Harvard is the world's most famous university and is part of the prestigious Ivy League group.
Several U.S. presidents and CEOs of companies like Facebook and Goldman Sachs are Harvard alumni.
There are only about 20,000 students enrolled on campus at any time.
However, with the help of online courses (MOOCs), more than 6 million learners around the world are enabled to participate in high quality education.
(Search the Harvard courses? Jump to our directory.)
How Does a Harvard MOOC Work?
Harvard was a founding member of the edX course platform in 2012 (together with MIT) with the goal to make higher education content accessible worldwide.
The online courses are offered as MOOCs (massive open online courses):
(More information about MOOCs.)
Online Courses with Millions of Learners
By far the best-known Harvard MOOC is CS50: Introduction to Computer Science.
The course provides a comprehensive introduction to computer science, programming and web development based on the on-campus course for undergraduate students. More than one million learners have already enrolled in the online version, and the lecturer (Professor David Malan) enjoys cult status among his students worldwide.
Also well-known is a course on moral philosophy (Justice). This MOOC has also had hundreds of thousands of online students so far.
Intro video to the CS50 video course
Further courses are offered in various subjects: From architecture to biochemistry, Chinese history, and world literature.
Around 100 courses are available via edX (list of Harvard courses). Many of the courses are in computer science as well as in humanities and social sciences.
Free Learning
The standard video courses via edX are usually structured as follows:
In addition, there are more extensive paid course series that conclude with a Professional Certificate. For example, the course series on Data Science includes 9 individual MOOCs over several months and costs $400-500 to complete.
Get A Harvard Certificate for Your Resume?
If you choose the Verified Certificate option, you can get a certificate upon successful completion:
The certificate is issued under the HarvardX brand, as shown above.
Certificates can be integrated into your LinkedIn profile and can thus directly be verified by third parties.
When applying for a job, the HarvardX certificates show your skills and your committment to education. This is a positive signal towards potential employers ("Are The Certificates Worth It?").
Please note: MOOCs usually do not offer academic degrees. Verified Certificates can be seen as evidence of individual educational efforts.
More Online Courses from Harvard
In addition to the free MOOCs at edX, the university also operates:
How exactly the various online learning initiatives will differ from each other in the future is the subject of current debate.
An interesting experiment regarding 3D Virtual Reality lectures shows that Harvard does not shy away from further e-learning innovations.
The Conclusion?
With a total of around 6 million learners, Harvard MOOCs offer attractive educational opportunities for users worldwide. Around two thirds of learners come from countries outside the U.S.. The online format easily overcomes any geographical distance.
Their courses are suitable for many learners: For current students, for professional training or for private education.
Also, since many of the courses can be taken free of charge, barriers to learning are low.
Another key advantage: In contrast to some other online programs, Harvard makes sure that their courses meet their high quality standards.
Edukatico is Your Search Portal for Online Courses
If you can't find the right course from Harvard, there are various other high-quality universities from around the world (Stanford, Oxford, HEC Paris, and others) that also offer MOOCs. Discover them with our search portal.
You can search 8,000+ MOOCs and other online courses from more than 50 providers and 22 subject areas in our directory.
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