If you’re searching for university-level online courses, edX is probably going to pop up on your radar once or twice. In order to decide whether or not the platform is worth your attention, you might want to check some other user reviews (and that's exactly what I'll provide you with). In this edX review, we’re going to talk all about the site and its features.
I’ll begin by telling you a bit about the company. After that, we’ll move on to figuring out is edX legit – we’ll talk about prices, features, content and everything in between. Overall, I’ll highlight some of the main pros and cons of edX so you can decide whether this platform is for you.
Verdict at a Glance: edX is a premier online learning platform that partners with prestigious universities and organizations to provide a wide range of courses spanning academic subjects and professional skills. Learners can audit courses for free or opt for verified certificates, pursuing MicroMasters programs or even full-fledged degrees completely online.
edX Pros & Cons:
1 Self-paced learning is available. 2 A wide range of learning programs 3 You can download courses for offline use. 4 Accredited certificates on completion are provided. 5 An excellent 14-day refund policy is available in edX. 1 No consistent format in specific courses.Pros
Cons
edX Review: Introduction
So, what is edX? To answer this question, let's begin this edX review by talking about the company behind the learning platform.
edX was founded back in 2012 by a few scientists from Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A bit more than a year later, the platform already had more than a million users.
In essence, it's an online learning-based, multiple course-holding platform that invites students to learn skills that would benefit them in either their personal or career lives.
However, edX stands out compared to some other popular online learning providers, as it deals with professional education courses, has exclusive services for high schools, is partnered with some huge corporations (i.e., Microsoft or Harvard University), and is focused on allowing people to learn “anytime, anywhere”.
As you can probably tell, edX isn't playing around – the company aims to become one of the leading MOOC sites in the world. FYI, MOOC stands for “massive open online course,” and it has become a very prominent learning method.
Now that you have a general idea of what is edX, we can take the next step in this edX review and discuss is edX worth it or not. We'll begin this discussion by talking about the pros and cons of the platform.
Who is edX For?
You may be asking yourself, Is edX right for me?
That’s a hard one to answer, especially depending on your goals, budget, and time commitment. Saying that, edX does offer a wide range of courses and learning programs, so there is a big chance there is something for you.
Courses
edX offers individual courses, which cover just one topic in detail, and when you successfully complete it you’ll earn a verified certificate.
XSeries
This is normally a group of 3 or more courses that explore a certain skill or topic. The majority of these programs are offered by University partners.
Professional Certificate Program
These programs focus on career development and are corporate-sponsored, that are grouped into 3 or more courses, and advance as you progress.
MicroBachelors Program
These are a series of 3 to 5 courses that are designed to help you be job-ready. On top of that, after completing these courses, you can opt to earn undergraduate credit.
MicroMasters Program
A series of 3 or more graduate level courses, that are offered by top Universities and sponsored by industry partners. Some of these programs may give you the opportunity to transfer course credit to continue into an on-campus Master’s Degree program.
Online Master’s Degree
Its online master’s degrees are delivered by top Universities, hen you successfully complete one you’ll receive a diploma which is the same as on campus student would receive.
Boot Camps and Executive Education
All Boot Camps and Executive courses are delivered on its partner sites, when you successfully complete one you’ll earn a certificate from the partner, not edX.
Getting Started on edX
When you land on edX’s homepage, you navigate to its top courses. Its main course subjects are Data Science, Computer Science, Business, Engineering, Design and much more.
edX is a platform that offers a wide variety of courses and programs; there is a high chance you’ll find something that interests you. Its important to be aware that learning with edX, is for serious learning and to be taken seriously.
In short, edX is good for:
- Professionals looking to gain skills
- Learn at your own pace
- Verified certificates to add to their academic or professional portfolios
- Gain knowledge to advance in your careers
- Individuals looking for affordable courses
edX Pricing Options
The price of courses on online learning platforms tends to be one of the most touchy of subjects. It's really tough for companies to strike a balance between making revenue and keeping the students happy and satisfied. edX is no exception.
If you were to go online and look at some negative edX reviews, chances are that a single topic is going to keep coming up – price. Some people leave quite negative (usually – 1 star) edx.org reviews because they are “disappointed in the direction that the company is taking with pricing“.
These people claim that the company has set out to make learning available to everyone and anyone but is now putting huge price tags on their courses, which directly contradicts the above-given statement. Is that really the case? Well… yes and no.
As I've already mentioned in this edX courses review, there are two types of course tracks that students can take: verified and audited. The audit course track is free of charge, which means that anyone can use it at any given time.
You know the drill; this track allows you to learn the course material for free, but you won't receive a certificate of completion afterward.
When it comes to the verified course track, the price usually starts at around $50 and goes all the way up to $300. That might be a lot of money for some. And, talking about other programs and degree prices, they vary even more and go even higher, depending on what exactly it is that you're looking for:
Professional Certificate Programs | MicroMasters and MicroBachelors Programs | Boot Camps and MicroBootCamps | XSeries Programs | Executive Education Programs | Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctoral Degrees |
from $299 to $1,500 | from $500 to $2,500 | from $1,000 to $5,000 | from $135 to $1,000 | from $500 to $5,000 | from $2,000 to above $10,000 |
We can clearly see that the price tags really do tend to get a bit, well… pricey. So, is edX worth it?
Some might argue that, given the issues with the quality of some courses and the functionality of the platform itself, it might not be. However, I would say that the company offers university-level courses, so the prices do make sense (and many edX course reviews state the same).
Besides the free course track, edX also offers a financial aid program that provides reduced fees for courses in the verified track. Eligibility for this program is based on your income and employment status.
You can apply directly through the platform. However, note that financial aid is granted on a course-by-course basis, so you might need to reapply for each new course.
Ultimately, I can say that edX does have some costly price tags, but it also offers various options for those who seek free education.
edX Customer Reviews
To provide a comprehensive perspective in this edX review, I’ve delved into customer feedback from two review sites: Trustpilot and Sitejabber. This approach enables us to gather insights from a diverse range of users and gain a deeper understanding of their experiences with the platform.
When analyzing Trustpilot data, from 1,291 users that covers that 1-5 star ratings. We found the majority of users, 69% to be accurate awarded the platform with a 5-star rating, while only 8% opted for a 1-star rating. At Sitejabber, feedback was only taken from 6 users, so although it’s a small amount, I wanted to include it in this study, that left edX with an overall rating of 4.17 out of 5 stars.
Rating | Trustpilot | Sitejabber |
---|---|---|
5-star | 69% | 4 |
4-star | 16% | 1 |
3-star | 4% | 0 |
2-star | 3% | 0 |
1-star | 8% | 1 |
Overall | 2.6 out of 5 stars | 4.17 out of 5 stars |
As I delved into the 5-star reviews, I found many customers were happy with the quality of learning, course partnerships and customer services. “I always wanted to study with Harvard and Cambridge…so it was a great opportunity to experience their teaching too…Kind and helpful customer service too” a happy five-star reviewer said.
On the downside, many of the 1-star reviews were disappointed in the teaching quality, customer service, bad user experience. “Teacher was impatient with students and unprepared to start the course” an unhappy one-star reviewer said.
Conclusion:
edX checked all the boxes of the best quality, complete ease of use, adequate study materials, availability of offline modes, mobile-friendly applications, and beginner-friendly courses.
That justifies the fact that edX is worth the hype because it is rare to spot e-learning platforms that deliver the best user experience and accurate explanation of concepts in various courses.
Additional benefits like the provision of accredited certificates and financial aid took edX to the next level since competitors generally fail to produce certificates. Still, certain downsides, like expensive pricing and unavailability of casual courses, were present in edX.
So, if you look at the bright side of using edX, you are getting benefits that cannot be found elsewhere. Since it also has a few free courses, you can take them and decide to proceed ahead!