edX

edX is a massive open online course (MOOC) provider created by Harvard and MIT. It hosts online university-level courses in a wide range of disciplines to a worldwide student body, including some courses at no charge. It also conducts research into learning based on how people use its platform. edX is a nonprofit organization and runs on the free Open edX open-source software platform.[4]

This article is about education. For EDX, see Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. For other uses, see EDX (disambiguation).
"HarvardX" redirects here. It is not to be confused with Harvard Extension School.

edX
Type of site
Online education
Available inArabic, Catalan, Chinese, English, French, Hebrew, Indonesian, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Thai, Ukrainian
OwneredX Inc.a
Created byMassachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University
URLwww.edx.org
Alexa rank 646 (August 2020)[1]
CommercialYes
RegistrationRequired
Users~33 million (July 2020) [2]
LaunchedMay 2012
Current statusActive
Content license
Copyright of edX[3]

More than 150 schools, nonprofit organizations, and corporations offer or plan to offer courses on the edX website.[5] As of 20 July 2020, edX has around 33 million[6] students taking more than 3,000 courses online. edX also has over 6,000 instructors on the platform with a presence of 196 countries represented world wide.[7]

Functionality

edX courses consist of weekly learning sequences. Each learning sequence is composed of short videos interspersed with interactive learning exercises, where students can immediately practice the concepts from the videos. The courses often include tutorial videos that are similar to small on-campus discussion groups, an online textbook, and an online discussion forum where students can post and review questions and comments to each other and teaching assistants. Where applicable, online laboratories are incorporated into the course. For example, in edX's first MOOC — a circuits and electronics course — students built virtual circuits in an online lab.[8]

edX offers certificates of successful completion and some courses are credit-eligible. Whether or not a college or university offers credit for an online course is within the sole discretion of the school.[9] edX offers a variety of ways to take courses, including verified courses where students have the option to audit the course (no cost) or to work toward an edX Verified Certificate (fees vary by course). edX also offers XSeries Certificates for completion of a bundled set of two to seven verified courses in a single subject (cost varies depending on the courses).[10][11]

Research

In addition to educational offerings, edX is used for research into learning and distance education by collecting learners' clicks and analyzing the data, as well as collecting demographics from each registrant.[9][12][13][14] A team of researchers at Harvard and MIT, led by David Pritchard and Lori Breslow, released their initial findings in 2013.[8]EdX member schools and organizations also conduct their own research using data collected from their courses.[15] Research focuses on improving retention, course completion and learning outcomes in traditional campus courses and online.[16]

edX has engaged in a number of partnerships with educational institutions in the United States, China, Mongolia, Japan, and more to use edX courses in "blended classrooms."[15] In blended learning models, traditional classes include an online interactive component. San Jose State University (SJSU) partnered with edX to offer 6.00xL Introduction to Computer Science and Programming, as a blended course at SJSU and released an initial report on the project in February 2013. Initial results showed a decrease in failure rates from previous semesters. The percentage of students required to retake the course dropped from 41% under the traditional format to 9% for those taking the edX blended course.[17] In Spring 2013, Bunker Hill Community College and Massachusetts Bay Community College implemented a SPOC, or small private online course. The colleges incorporated an MIT-developed Python programming course on edX into their campus-based courses, and reported positive results.[18][19]

Open edX Platform
Versions[20]Date
Aspen2014-10-28
Birch2015-02-24
Cypress2015-08-13
Dogwood2016-02-11
Eucalyptus2016-08-26
Ficus2017-02-23
Ginkgo2017-08-14
Hawthorn2018-08-07
Ironwood2019-03-22

Open edX platform is the open-source platform software developed by edX and made freely available to other institutions of higher learning that want to make similar offerings. On June 1, 2013, edX open sourced its entire platform.[21] The source code can be found on GitHub.[22][23]

The Open edX server-side software is almost entirely based on "Python, with Django as the web application framework."[24]

Leadership

edX is currently led by CEO and Founder Anant Agarwal and newly appointed Co-CEO and President Adam Medros,. Adam joined edX in 2017, and was appointed as President and COO in his previous role.[25][26] Before him, in March 2014, Wendy Cebula, former COO of Vistaprint, was appointed by edX as its President and Chief Operating Officer who worked with edX till 2017.[27][28] Alan M. Garber, Provost of Harvard University, assisted by Michael D. Smith, a computer scientist who is Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, handles Harvard contributions. The design of a viable business model for sustainability of the enterprise is in progress.[13]

History
External audio
Interview with edX President Anant Agarwal [17:47] on the first anniversary of edX, Degree of Freedom[29]

edX was founded in May 2012 by scientists from MIT and Harvard. Gerry Sussman, Anant Agarwal, Chris Terman, and Piotr Mitros taught the first edX course on circuits and electronics from MIT, drawing 155,000 students from 162 countries. In 2013 they partnered with Stanford and in June 2013 they reached 1 million students.[30] edx.org released as open source, creating Open edX.

In September 2014 edX announced a high school initiative.[31]

In October 2014 edX announced Professional Education courses,[32] and in March 2015 it partnered with Microsoft.[33]

In April 2015, edX partnered with Arizona State University to launch the Global Freshman Academy.[34]

In September 2016, edX launched 19 MicroMasters programs.[35]

In February 2017, edX launched 16 MicroMasters programs.[36][37]

In January 2018, edX partnered with Microsoft and General Electric to provide subsidized online courses and guaranteed job interviews.[38]

On January 9, 2018, Tech Mahindra partnered with edX to re-skill workforce on new tech areas.[39]

On October 10, 2018 edX introduced 9 Master's degrees on the platform. The degree programs can be completed fully online and are offered by universities such as Georgia Institute of Technology and University of California San Diego.[40]

On January 10, 2020 edX launched two MicroBachelors programs. The programs offer undergraduate level courses which can lead to university credit for degree seeking students.[41]

Participating institutions

In late 2013, several countries and private entities announced their adoption of the edX open source platform to launch new initiatives. Ten Chinese universities joined together to form an online education initiative in China, called XuetangX.[42] 120 higher education institutions in France joined under the direction of the French Ministry of Education to offer online courses throughout France,[43] the Queen Rania Foundation for Education and Development (QRF) created Edraak as the first MOOC portal for the Arab world,[44] the International Monetary Fund is using the edX platform to pilot online training courses in economics and finance,[45] and Tenaris corporation is using the platform to expand its corporate training and education for its employees.[46]

As of March 2017, edX has more than 110 partners, including universities, for-profit organizations and NGOs.[47]

gollark: _searches hub for "neglected"_
gollark: Hmm, I need more bolts, then.
gollark: xx:55, xx:00, xx:07.
gollark: I keep noticing the time and worrying about my experiments...
gollark: You have ten times as many unnamed dragons as I have dragons.

References
  1. "Edx.org Traffic, Demographics and Competitors - Alexa". www.alexa.com. Retrieved 2020-08-12.
  2. https://www.classcentral.com/report/mooc-stats-2019/
  3. "edX Terms of Service".
  4. "About Us". edX.
  5. "Schools and Partners". edX.
  6. "Media Kit". edX. Retrieved 2020-08-03.
  7. "EdX's 2018: Year in Review". edX. 26 December 2018. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  8. Studying Learning in the Worldwide Classroom: Research Into edX's First MOOC, June 14, 2013, RPA Journal, by Lori Breslow, David E. Pritchard, Jennifer DeBoer, Glenda S. Stump, Andrew D. Ho, and Daniel T. Seaton.
  9. "edX FAQs". edX. Retrieved August 26, 2012.
  10. "Verified Certificate". edX.
  11. "XSeries". edX.
  12. Laura Pappano (Nov. 2, 2012), "The Year of the MOOC," The New York Times, also in New York Times archive.
  13. Nick DeSantis (May 2, 2012). "Harvard and MIT Put $60-Million Into New Platform for Free Online Courses". The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved May 3, 2012.
  14. Tamar Lewin (May 2, 2012). "Harvard and M.I.T. Team Up to Offer Free Online Courses". The New York Times. Retrieved May 3, 2012.
  15. "edX". edX.
  16. Faculty of Arts and Sciences/Harvard College Fun (Sept/Oct 2013), "On the Leading Edge of Teaching."
  17. Ellen Junn and Cathy Cheal of San Jose State University report on the universities' efforts to incorporate MIT's Electronics and Circuits course 6.002x Little Hoover Commission Public Hearing Testimony
  18. "MOOCs in the Community College: Implications for Innovation in the Classroom - Online Learning Consortium, Inc". onlinelearningconsortium.org. Archived from the original on 2014-08-10. Retrieved 2014-07-19.
  19. "SPOCs: Small private online classes may be better than MOOCs". Slate Magazine.
  20. Open edX Named Releases https://edx.readthedocs.io/projects/edx-developer-docs/en/latest/named_releases.html
  21. "Stanford to collaborate with edX to develop a free, open source online learning platform". Stanford University.
  22. https://github.com/edx/
  23. "EdX-platform". GitHub.
  24. "Open edX Architecture". edX Inc. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
  25. "edX Promotes Adam Medros to President and co-CEO, joining Founder and CEO Anant Agarwal to lead company". EdX Official Website.
  26. "The EdX Organization Adopts a More Commercial Structure Appointing a New Co-CEO". IBL News.
  27. "Wendy Cebula". LinkedIn.
  28. "With Eye Toward Financial Self-Sufficiency, edX Hires Businesswoman Cebula as President and COO". Harvard Crimson. 2014-03-25. Retrieved 2014-04-08.
  29. "Interview with edX President Anant Agarwal". Degree of Freedom (MOOC blog). May 10, 2013. Retrieved May 10, 2013.
  30. Conway, Madeline R. (June 20, 2013). "EdX Enrollment Reaches Seven Digits". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved July 19, 2014.
  31. Rocheleau, Matt (September 10, 2014). "Online education company edX offering free high school courses". The Boston Globe. Retrieved September 10, 2014.
  32. Korn, Melissa (October 1, 2014). "Corporate Training Gets an Online Refresh". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 22, 2014.
  33. "Microsoft and edX Partner to Deliver Real World Skill Learning (EdSurge News)". Retrieved 2015-04-27.
  34. Anderson, Nick (April 22, 2015). "Arizona State University to Offer Freshman Year Online, For Credit". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 22, 2015.
  35. "Thirteen universities adopt MicroMasters and launch 18 new programs via edX". MIT News. Retrieved 2017-03-22.
  36. "edX Expands MicroMasters Programs With Data Science, Digital Leadership and More -- Campus Technology". Campus Technology. Retrieved 2017-03-22.
  37. "EdX Launches Professional Certificate Programs | Inside Higher Ed". Retrieved 2018-05-15.
  38. "EdX Partners with Microsoft, GE to Provide Subsidized Courses | News | The Harvard Crimson". www.thecrimson.com. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
  39. "TechM partners edX to re-skill workforce on new tech areas - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
  40. "EdX Launching 9 New Master's Degree Programs". Campus Technology. Retrieved 2019-06-13.
  41. "With 'MicroBachelors' Program, EdX Tries Again to Sell MOOCs For Undergraduate Credit - EdSurge News". EdSurge. 2020-01-08. Retrieved 2020-01-09.
  42. "Open Source Platform Chosen to Power China's New Online Education Portal". edX. 2013-10-10. Retrieved 2014-01-01.
  43. "to Work with French Ministry of Higher Education to Create National Online Learning Portal". edX. 2013-10-03. Retrieved 2014-01-01.
  44. "Queen Rania Foundation Partners with edX to Create First MOOC Portal for the Arab World". edX. 2013-11-08. Retrieved 2014-01-01.
  45. "IMF and edX Join Forces to Pilot Online Economics and Financial Courses". edX. 2013-06-19. Retrieved 2014-01-01.
  46. 4-traders (2013-11-12). "Tenaris S.A. : Tenaris to Adopt edX Platform for Corporate Training". 4-Traders. Retrieved 2014-01-01.
  47. "Schools & Partners". edX. 2017. Retrieved 2017-03-23.
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