Coursera and Edx are among the largest and most credible online course services accessible today, however deciding between them may be challenging. If you’ve been trying to find out which one is best for what you want to learn, and then read on.
In this article, we will make an in-depth analysis and examination of Coursera and Edx, point out important differences and support you with your decision.
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Major Differences Between Coursera and Edx
Both Coursera and Edx are online education providers that are supported by some of the most respected and officially recognized universities in the world. They have common services, including master’s and bachelor’s degrees, but more content is provided for on Edx because it operates as a non-profit entity.
In this article, we will look at Coursera and Edx in detail. Including the associated costs with them, the time investment involved the pros and cons of both, and more.
Edx Review
Edx stems from influential roots, although it’s a relatively new platform. It was launched in 2012 by researchers at both Harvard University and MIT, with the mission of “providing high – quality education to students and everyone who wishes to learn around the world” as well as “promoting learning and teaching through study.” Unlike many other learning platforms, Edx collaborates directly with universities and highly respected professors for the purpose of providing expertly crafted courses in hundreds of different areas of study.
There are officially more than 650 programs offered, taught by more than 1,700 faculties and staff. The platform has a staggering 7 million users, and 580,000 certifications have been awarded, which demonstrates the size of Edx. The sub-field of courses comes from top-level universities. Although other online learning platforms exclusively provide general education courses, Edx currently provides five different categories of courses:
- Xseries Courses: You will also receive a Certificate of Completion from these courses; however, they are specifically taught by professors from top-level universities and are considered ‘higher-level instruction.’
- Professional Development Courses: As the name suggests, these courses are structured to improve their professional career skills, so they aim to provide learning in the form of hands-on and experiential learning.
- Edx Verified Courses: Courses in a broad range of subjects and will include a certificate of completion.
- Credit Eligible Courses: Courses, in collaboration with universities and schools, which you undertake to a degree for credit.
- High School Courses: A collection of courses tailored for college-bound high school students with standardized test prep resources.
Finding a Course on Edx
As you’ve seen, it’s difficult to generalize the programs available on Edx. This is largely due to the high volume of courses that are for a variety of purposes. This is a great platform and it offers to meet the wider interests of students, so it’s always easy to find any type of course.
Let’s take for instance; you’re searching for a course; Search filters must therefore include:
- Availability
- Subject Area
- Type of Program
- Partner or Affiliated Schools
- Level
- Language
Costs of Courses on Edx
Edx is a fascinating platform, in that although there are a lot of free courses available, there are also some that cost money. Non-credit courses, like most of the Xseries, are often free of charge. Credit-based or certification courses cost money, but they are very inexpensive. If the course is “featured,” it will most definitely cost you more. Although it’s hard to get a grasp of all price trends – there’s no central pricing model on Edx – many costs $50 a certificate course. The courses in the college credit system are a couple hundred.
Main Subject Areas on Edx
There are a lot of subject areas in which to take courses. Courses and programs are provided in approximately thirty diverse subject areas, which include:
| Engineering | Medicine | Electronics |
| Food and Nutrition | Philosophy and Ethics | Energy and Earth Science |
| Environmental Studies | Physics | Health and Safety |
| Humanities | Science | History |
| Ethics | Philanthropy | Language |
| Law | Music | Social Science |
Coursera Review
It’s obvious to see why Coursera and Edx are often seen as rivals. Coursera was launched in the same year as Edx – in 2012–and had a similar origin, founded by two Stanford Computer Science professors who wanted to set up a network of courses open to all. And, just like Edx, Coursera is working with experts from top universities to offer expert-driven courses.
Coursera tends to be broader in scale, at least on the basis of its internal statistics: the platform has over 35 million users, more than 150 university alliances, more than 2,700 courses, 250 separate fields of specialization and 4 full degree programmes.
Their mission statement is like EdX’s except a bit higher: the learning platform’s mission is to help build and imagine “a world where everyone, anywhere, can change their lives by experiencing the best learning experience in the world.”
Also comparable to Edx, Coursera offers courses for various purposes, although fewer categories than what Edx offers – which would be best for simplicity, but perhaps not as fantastic for everyone. Here are all the types of courses offered by Coursera:
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Open Registration Courses
These are courses that anybody can enroll for and attend for self-improvement, career advancement, and just about anything else. Like Edx, there’s not so much difference as that which teaches courses, and thus there is no special category for courses administered by leading professors, which, in our view, is essentially an advantage.
Online Degrees: Like Edx, Coursera also provides online graduation programs. They do not, however, do as much in offering individual college credit courses as they do. The choices are restricted to Masters Degrees in Business, Computer Science and Data Science.
Specialization: Such courses are particularly appropriate for particular job and career development objectives. Courses are taught in a sequence (as opposed to standing alone) and you will receive a certificate upon completion. These courses often include hands-on tasks.
Although there are fewer definitions, it seems not to be restrictive, so instead there are fewer differences about whether or not professionals from top universities teach various courses.
Finding a Course on a Coursera
Trying to find a course on Coursera is a little less intuitive than Edx is, but you also have to deal with a lot more courses from which to choose.
Even when courses are highlighted in discreet categories, there is very little appearance in search filters; you mostly find courses by selecting pre-arranged categories.
| Digital Marketing | Management | Popular Free Courses |
| Top Rated Courses | Master’s Degrees | Foundations |
| Certificates | Data Science | Cloud Computing |
| Best Selling Authors and Thought Leaders | Most Popular | MBA Help |
| Digital Product | Popular Topics | Python Related Courses |
| Trending Courses | Business English (ESL) |
There is a drop-down menu at the top of the page called “Explore” in which you can search the subject areas. Subject areas include some of Edx’s options, but not all, but also the introduction of engineering courses.
In all, there are 11 categories, which are much fewer than Edx at first sight, however there are some specializations in each of these categories, and the number of course offerings maybe a little more fairly spread, with more focus to all subjects than focus on science.
It’s tougher to access a particular course, although, in some areas, you might also be more likely to locate what you want, possibly because more courses are presented overall.
Cost of Courses on Coursera
From the beginning, the price of various courses is a little easier to understand. Although Edx has various price points in which you can only find by clicking on the program course, Coursera lists its prices for specific course categories and for the front and center choices.
However, you can register for free; there are quite a number of price points depending on what type of course. One thing that is a little confusing about these rates is that some are priced per course, and others are priced per month.
Each type, of course, is given a price point range on the “About” section. The price range is as follows;
Open Access Courses: $29-$99 for every course; the average length is usually 4-6 weeks.
Specialization: $39-$79 each month; generally lasts 4-6 months.
Online Degrees
This has the highest and least beneficial range of rates. It cites a price range of $15 to $25,000, which is actually not very helpful, although it does at least give you limits, which seem like some courses fall within the $20k range, so the $15 estimate is not very clear. The programs run for 1 to 3 years.
Comparison Between Edx and Coursera
Compared to Edx, Coursera has similar functionality in terms of informative video lectures; there is also an equal amount of knowledge about the details of what you’re going to study. However in terms of learning opportunities, Edx seems to be providing a bit more.
Furthermore, the course services and the learning environment differ depending on the various course of the program; there is an opportunity for the mentors of the course as well as complete academic and technical support.
User ratings, however, tell a somewhat different story: on consumer affairs, Coursera did not do as well, with an average of 2 stars. Users enjoyed the informative and knowledgeable coursework; however were less than impressed with the high subscription costs, because there seems to be a lot of poor communication with billing, at least for certain students.
The Forbes review feature painted a different, much more positive picture. The content has been described as interesting, in-demand and complex. It has been confirmed an excellent source of information and has been organized. It seems that the quality of the courses is outstanding; that being said; some overall improvements in billing and communications need to be made.
Final Thoughts
Both Coursera and Edx are fantastic online platforms in terms of the standard of learning and have several impressive characteristics in common. Although it seems like Coursera has a somewhat better interface, a few more functionality and more options overall, Edx might not have as many complaints lodged against it and appears to offer more free or low-cost courses overall.
