Last Updated on May 4, 2022
Is edX legit? As the world is expanding, we are also advancing in terms of education. Education has come a long way. From sticks and stones to classrooms, and with the development of the web, we now have the opportunity to learn through online courses.
There are a lot of online learning platforms out there, and one of those is edX. If you are not familiar with EdX, think Coursera for example.
Since MOOCs like edX and Coursera are developing and are sprouting everywhere all over the Internet, we can’t help but ask the question ‘Is edX legit?’. With such a very convenient opportunity to learn, this might be a too good to be true online learning platform.
Also, you think you can only learn courses through edX? You can also make money through their affiliate program! How sick is that? All these will be covered here today.
In this edX review, I am going to introduce you to this MOOC by telling you what it is all about, how it works and most importantly, how you can make money through their affiliate program.
If you are not interested in MOOCs and looking for a real make money online opportunity. you should take a look at my wealthy affiliate review.
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EdX is a MOOC, stands for massive open online courses, which as the meaning implies, is an online platform that provides hundreds of courses covering a wide range of subjects and topics from real and prestige universities taught by actual professors.
This was founded back in 2012 by Anant Agarwal and by founding universities Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology with the mission to provide quality education to everyone around the world.
It has also partnered with over 90 other institutions like University of California Berkeley, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Arizona State University, The University of Texas System, The University of British Columbia and many more.
Over the course of its services, edX features over more than 1,800 courses and 14 million students are already benefiting from these. They have issued more than 580,000 certificates to students worldwide.
The most popular courses included in edX’s list of courses are computer science, business and management, language, engineering, data science, and humanities.
Watch how founder Anant Agarwal explain the importance of MOOCs.
Is edX legit? Before we answer that question, we first have to familiarize ourselves with how edX works.
How Does edX Work?
EdX is an online learning platform in which you can access by signing up on their website. These are easy steps for you to get started learning with edX.
You first have to browse through their course list. Once you have chosen your preferred course, read through the course objectives and the prerequisites needed. Then, you click on ‘Register Now’.
Okay, you might be wondering, there must be some kind of catch to this registration, right? You’re partly right and partly wrong.
You can access edX courses for free! Education can be free with edX. But, of course, there is a paid version that has features the free version does not have. In the free version, you can still benefit from the classes and lessons while also receiving assignments that needs to be accomplished every week.
However, with the paid version, you can maximize your learning experience by making it feel like you are inside an online classroom. Here, you can interact with the online community and even communicate with the professor.
The best part when you purchase the paid version is you will be issued with your own certificate indicating that you have finished the course. As you all know, this is what’s necessary if you want to put it in your resume for job hunting.
Source: Example of edX Certificate
Take note that a course’s price can range from the minimum $50 and to a whopping $300. Also, if you want to take it slow, you can choose the beginner classes then later on progress to the intermediate and advanced classes.
If you feel that a course isn’t worth it and you realize that it’s all too late because you have already purchased it, don’t fret! You can always request a refund within two weeks of initial purchase. You can send an email to billing@edx.org to request your refund.
Plus, if you deem that a course may be too financially burdensome, you may want to try to qualify for their financial assistance program in which you can receive a 90% discount! Nice!
Regardless of what version you prefer, you can log in to your personal dashboard in which the course shall be reflected and you can start studying right away!
Speaking of courses, let me give you an overview of the five different types of courses offered by edX.
edX Verified Courses
If you want to be issued with a certificate of completion, you may want to choose your course from the edX verified courses. In order for you to receive a certificate, you will be asked to submit your photo and a photo of your official ID through the use of a webcam.
XSeries Programs
Here in the XSeries programs, you will also be asked to verify yourself and, thus you will also receive a certificate upon completion. Here you will be provided courses that are expert in instruction and have high-level classwork from top universities like MIT and Harvard.
High School Courses
Of course, if you want to expand your learning resources while you’re still in high school and want to get college ready, you can choose from introductory classes and test preparations in subjects from English to Biology.
Credit Eligible Courses
Courses that are credit eligible will allow you to earn college credits as these courses are partnered with college institutions.
Professional Education Courses
If you are already a working professional and want to expand your resume, you can choose from the professional education courses. You are now eligible to receive a personalized professional certificate of achievement!
How Can You Make Money With edX?
Just like what I have mentioned before, you can make money with edX through their affiliate program.
If you are not familiar with affiliate programs, an affiliate program is where you can refer a product or service to customers and when you do, you will receive a commission. Sounds like easy money, right?
So, how do we get started with the edX affiliate program?
Take note, edX relies on a third party platform for its affiliate membership. EdX is involved with Awin and they are the ones in charge of the affiliate program of EdX.
This implies that you would have to go to Awin’s website to register an account for the edX affiliate program. Just like most affiliate memberships, there is a sign up fee. With EdX though, its not called a sign up fee, it’s more of like an activation fee. Here, you are ought to pay $5.
Good news, according to edX, they will refund you this amount in your first payout.
Once you have paid that and you have applied for the program, wait for the approval of your application for 2 to 3 days.
You can start promoting over a thousand edX courses online to your friends, classmates, family, and colleagues once your application has been approved.
When someone signs up to you edX through your referral, you will earn a commission! It is not stated how much commission you will earn, though. It is only stated that the more you promote, the more you can earn. There’s no limits!
You can track your earnings easily. You can simply see the ‘Earnings’ section on your dashboard in which you can effectively keep track of your affiliate earnings.
Awin provides you with links and banners or custom affiliate links that you can implement on your website or even on your social media accounts!
When you sign up to the edX affiliate program, you are provided with materials that should help you as an affiliate such as:
60 Day Cookie
You might come upon referrals that may have clicked on your affiliate link but thought that they will take their time before deciding to sign up as a student.
Just because they did not sign up the moment they clicked on the affiliate link does not mean that you will not be eligible to earn your commissions anymore.
EdX provides you a 60 day cookie, in which you will still be credited as long as they sign up within 60 days of the initial referral.
Dedicated Account Manager
You don’t have to be alone in your affiliate ventures, you are also given your own account manager that will help with your integration and answer any questions you might have.
Monthly Newsletter
With the monthly newsletter, you will learn about special promotions, deals, and great courses to feature.
Advertising Assets
You will also be provided with professionally designed ad banners in standard IAB sizes.
Is edX legit? You may find the answer to that question after you read the next section.
EdX Red Flags Revealed
Activation Fee of $5
EdX relies on Awin, a third party affiliate tracking platform that tracks clicks and makes payments to their affiliate partners. Naturally, they would request for an activation fee of $5. This might be a turn off to some who wish to be an affiliate but is just caught up in some financial bind.
They do state that you will be able to refund this amount on your first payout. However, payouts usually require you to reach a specific threshold before you can request for one. If you don’t reach the threshold, it might take you a long time to get your $5 back.
Uncomprehensive Courses
For some of you, you might be wanting to pursue a course through edX to further your knowledge and understanding about a certain subject. This might not be what you can expect with edX.
It is reported that edX does not really provide you comprehensive discussions about a certain subject even though the course description says so. Plus, students complain that the educational materials provided are outdated.
Trashy Customer Support
Not all products and services are flawless. There will be times wherein you would have to seek for assistance from their customer service.
The problem with edX is they don’t have a telephone number to directly call. For most of us, we want help and answers fast. Well, you won’t be getting any of that because the only way to contact them is through email.
As you all know, communicating through email takes up a lot of time. A student also reported that edX takes ages before they could respond to your email. You will get an automated message indicating that they will get back to you in a few days, but they never do.
What I Like About edX
Verified Certification
If you are aiming to expand and boost your resume, edX will issue you a certificate of completion for the course that you took up. Take note, this is only available for those who have availed the paid version of the course.
The Chance to Learn More
I just like the overall existence of MOOCs. MOOCs remind us that learning shall not just be restricted to an actual classroom. With edX, you can have the privilege to learn wherever you are. Plus, if you are kind of caught in some kind of financial bind, you can still avail courses for free and try to qualify for a discount for the paid version.
Great Ratings
EdX has over 700 reviews by the time of this post, and they have managed to score 5 stars on TrustPilot. 78% of the customers have rated them Excellent while 15% rated them Great. Only a few percentage have rated them average, poor, and bad! This means that if edX works for these customers, then it might work out great for you as well.
My Final Thoughts! Is edX Legit?
Yes, edX is legit. If you are looking for ways to expand your learning resources and boost up your resume, you may want to sign up with edX and start learning!
The edX affiliate program is amazing as well since you will be provided with banners and your custom affiliate links, your very own dedicated account manager, plus a 60 day cookie to give you a breather. Cool!
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