Cornell University will launch on Sept. 13 on the edX platform "The Science and Politics of the GMO", a course on the genetically modified organisms (or GMOs), that have transformed the way we produce and consume food. The five-week, free, non-credit introductory course will examine why the GML is politically contentious. The course's professors are featured as super-heroes in the funny, cartoon-style video (above).
The Introduction to Philosophy: God, Knowledge and Consciousness MITx course on edX will allow students to obtain a verified ID certificate and have their work graded and commented on by professional philosophers. “This is a big deal — the first MITx humanities course to offer students the chance to write a paper and have it carefully reviewed by instructors,” says Caspar Hare, who will be running the popular MOOC for the third time. “Listening to lectures and reading books is great, but philosophy is all about taking complex ideas and organizing them in a simple way. You learn by writing, specifically writing to someone.” The course, which costs $300 with a verified certificate and starts on August 29th, will introduce students to theories around knowledge, beliefs, and consciousness, the existence of God and notion of proofs; the debate between free will and determinism. One of its goals is to move students from discussion to development of critical reasoning and argumentative skills. The new instructor grading and feedback feature will enable that process to take shape, according to MIT News. The course is also available for free without the certificate. According to The Wall Street Journal, philosophy majors tend to earn more than people with majors in accounting, business management or computer science.
Arizona State University’s and edX’s Global Freshman Academy (GFA) has presented its course offering for this fall, with nine online courses intended for college credit at the freshmen-level. There are two modalities: free courses and $49 ID Verified, credit-eligible courses. Students pay for credit only after a successful completion of the course with a C or better. College Algebra and Problem Solving – 3 Credit Hours: Course content will be self-paced, personalized with individualized coaching for each topic, and adaptive –with the Aleks technology intended to allow students to master a concept before moving on to the next. Introduction to Sociology –3 Credit Hours Human Origins – 3 Credit Hours Technological, Social and Sustainable Systems – 3 Credit Hours English Composition: Research and Writing – 3 Credit Hours In this course, starting on October 15, 2016, students will learn by engaging in local problems and issues and completing a research project. Global Freshman Academy accounts this year for more than 4,400 students, 5 percent more on this fall than on the last, according to Arizona State University.
Teach for America (TFA), an organization that works with communities to expand educational opportunity for children facing the challenges of poverty, will offer, on October 10th, its first edX course, How to Teach High School Geometry, after joining the MIT’s and Harvard’s founded organization. In this course, high school math teachers will learn how to develop lesson plans, how to teach geometry concepts in innovative and exciting ways and how to enable students to explore math practices on their own.
The University System of Maryland (USM), which comprises 12 institutions, has joined edX as a Contributing Charter Member. As a result of this partnership, USM will offer for-credit courses. The first course, offered by UMUC and the University of Maryland, Baltimore,  will be Global Health – The Lessons of Ebola, starting on September 20. It will explore how multidisciplinary teams can work more effectively together to address global health needs and examine why local health issues affect us globally. USM's investment on edX has been 2 million dollars.
