Reported by:
Sophia Ng Szu Fei Sr2ScB
“If you came across this edX review, it means you probably want to know more about edX, right?” as quoted by an edX review.
Greetings to all who are interested in this learning community, let me walk you through the journey of edX, and hopefully, you will find programmes that suit you the most! edX is a non-profit organization that offers over 3000+ online courses and 300+ programs globally, created by top universities and institutions like Harvard and Microsoft. It was founded by scientists from Harvard and MIT, wanting to provide online courses for their institutions. As there were significant improvements in students, the founders collaborated with other prestigious academic institutions to provide high-quality courses for free. They merged with 2U, an American educational technology company on 29th Jun 2021 (just a few months ago!) and was deemed a strong competitor in the educational technology industry. Till today, they have amassed 34 million students worldwide and gained an astonishing average of 3 hundred thousand students a day.
edX Charter Members
What programs and courses do they offer?
Programs by edX
Under Programs and Courses in the menu bar, there are multiple terms that may confuse you like MicroBachelors, MicroMasters, X series, Professional Certificate and so on.
1. MicroBachelors
a. MicroBachelors are college-level courses for adults who are interested in career and skills development. Each program comes with transferable college credit from their university credit partners (only in the US) such as New York University, Rice University, Southern New Hampshire University and Doane University. The average length of each program is 3 to 6 months and costs between $500 to $1500. Tips: You can always choose “audit” in selecting the program. You get to learn for free and receive a credible certificate after payment!
b. No prerequisites are needed to apply for this program. All you gotta do is be disciplined. All courses are self-paced and some courses have deadlines. Don’t lose this chance to get a reputable certificate!
Overview of MicroBachelors
2. Micromasters
a. Micromasters offer graduate-level courses by universities and corporations. Most employers recognise the qualification as job relevance. Industry leaders including Walmart, IBM, Volvo, Bloomberg and Ford provided lectures and learning materials for their programs in edX. One can also opt for a full-time Master Degree program. In most cases, the credit is only granted by the university that offers the Micromasters program. The price ranges from $700 to $1400 and takes approximately 1 to 1.5 years to complete.
Overview of MicroMasters
3. Xseries
a. The name surely sounds cool, much cooler once you know what it is. Xseries are courses created based on a university’s curriculum. Lessons are taught by professors from MIT, Harvard, Columbia etc. The prices vary, but the average is between $100 and $450 for a full-time course. The Xseries publishes exciting and in-demand content instructed by experts. Popular courses include US Government by Harvardx, Circuits and Electronics by MITx and Introduction to Developmental, Social and Clinical Psychology by UnQx (University of Queensland).
4. Master’s Degree
a. As the name suggests, edX also provides a Masters Degree program. Students are required to pay tuition fees varying from each course which takes approximately 1 to 3 years to complete. Yet, it has the same rigour as on-campus despite being conducted online. So, adults who seek a professional degree amidst their busy schedule are recommended to take on the high-quality course. High school students are not qualified as they have not completed their bachelor’s degree.
5. Professional Certificate
a. Kuen Cheng students, sadly, this isn’t for you either, but you can pursue the certificate once you graduate. Professional Certificate programs are designed by industry leaders and top universities to provide in-demand courses. The certificates are useful when applying for large firms and companies. Research has shown that people who attained an online certificate provided by established educational websites are 73% more likely to be hired. They believe that these people have the intention to keep learning and thus bring more value to the company. The courses listed are different from other programs, in which soft skills take most of the program, like risk management, inclusive leadership and data science for executives.
Xseries |
Master’s Degree |
Professional’s Certificate
Pros
a. Wide-selection of university courses from best universities and institutions in the world .
i. You will be amazed by the variety of courses provided by these Ivy League institutions. Don’t be afraid if you are an arts stream student! Or you have an interest in peculiar topics. This website has the best teachers and professors to teach you everything in depth. You have an online forum for peer discussions and even weekly assignments to check up on your progress. There are also virtual classes that give you an edge in your future university application. The topics include Architecture, Biology and Life Sciences, Chemistry and other variety of programs. Some topics are offered in Chinese for those who are interested in taking up.
b. Verified Certificates
i. Nevertheless, in the year you completed the course, the certificate is always accredited and recognized by future employers.
Sample Certificate
c. For all-levels, from beginner to advanced
i. Junior level students, find your interest in the variety of courses in edX! Senior level students, find the subject that interests you the most and get ahead of your peers since high school. It is user-friendly and anyone can apply regardless of age and nationality.
d. Most popular courses in edX
i. Computer Science – Introduction to Cloud Development with HTML5, CSS3 and Javascript
ii. Programming for Everybody (Getting Started with Python)
iii. Business – Exercising Leadership: Foundational Principles
iv. Introduction to Project Management
v. The Architectural Imagination
These are only the few among the thousands of courses offered.
Cons
a. Certificate
i. The certificate is not free. The fee payment goes back to the website for them to develop more courses and website maintenance. Some previous users had feedbacked that the courses are slow and pricey.
b. Lack of Self-discipline
i. Laziness is the greatest enemy for all who want to work and study hard. Nobody would remind you to complete the assignment. You would lose another precious opportunity to earn an internationally recognized certificate. It will be more challenging for courses that have modules or weekly assessments.
c. The confusing variety of program
i. Tip: You should focus on the contents instead of the title of the programs. It will be much easier after you look through the details of each course and determine whether this is the right course for you.
Finally, I would like to share my personal experience. I took up a course in January about investments after watching “The Wolf of Wall Street ”. It was not enjoyable for me as I was confused every time. Ah, I finally knew why. I misread something. You need to complete another related course beforehand. In terms of lectures, the teachers explained the concepts in detail and articles were provided after each video. All in all, it was an interesting experience but make sure to check up on the prerequisites before applying.
Good luck to all who are applying for online courses! Happy learning!
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Personal Finance Program