MOOC Provider edX More Than Doubles Its University Partners
Fifteen more universities have agreed to offer free massive open online courses through edX, a nonprofit provider of MOOCs founded by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University, more than doubling its membership, from 12 to 27.
Tuesday’s announcement came as the group celebrated its first anniversary and as its leaders said it was bringing in revenue and was on track to financial sustainability.
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edX defines itself as a nonprofit alternative to Coursera and other for-profit companies that are working with colleges and professors to deliver MOOCs. Leaders of edX stressed in their latest announcement that, unlike those efforts, edX aims to help colleges use technology to rethink campus education as well as deliver online courses.
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More than 900,000 people are now registered users of edX, and Mr. Agarwal said that its plans to generate revenue—through selling validated certificates to those who complete courses and charging licensing fees to colleges that teach courses based on its videos—are on track.
“edX has been overwhelmed with interest by NGOs [nongovernmental organizations] and corporations and universities looking to either license courses or use the platform, so we have pilots ongoing which are already producing revenue,” said Mr. Agarwal. “That gives us confidence that we will be well on our way to being sustainable within three to five years.”
https://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/mooc-provider-edx-more-than-doubles-its-university-partners/43917