Coursera, EdX Offer Free Access to Courses for Universities Impacted by Coronavirus

With universities all over the world looking to quickly move face-to-face classes online, massive open online course companies Coursera and edX have stepped in to offer access to their vast portfolios of course content.

Coursera announced today it will provide the Coursera for Campus platform free to higher education institutions impacted by coronavirus. "Universities can sign up to provide their enrolled students with access to more than 3,800 courses and 400 specializations from Coursera's top university and industry partners," explained Coursera CEO Jeff Maggioncalda, in a blog post. The access will last through the end of July, at which point the company said it will "provide month-to-month extensions depending on prevailing risk assessments." And students who enroll in Coursera courses on or before July 31 will retain access until Sept. 30, 2020.  

For its part, edX has launched a Remote Access Program for its global university partner community, giving students free access to courses and programs from all edX partners participating in the initiative. "We want to help our university partners best support their students during this tough time," said edX CEO Anant Agarwal, in a blog post. "We believe that by sharing access to content across a global group of universities, we can unite like-minded students and instructors to learn as a digital community."

For more information, visit the Coursera and edX sites.

About the Author

Rhea Kelly is editor in chief for Campus Technology, THE Journal, and Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • student reading a book with a brain, a protective hand, a computer monitor showing education icons, gears, and leaves

    4 Steps to Responsible AI Implementation

    Researchers at the University of Kansas Center for Innovation, Design & Digital Learning (CIDDL) have published a new framework for the responsible implementation of artificial intelligence at all levels of education.

  • three glowing stacks of tech-themed icons

    Research: LLMs Need a Translation Layer to Launch Complex Cyber Attacks

    While large language models have been touted for their potential in cybersecurity, they are still far from executing real-world cyber attacks — unless given help from a new kind of abstraction layer, according to researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and Anthropic.

  • Hand holding a stylus over a tablet with futuristic risk management icons

    Why Universities Are Ransomware's Easy Target: Lessons from the 23% Surge

    Academic environments face heightened risk because their collaboration-driven environments are inherently open, making them more susceptible to attack, while the high-value research data they hold makes them an especially attractive target. The question is not if this data will be targeted, but whether universities can defend it swiftly enough against increasingly AI-powered threats.

  • magnifying glass revealing the letters AI

    New Tool Tracks Unauthorized AI Usage Across Organizations

    DevOps platform provider JFrog is taking aim at a growing challenge for enterprises: users deploying AI tools without IT approval.