EDx Courses, experience?

[Mandylubug]

Looking to see how many have utilized EDx or MIT Open Courseware with their high schoolers and what is your opinion of the courses?

 

My son is currently beginning the CS50 course and Basic Spanish.

[LisaKinVA]

Oldest son is using EDX Preparing for the AP English Exam as part of his English course this year.  He's still in the first section.  It's tolerable (according to DS)

 

Three of us are using EDX' Italian courses (pretty well done).

 

Oldest son enjoyed the Structural Engineering course that came out in August.

[MarkT]

Since edX is only the web delivery platform, each course will be different content and style.  The delivery is very similar but the college, not edX, creates the problem sets. I have participated in 3 courses so far. Only one had not so great problem sets and incomprehensible scoring. 

 

You will see typos.

Check ratings for the particular course.

General questions on edX, Coursera and the like don't have much value.  Your student will either like the platform or not.  

Specific course questions are preferred such "Has anybody used edX CS50?"

[Haiku]

My dd attempted a programming class through the edX platform.

 

The auto-scorer for the homework assignments was very buggy. After being in tears multiple times because code that was correct and worked produced an error or was incorrectly scored by the auto-grader, my dd gave up.

 

I've found that we're not a fan of classes where it's not easy to access an instructor or assistant. Supposedly they had assistants, but they were so inundated with students that days would go by before dd received answers to her queries.

 

We were not impressed.

[Mike in SA]

We've done several courses via MIT-OCW, all excellent.  There is no scoring provided - you must be qualified to provide support and grading.  In many cases, the books used have solutions manuals, fwiw.

[Lanny]

When I first read this thread, I thought that edX courses are FREE.     I found a course I would be interested in taking (I have experience in that), but then it shows the price is $699.  I'm Retired and if it is free, I'm interested, but not at $699.. :confused1:

https://www.edx.org/course/air-safety-investigation-delftx-aeasm513x#!

[Lanny]

Follow on to my post #6:  I found another course, my DD would be interested in, on edX.  It is from the same university in Holland.  It is FREE or $50 if you want a Verified Certificate.  Possibly with time they will offer the other course I referenced FREE and I can enroll?  Or, do they offer courses that are FREE and also courses that are $$$$?   

 

https://www.edx.org/course/solar-energy-delftx-et3034x-0

[SarahW]

When I first read this thread, I thought that edX courses are FREE.     I found a course I would be interested in taking (I have experience in that), but then it shows the price is $699.  I'm Retired and if it is free, I'm interested, but not at $699.. :confused1:

https://www.edx.org/course/air-safety-investigation-delftx-aeasm513x#!

 

 

I think because that one's professional education with certification? Usually you can "audit" for free, though.

 

I don't know anything about this course, but just an fyi, Delft is the Dutch version of MIT. If you were looking to get a certification in this area, it could be a really good value.

[Corraleno]

Follow on to my post #6:  I found another course, my DD would be interested in, on edX.  It is from the same university in Holland.  It is FREE or $50 if you want a Verified Certificate.  Possibly with time they will offer the other course I referenced FREE and I can enroll?  Or, do they offer courses that are FREE and also courses that are $$$$?   

 

https://www.edx.org/course/solar-energy-delftx-et3034x-0

 

Some are free and some are $$$; that's true of many of the universities that offer EdX courses, not just Delft. Usually the "professional education" courses that offer CEU certificates have fees. Many of the professional/fee-paying courses are part of what they call the XSeries. For example, ASU offers a series of courses on dog behavior and training that are $349 each; U Michigan has a 4 course series on Finance that are $99 each. Sadly, some uni's are even starting to charge for some of their courses in areas like history and science (as in, charge just to take the course, not audit for free and pay only if you want a verified certificate). Harvard, Columbia, and ANU are three that I know of that are adding for-pay XSeries courses to their EdX offerings, but I'm sure there are more.

[Lanny]

Thank you both for your explanations. Much appreciated!

 

[Lanny]

Further investigation leads me to believe (at this time, with very little knowledge about these online courses) that the FREE ones are MOOC courses.   I'm not sure if all FREE courses are MOOC courses or v.v.    I think with time Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University will offer a FREE course, like the one Delft University is charging for, and if and when they do that, I'll enroll.  FREE is better for our budget since I'm retired.   Possibly not the same depth, but it is for my own personal interest, and not professionally related at this time.