2U, the OPM That Includes edX, Files Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

[Jonathan Whatley]

2U, Owner of edX Online Courses, Files Chapter 11 Bankruptcy (Jonathan Randles and Janine Phakdeetham, Bloomberg, July 25, 2024)

Posted shortly prior to that news: OPM Watch: What Happens if Online Giant 2U Goes Under? (Jeremy Bauer-Wolf, New America [think tank], July 24, 2024)

[ss20ts]

Selling edX was such a terrible decision. I've worried about it since 2U purchased it and now I fear for it's survival which sucks because there are some great certificate programs on there which can be used to transfer credits into some pretty well known and pricy colleges.

[wow]

I haven't visited the edx page in a bit so I went to it today. It looks like it's still functioning-- But that makes sense. EdX likely won't see the effects until 2U is a bit further into the bankruptcy process.

But wow, what a different website than the one I remember! I don't like the redesign or the new logo, I can say that much! Nor do I like the course search function, and it bums me out that you have to dig a couple layers to find the more "academic" (less directly career-focused) offerings. Then when I get there, there's no option to filter by instructor-led vs self-paced courses.

I am not going to argue that this is why 2U went bankrupt. it's just my way of agreeing that selling edx was a terrible decision.

[Avidreader]

I am wondering what will happen to the people that are halfway through edx masters degrees. Will they continue the degree knowing the website could vanish tomorrow and leave them with an incomplete degree that might be impossible to transfer elsewhere?

[ss20ts]

I am wondering what will happen to the people that are halfway through edx masters degrees. Will they continue the degree knowing the website could vanish tomorrow and leave them with an incomplete degree that might be impossible to transfer elsewhere?

I was planning on starting a certificate program on edX next month with a college I'm very interested in, but it's wicked expensive. That plan is now on hold until I see how this shakes out. I don't want to be in the middle of a course and everything disappears leaving me out hundreds of dollars and no certificate.

[fmsoa]

I am wondering what will happen to the people that are halfway through edx masters degrees. Will they continue the degree knowing the website could vanish tomorrow and leave them with an incomplete degree that might be impossible to transfer elsewhere?

Many master's programs on edx had already moved/in the process of moving to their in-house platforms. Canvas, Moodle, Brightspace, etc can do the job at-scale just as well. Edx provided almost zero support and customization

[wow]

I am wondering what will happen to the people that are halfway through edx masters degrees. Will they continue the degree knowing the website could vanish tomorrow and leave them with an incomplete degree that might be impossible to transfer elsewhere?

I was planning on starting a certificate program on edX next month with a college I'm very interested in, but it's wicked expensive. That plan is now on hold until I see how this shakes out. I don't want to be in the middle of a course and everything disappears leaving me out hundreds of dollars and no certificate.

When I looked at certificate programs today on edx, it looked like the actual verified certificates say that they come from edx and then mention the teaching institution on the side. That's also what I remember them doing back when I was really active on edx. The fact that the official issuer of the certificates was edx always made me hesitant to shell out money for the bigger programs, because somewhere in the language on the website, it said that students were *not* supposed to advertise that they got the certificate from harvard, mit, stanford, etc, but that it came from edx.

Has that changed, and some certificates are coming directly from the institutions now?

If not, I guess that could be a silver lining of this whole debacle--that these institutions would be issuing their own certificates under their own names, giving them more validity.

[ss20ts]

When I looked at certificate programs today on edx, it looked like the actual verified certificates say that they come from edx and then mention the teaching institution on the side. That's also what I remember them doing back when I was really active on edx. The fact that the official issuer of the certificates was edx always made me hesitant to shell out money for the bigger programs, because somewhere in the language on the website, it said that students were *not* supposed to advertise that they got the certificate from harvard, mit, stanford, etc, but that it came from edx.

Has that changed, and some certificates are coming directly from the institutions now?

If not, I guess that could be a silver lining of this whole debacle--that these institutions would be issuing their own certificates under their own names, giving them more validity.

The certificate I'm looking at completing is definitely from edX and not RIT. I can transfer it to RIT for credit in a specific master's program, but it's not officially an RIT certificate and I'm not an alumni or anything unless I attend RIT and complete the degree there. 

There are still TONS of programs on edX. I don't know what that poster claims moved off of edX. There are still dozens of colleges shown on the website.

[wow]

Thanks for the clarification on certificates, ss20ts.
I haven't looked into the rumor of institutions fleeing from the edx platform. I know that ASU transitioned much (all?) of its Earned Admission courses from edx to its own platforms or providers like Canvas. And I don't think they are using EdX for new credit-eligible MOOCs. The courses for the global leadership MOOCs aren't using the edx platform, for example.
I wonder if the previous person is referring to that, or maybe the fact that Harvard has an online masters programs that it runs through its extension. But Harvard still has things going on at edx as well.
So some of the larger schools may be able to take this in stride, but I think this is very bad news for a lot of the smaller schools like TESU that were using edX to reach a new audience.

[fmsoa]

Thanks for the clarification on certificates, ss20ts.
I haven't looked into the rumor of institutions fleeing from the edx platform. I know that ASU transitioned much (all?) of its Earned Admission courses from edx to its own platforms or providers like Canvas. And I don't think they are using EdX for new credit-eligible MOOCs. The courses for the global leadership MOOCs aren't using the edx platform, for example.
I wonder if the previous person is referring to that, or maybe the fact that Harvard has an online masters programs that it runs through its extension. But Harvard still has things going on at edx as well.
So some of the larger schools may be able to take this in stride, but I think this is very bad news for a lot of the smaller schools like TESU that were using edX to reach a new audience.

You got it. UT-Austin had also pulled all their masters' program courses from edx to their in-house Canvas platform