Sentence:  Dotcom mania was slow in coming to higher education, but now it has the venerable industry firmly in its grip. Since the launch early last <WSD>year</WSD> of Udacity and Coursera, two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A period between set dates that mark a year, from January 1 to December 31 by the Gregorian calendar, from Tishiri 1 to Elul 29 by the Jewish calendar, and from Muharram 1 to Dhu al-Hijjah 29 or 30 by the Islamic calendar.