Is edX Courses and Certifications Worth it? Why Should You Take EdX Courses?

Hello guys, online learning has increased in the last few years, especially after the pandemic hits, and most people are spending more of their time at home. We've seen many new online platforms come to the world like Udemy, Coursera, Pluralsight, Educative, CodeCademy, Udacity, DataCamp, Shareskill and many more and people share their courses. You are probably confused about which platform to choose for learning new skills and starting your career, and if you asked me which one will have a high-quality education, I would suggest taking your next course from edX. In the past, we have reviewed Udemy vs Pluralsight, Coursera vs Udemy, and Udemy vs CodeCademy and in this article, we will take a closer look on edX platform for learning tech skills. 

1. What is edX?

If you are always looking to learn new skills on the internet, you probably heard of edx. Founded back in 2012 by two of the most prominent universities in the IT industries Harvard and MIT, it gives people the option to learn anything from home free of cost with thousands of courses in many different categories. 

This platform called edX has partnered with more than 90 of the best universities globally, such as Michigan University, University of California, Delft University of Technology, to create thousands of courses for millions of students across the globe.

2. What Courses Does edX has?

EdX aims to make education accessible to everyone and transmit traditional education. Therefore, they offer courses in information technology, cyber security, law, language, and medicine. So whether you want to add additional skills to your portfolio or learn new ones to get a job, these programs are of high quality to start your career. These are just some categories that edX offer courses in:

1. Architecture
2. Business & Management
3. Chemistry
4. Computer Science
5. Electronics
6. Ethics
7. Law
8. Language
9. Math
10. Physics

The above are only a few categories I've mentioned to overview what courses you can get on the platform. So you can consider edX as an online education platform for anyone who wants to learn anything from home with practical skills. I have also shared 10 best edX online courses for programmers here, you can also check that for quick reference.

3. Who Share Courses On edX?

Many online platforms, such as udemy, let people and anyone share their videos and courses. EdX allows only top universities and big companies to create courses developed by experts in their field to teach other students what they need to learn in that industry. Since only these top universities, such as Harvard, MIT, and large companies like IBM, can share their courses, you would expect high-quality training from their experts.

4. EdX Pricing

Courses in the edX platform are free. You can audit a course and start learning right away, but it doesn't include many things such as graded assignments and many other features such as a completion certificate that you need to unlock for paying a fee to the platform. The pricing in edX is different because every university and company can make their pricing but generally ranges from $50-$300 for the whole course.

For example, one of the famous and most successful courses in edX called CS50's Introduction to Computer Science will cost you around $90. Still, you can always learn for free if you are not interested in the graded assignments and the verified certificate.

The time to complete the course can take up to 12 weeks like the course mentioned above if you have specified 6–18 hours per week for studying. Still, you need to know that enrolling in a course works by sessions, meaning the courses sometimes are not open for enrollment until the next session.

5. EdX MicroMaster

Edx offers many different programs that you can look at on their website. Still, one of the famous ones is called MicroMaster, a set of graduate course levels that will teach you in deep that topic and offered by the partnered universities and will enhance your skills much more than the regular courses on the platform.

It is worth noting that earning a MicroMaster certificate does not guarantee admission to the complete master's degree. Still, you will get several credits specified by the university itself and counted towards an on-campus degree.

If you need to learn new skills or improve your career, you may need to take a MicroMaster certificate, but it won't guarantee a job interview. You can put this certificate on your resume or LinkedIn, boost your profile, and show employees your high knowledge and skills.

6. EdX Courses Recommendations

Now, you've understood how the platform works, and you may need to know some of the best courses you may be interested in to start your journey for learning new skills:

6.1. CS50's Introduction to Computer Science: is a course offered by Harvard University for teaching you computer science and things like programming, algorithms, cryptography, and solving programming problems.

6.2. Data Science: another great course from Harvard University that will teach you data science and programming with R language, statistical concepts, data visualizations, and machine learning.

6.3. Front-End Web Developer: a good course offered from W3Cx for learning the web front-end includes the HTML basics, CSS, and JavaScript for developing interactive web apps.

Conclusion

Thanks for reading! For now, you may be wondering if you should start learning from this platform then I would say if you are looking to demonstrate your skills in your field for getting a job, then I will suggest paying for the certificate other than that. You could audit the course and watch the lectures for free.