EdX, the online learning initiative founded by Harvard and MIT, has announced a new partnership with The Linux Foundation, in which they will be offering their “Introduction to Linux” course on the edX platform. This course, offering basic Linux training for free, will help students become better equipped for the hundreds of thousands of jobs supporting the open source operating system. Previously offered as an online course for Rs. 1,44,000, Introduction to Linux will be The Linux Foundation’s first free Massive Open Online Course (MOOC).
The Linux Foundation has long offered a wide variety of online training courses for the Linux operating system for a fee. This introductory class on edX.org, for Linux beginners and experts alike, will begin this summer and will be the first from The Linux Foundation to run as a MOOC. Nearly 90,000 people have registered to date, and with no cap on registration, many more are expected to enroll.
The Linux Foundation’s Executive Director Jim Zemlin said, “Our mission is to advance Linux and that includes ensuring there is a talent pool of Linux professionals. To deepen that talent pool and give more people access to and the best career opportunities in the IT industry, we are making our Linux training program more accessible to users worldwide.” He further added, “EdX shares our values in increasing access to course material that can help learners achieve their personal goals and advance important technologies like Linux. EdX, like Linux Foundation, is not-for-profit and uses open source to innovate. Our partnership is a natural one, and we look forward to working together to bring important knowledge to the masses.”
Anant Agwaral, edX CEO, said, “Linux is the world’s largest collaborative development project, and people everywhere want to understand how it works and how to tap into that massive community to advance their careers and general understanding of how technology today is built.” He added, “The response to their course has been remarkable. Within five days 50,000 people had signed up and we are now nearing 90,000 enrollees.”
Students who register for “Introduction to Linux” will have the option to either audit the course for free (with complete access to all course material, tests and online discussion forum) or pursue a Verified Certificate of Achievement for about Rs. 15,000.
EdX offers more than 160 courses in many areas of study, including the arts and humanities, public health, law, math and computer science. More than 400 faculty and staff teach on the edX platform and over 130,000 certificates have been earned by edX students.
