Certificates from online courses at edX, Coursera, etc....?

<p>Hi, I was looking for additional courses online, and I found out that edX offers courses from the most prestigious colleges like Harvard, Columbia, etc.</p>

<p>I was planning to take one of the courses from Harvard, but I've come up with a question.
There are options on edX such as simply taking courses for free, trying for a certificate, or earning a verified certificate of achievement for a fee. I was going to say I took the class on my college application because I'm homeschooled, and this Harvard online course'll be one of them. So I think I'm going to earn the verified certificate for a fee. It says the minimum is $40. But when I checked on the Harvard website, it says the course costs $1250 or something if I'm not taking it for credit (non-credit course).</p>

<p>What is the difference? The materials seem to be the same.... Why register for it via the Harvard website if it only costs $40 on edX?</p>

<p>Hummm, I haven’t really looked into it, but here’s some initial thoughts (not facts). Regular students taking edX or Coursera type classes will not get credit for them on a transcript, this is not considered a credit class for high school or for transfer, for instance to a college like a high school dual enrollment at a local college would potentially be. It is just something some kids do out of extra interest and it seems to count, at this point in time, like something you do outside of school for personal interest. If you want to get the certificate then fine. It still doesn’t make it a credit, but it does show you have taken it all the way through, should anyone be interested to check. Now my guess is that the course on the Harvard website is through extension perhaps and you do have to take a fee to take classes as a non-enrolled student through extension but I suppose you can get an official transcript for it. That’s my best guess without looking, just something for you to look further into unless/until someone comes along who knows better.</p>