to edX with Andrew Miller, Jeremy Osborn, and Mike Bifulco (October 13, 2015).

2015

Now Streaming: Live Coding

Gymnasium livestreams (former) Director of Technology Mike Bifulco’s weekly live, in the wild, open development on Twitch in December 2015 — available on the Gymnasium YouTube channel.

Live Coding, weekly, from 2017 to 2019.

2016

Now Streaming: Webinars

Aquent Gymnasium releases their first of many webinars in April 2015, Designing for Understanding with Stephanie Hay.

Designing for Understanding webinar with Stephanie Hay.

2016

Your App is Ugly

Gymnasium presents Your App is Ugly: Design for Coders, a talk about the basics of design and aesthetics, covering color theory, swiss design, and some of the historical roots of modern design hosted by Aquent and Numa Paris in May 2016.

Our Sit and Get Fit campaign postcard (édition française).

2016

OpenClassrooms Collab

Gymnasium launches a collaboration with OpenClassrooms, a learning platform based in France, with a course on how to build wireframes and prototypes with Sketch.

In 2012, Aquent launched its MOOC Gymnasium, aimed at developing the most in-demand digital skills, as well as attracting, testing and recruiting the best digital profiles.

2017

An Event Apart Panel

In Seattle, Director of Learning Jeremy Osborn hosts the first of many panels at the An Event Apart web conference in 2017.

Jeremy Osborn talking with Chris Coyier, Val Head, and Jeffrey Zeldman.

2018

Badges for Gym Shorts

Gymnasium launched badges for Gym Shorts with the release of Brad Frost’s course Working with Atomic Design and Pattern Lab in the summer of 2018.

2018

Gymnasium Wins Elevate Award

Aquent Gymnasium wins the American Staffing Association’s first-ever Elevate Award in October 2018, honoring the most outstanding work-based learning programs in the staffing and recruiting industry.

Andrew Miller and Keir Kaney accepting the Elevate Award.

American Staffing Association’s Elevate Award ceremony in 2018.

2019

Work Hard, Play Hard

ARTIFACT conference 2019 speakers shoot some hoop in true Gymnasium style.

Dan Mall, ball in hand, center, with Brad Frost zoning Jeremy Osborn, to the right; Mike Bifulco, far left, in all black

2019

Take 5 Tutorials

Gymnasium releases Take 5 tutorials, a five-minute video-based course format for learning from industry experts.

Instagram post celebrating the first 20 days of our Take 5 tutorials release.

2020

Gymnasium Wins Second Elevate Award

Yup, you read that right. We won another Elevate Award.

Aquent Gymnasium for the win, again!

2022

Portfolio Workshop Pilot

Gymnasium launches its first live, real-time online Improving Your Portfolio workshop.

Gymnasium’s first-ever week-long online course in December 2022.

Gymnasium homepage hero promoting the Take 5 Portfolio Tutorials.

2023

10 Years of Free Online Learning

Gymnasium celebrates 10 years of providing free online learning with courses, tutorials, and content available to anyone, anywhere in the world. Take a behind-the-scenes look at the team.

The Gymnasium team at Boston HQ, 501 Boylston, in 2019; left to right: Andrew Miller, Program Director; Keir Janey, Marketing Lead; Justin Gagne, Design Lead; Mike Bifulco, Director of Technology; and Jeremy Osborn, Director of Learning.

Roman Edirisinghe in the Boston HQ cafe in 2019 before joining the Gymnasium team in 2021 as the Director of Technology

The Gymnasium team in 2022 reflects outside the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) in Boston, MA. Left to right: Keir, Roman, Andrew, Justin, and Jeremy.

2023

Back to Design Basics

We’ve been trailblazers in the web community since launching in 2013. To celebrate, we just dropped these 5-minute tutorials on design basics. Design like a pro!

Getting Contrast Right in Your Typography

Creating an Effective Color Palette in Design

Leveling Up Your Layouts in Web Design