Coursera vs. edX – Review, Comparison & Which is Better?

By Kuldeep Meena 2020-01-16 Career Advice 0 Comments

edX Review

Nowadays, different Platforms are being used for distance learning. As these are the affordable ways for learning skills to advance the career. edX is one of the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) providers. It is the site for online education. Many of the university-level courses in different disciplines are being hosted by edX. It was created by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University in 2012.

How edX works?

There are weekly learning sequences in the edX. Short videos with interactive learning exercises are included in the edX. Even tutorial videos are also available. Students can ask the questions to each other and their teaching assistant on the discussion form by edX. Online labs for some courses are also facilitated by edX. Some courses are free and some are being charged and it depends on the subject. It is working on a non-profit base.

There is a simple formula on which edX works

EdX= Online learning + Interaction + Certificate of completion

Besides the educational offers, edX is also incorporated for research. These researches are conducted by the schools and organizations which are the members of edX. Many educational institutions of the United States, China, Mongolia, Japan etc. are incorporated with edX to provide blended classrooms.

The online courses are available in different languages like Arabic, Catalan, Chinese, English, French, Hebrew, Indonesian, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Thai, and Ukrainian.

As edX is one of the most important platforms for distance learning so near about 14 million students are registered for online education from 100 top universities. 7 universities among the top 10 universities of the world are directly linked with the edX. Harvar d, MIT, Oxford, ETH Zürich, Imperial College London are among them.

Besides these universities, other institutes of higher education can offer online learning via an open-source platform i.e. open edX is developed by edX which is freely available.

There are two simple steps of edX working-

A teacher from the contributing university teaches in front of the camera and all the supportive study material is arranged by the college.
edX is responsible for all the administrative duties like awarding the certificate for course completion and sharing the fees paid for the awarded certificate between the university and the edX.

Coursera Review

Coursera is also one of the largest online learning platform providers in the worldwide. With the MOOC, it offers specialization courses and degrees in various disciplines like social sciences, engineering, computer science, data science, digital marketing, biology, medicine, humanities, and business etc.

This is also an online education site which is available in different languages English, Hindi, Spanish, French, Chinese, Arabic, Russian, Portuguese, Turkish, Ukrainian, Hebrew, German, and Italian

Two professors Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller of computer science from Stanford University founded Coursera in 2012.

Working of Coursera

This website offers multiple courses which last for four to ten weeks with a video lecture of two hours per week and these are consist of assignments, weekly exercises, quizzes and a final exam. The time of completion of the course can be chosen by the user in the Coursera. Top instructors from the world’s best universities are available to teach the various subjects. It contains the 104 courses. Since 2017, it also offers the full master’s degree program and many courses are repeated at regular interval of time. A certificate of completion is provided at the end of a course for which some amount is charged. These certificates can be shared on LinkedIn. Financial aid is also provided to people by the company who deserves it. The cost of the course may depend on its type that one has subscribed to. Even you can master your career skill by a specialization course of 4-6 months. It also helps you for becoming job-ready and you can get a bachelor’s or Master’s degree online it by building your own schedule. Till 2018 Coursera offers six online degree courses for bachelor’s and master’s qualification. It offers

Courses
Degrees
Specializations
Certificate for job
Master’s degree
Online degrees

All over Coursera is a 100% online course where you can learn something new within 4-6 months by paying less.

edX vs. Coursera which is better?

Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) provides free access to education. Coursera and edX both is Massive Open Online Course provider. It is difficult to find the best one but still on figuring out some points you can choose which MOOC Platform is better-

Disciplines taught
Cost of the course
The timeframe of the course
Example of course
Instructors
Certificates
Advantages of edX and Coursera
Drawbacks of edX and Coursera

edX vs. Coursera based on disciplines taught

Coursera offers the courses under the following disciplines-

Social sciences
Physical science
Engineering
Computer science
Information technology
Health science
Arts
Business and
Language learning

Whereas edX offers little broad courses under the following disciplines-

Biology
Life sciences
Chemistry
Environmental studies
Earth sciences
Food and nutrition
Health and safety
Science
Medicinal science
Physics
Arts and culture
Music
Ethics
Design
Communication
Humanities
Literature
Law
Music
Philanthropy
Language
Computer science
Engineering
Education and teachers training
Business and management
Architecture
Data analysis
Statistics
Economics and finance
History etc.

Cost of the course- Coursera vs. edX

The cost of the course also matters. One can also choose the MOOC platform based on cost.

All the courses under edX are free. The user has to pay only for the exams, assignments and certificate of completion. Micro Masters offered by edX include videos, discussion forums etc.
On the other side, Coursera charges some costs for the courses. Some courses in it are free also but they include the review of the subject material.
The specialization courses under Coursera may charge $40 to $80 per month and an online degree course may starts from $15000.

Timeframe of the course

The timeframe of the course is also important when you are going to choose a MOOC platform.

Courses offered by the Coursera are lengthy. As it offers monthly and yearly programs for specialization fields. All the courses on it are longer than 10 hours.
On the other hand, edX offers short-time programs where you can also decide your own time. The user can set the starting and end schedule of the course. It offers courses in terms of weeks not hours. Each program takes a few weeks and one has to pay a few hours per week for learning.

So, if we compare based on timeframe edX is better than Coursera for online learning.

Example of Courses-

Here are some courses which are available on Coursera and edX-

edX:

Hinduism Through Its Scriptures
Marketing Digital: Content & Community Manager
Genetic Models for Animal Breeding
DNA Sequences: Alignments and Analysis
19th-Century Opera etc.

Coursera:

Cryptography
Self-Driving Cars
Measuring Disease in Epidemiology
IBM Data Science Professional Certificate
Stanford Introduction to Food and Health etc.

Instructors

MOOC also depends on the instructors. For online learning, one should have an experienced instructor who prepares the course. They are the professors from the world’s top universities who have experience of years related to their field.

Certificates

Both edX and Coursera are the best platforms for online learning and both of these provide the certificate of completion for the courses offered by them.

EdX offers an Honor Code Certificate which shows that you have completed the course. EdX also offers free certificates but they do not show any official credentials. For a verified certificate with your photo and ID, one has to pay some amount.
On the other hand, Coursera provides the certificate of completion with the backing of the university from which you have completed the course. And it directly uploads the certificates on LinkedIn.

Also read: Udemy vs. Udacity: Detailed Comparison & Which One is Better?

Advantages and drawbacks of MOOC platforms (edX vs. Coursera)

Every coin has two phases. If there are many of the advantages of online learning through edX and Coursera so there are disadvantages too. Here we are going to discuss some advantages and disadvantages of these two MOOC platforms.

Advantages edX

Many of the courses under it are free of cost.
These courses are provided by the well-known institutions of the world.
The user can set the timeframe that the starting time of the course.

Advantages Coursera

It provides you with the verified certificates with your photo and ID which you can use anywhere.
It offers high-quality courses and specializations in various disciplines from the world’s top universities and instructors.
There is a wide range of courses in different languages are offered by Coursera.

Disadvantages edX

Courses by edX are not available all year. The user has to wait for a long time for the starting of the course.
There is less engagement between the professors and the students on the edX.

Disadvantages Coursera

All the courses by it all not free of cost.
It takes too long for the completion of the course.
It does not offer the on-demand course. The user has to wait for the starting and end dates of the courses.