DEMOCRATIZING EDUCATION: THE POTENTIAL OF EDX IN REVOLUTIONIZING LEARNING

An open source learning management system (LMS) and course authoring tool, edX has been set up as a not-for-profit enterprise and its primary backing has come from MIT and Harvard. EdX is testing out diverse proposals to improving its set of courses and producing returns, offering paid-for services for students who are employing the platform as a distribution mechanism for their own courses, and is providing a suite of charged-for services to its collaborators. EdX furnishes its university partners a selection of two cooperation patterns. The first (the "university self-service model") fundamentally enables an involved institution to utilize edX's platform as a free learning-management arrangement for a course if portion of any returns brought about by the course proceed to edX. The second (the "edX-supported model") assigns the institution in the function of consultant and design collaborator, providing "production assistance" to universities for their Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). EdX does not charge for the certificates that productive learners obtain for passing the supervised exams. This paper analyzes the edX's approach of doubling down on producing higher quality, customized and virtually supervised learning experiences that can be provided for credit to assimilators on a route towards a degree. With more 90 partner entities, $60 million as capital and over than 6 million learners, to supply credit edX should establish quality learning settings that satisfy the demands of various learners, and are accepted as valid by organizations and employers (the edX courseware should alter from a content distribution platform into a thorough learning experience).