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U. to start offering courses on edX this fall

The University will partner with online open course provider edX beginning this fall to launch courses in response to the changing needs of students and faculty, Jeffrey HimpeleGS ’96, Director of Teaching Initiatives and Programs at the McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning,said.

Himpele explained that edX allows the University to integrate online learning into campus courses in new ways to make online and classroom experiences more interactive. He said that edX has a way of grouping students in a class that enables the professor to give certain assignments to some students and other assignments to other students, noting that this feature allows students at the University and students outside the University who are pursuing the same course to be given different assignments.

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The University started having conversations with edX during the late spring and summer, Himpele said.

“We have been continuously interested in exploring a diversity of online course environments,” Himpele said. “edX also offers a robust set of analytic tools that faculty can use to understand their students’ learning and make responsive plans with class-time and constructive adjustments to their courses.”

Wilson School professorJennifer Widner is the instructor of the first University course to be offered on edX. The course, “Making Government Work in Hard Places,” will start later this month, she said.

Widner explained that the course is a reduced version of a graduate-level course focused on addressing challenges that impede efforts to build an effective government. She said that participants will study a diverse array of cases from reform policies of Malaysia to Liberia and analyze concepts including improving service delivery, creating citizen-monitoring systems, coalition building and cross-cabinet coordination.

Widner noted that she had used NovoEd last year to offer courses. She explained that though the site provided decent features, her team decided to discontinue the course when NovoEd organizers began charging instructors who used the platform.

“edX is a little grayer but it works well and puts us in the company of peer institutions. I am sure we will continue to see changes in all platforms over the next year or two,” Widner said.

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However, Widner added that she believes Massive Open Online Courses will never replace the “bricks and mortar” ones.

Nancy Moss, edX Director of Communications, stated that edX is both a nonprofit and open education platform with the mission of increasing access to high-quality education.

“We are honored to connect Princeton’s renowned faculty with our community of global learners,” Moss said. “Likewise, Princeton’s faculty was looking for additional teaching, learning and research tools and capabilities.”

Moss added that edX is a nonprofit, so it can focus on its partners’ and learners’ needs first.

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Courses taken through Princeton edX or through any other online platform do not result in Princeton credit or any sort of credential.

The University, Himpele explained, began using online education platforms three and a half years ago, when it became a charter member of Coursera. He said the motivation was to make University courses available worldwide and, in courses taught at the University, to make the lectures available outside the lecture hall so that the course hours stated on the Office of the Registrar’s website can be used for more interactive discussion.

The University began using NovoEd a year after Coursera, Himpele said, because it allowed for students to work together on projects. The University also started using Kadenze, another online platform, this past spring because it enables faculty members to teach around the arts.

The University does notcurrently have plans for moving specific open online courses from Coursera to edX, Himpele said.

Staff writer Katherine Oh contributed reporting.