EdX is a massive open online course provider and online learning platform.
It hosts online university-level courses in a wide range of disciplines to a worldwide
audience, some at no charge.
It also conducts research into learning based on how people use its platform.
EdX differs from other MOOC platforms, such Coursera and Udacity, in that it is nonprofit
and runs on an open-source software platform.
EdX was founded by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University in May
2012.
There are currently more than 60 schools, nonprofits, corporations, and international
organizations that offer or plan to offer courses on the edX website.
As of 22 October 2014, edX has more than 3 million users taking over 300 courses online.
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.
EdX offers certificates of successful completion, but does not offer course credit.
Whether or not a college or university offers credit for an online course is within the
sole discretion of the school.
EdX offers a variety of ways to take courses, including verified courses where students
have the option to audit the course or to work toward an edX verified certificate, honor
code courses where students can either audit or work toward an honor code certificate.
In addition, in the fall of 2013, edX launched a pilot project to offer a special certificate
in a subject area after completing a bundled set of 3-4 verified courses in that subject.
Research In addition to educational offerings, edX
is utilized for research into learning and distance education by collecting learners'
clicks and analyzing the data, as well as collecting demographics from each registrant.
A team of researchers at Harvard and MIT, led by David Pritchard and Lori Breslow, recently
released their initial findings.
EdX member schools and organizations also conduct their own research using data collected
from their courses.
Research focuses on improving retention, course completion and learning outcomes in traditional
campus courses and online.
EdX has engaged in a number of partnerships with educational institutions in the United
States, China, Mongolia, India, and more to utilize edX courses in "blended classrooms."
In blended learning models, traditional classes include an online interactive component.
San Jose State University 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.
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.
Open edX EdX has been developed as open-source software
and made available to other institutions of higher learning that want to make similar
offerings.
On June 1, 2013, edX open sourced its entire platform, creating a collaborative environment
— Open edX — where contributors worldwide can work to develop enhancements and new features.
Major contributors to the development of Open edX include:
Stanford University Google
UC Berkeley MIT
Harvard University of Queensland
and others, both within and outside the consortium.
Open edX adopters include: Edraak - Queen Rania Foundation
Xuetang France Université Numérique
Stanford University of Zurich
IONISx The source code can be found on GitHub.
Major contributors to the open source platform development include Stanford University and
Google.
Stanford will integrate features of its existing Class2Go platform into the edX platform, use
the integration as an internal platform for online coursework for on-campus and distance
learners, and work collaboratively with edX and other institutions to further develop
the edX platform.
Google and edX will collaborate to build out and operate MOOC.org, a site for non-edX universities,
institutions, businesses, governments and teachers to build and host their courses for
a global audience.
This site will be powered by the jointly developed Open edX platform.
Leadership In March 2014 edX appointed Wendy Cebula,
former COO of Vistaprint, as its new President and Chief Operating Officer.
Former president and current CEO Anant Agarwal of MIT stated that Cebula would bring "an
entrepreneurial aspect" and help the nonprofit to access "commercial opportunities."
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, handle Harvard contributions.
The design of a viable business model for sustainability of the enterprise is in progress.
History May 2012: edX founded by Harvard and MIT.
Jerry Sussman, Anant Agarwal, Chris Terman, and Piotr Mitros teach the first edX course
on circuits and electronics from MIT, drawing 155,000 students from 162 countries.
April 2013: edX partners with Stanford June 2013: edX reaches 1 million students.
edx.org released as open source, creating Open edX.
September 2013: edX partners with Google, launches XSeries
October 2013: edX partners with Xuetang & France Université Numérique
March 2014: Wendy Cebula joins as President & COO
May 2014: Queen Rania Foundation Launches Edraak, a MOOC Portal for the Arab World
September 2014: edX announces High School initiative
October 2014: edX announces Professional Education courses
Partnerships & 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. 120 higher education institutions in France joined under the direction of the
French Ministry of Education to offer online courses throughout France, the Queen Rania
Foundation for Education and Development created Edraak as the first MOOC portal for the Arab
world, the International Monetary Fund is using the edX platform to pilot online training
courses in economics and finance, and Tenaris corporation is using the platform to expand
its corporate training and education for its employees.
As of July 2014, there are 35 charter members, and 15 members:
Charter members Members
Courses There are more than 240 courses currently
offered.
Examples of some of the courses include: SPU27x: Science and Cooking: From Cuisine
to Soft Matter ANTH207x: Introduction to Human Evolution
UT.2.01x: Ideas of the Twentieth Century CS50x: Introduction to Computer Science
PH207x: Health in Numbers: Quantitative Methods in Clinical & Public Health Research
CB22x: The Ancient Greek Hero ER22x: Justice
PH278x: Human Health & Global Environmental Change
14.73x: The Challenges of Global Poverty GSE1x: Unlocking the Immunity to Change: A
New Approach to Personal Improvement See also
References
External links Official website
EdX on Twitter EdX on Facebook
edX blog Open edX
edX learner stories MIT press release
Harvard press release official logo
"Barriers to Adoption of Online Learning Systems in U.S. Higher Education" study by Lawrence
S. Bacow, William G. Bowen, Kevin M. Guthrie, Kelly A. Lack, Matthew P. Long published by
Ithaka S+R May 1, 2012 This study coins the term "“Interactive Learning Online” or
ILO.
Taylor Walsh, author, William G. Bowen, foreword, Unlocking the Gates: How and Why Leading Universities
Are Opening Up Access to Their Courses, Princeton University Press, hardcover, 320 pages, ISBN
0691148740 ISBN 978-0691148748 "The X Factor" Brainstorm blog post by Kevin
Carey Chronicle of Higher Education May 2, 2012