edX is a platform which offers free online interactive courses from the top universities in the world. Part of the MOOC movement, it offers a variety of courses across all disciplines from engineering, business to literature.
For students enrolled in the Entrepreneurship 101 and 102 courses, there is an extra incentive to finish and get a certificate of completion: $1000 in free credit for the Amazon Web Services. edX spokesperson Nancy Moss said, “[The Amazon offer] is to provide a valuable incentive for people to take and finish the course.”
The courses opened on last Friday and are still in their first week of instruction so it’s not too late to enroll. Keep in mind that you will need to pass the course as a verified student to get the free credit. That means a minimum of $50 in fees. However, that should be more than offset by the value and perks you are getting.
Online courses like these are undoubtedly beneficial to thousands but completion rates are still quite low in comparison. A study showed less than 10% of the students usually make it to the end. With this offer though, that could improve dramatically.
Erdin B. Beshimov, who is the the producer of Entrepreneurship 101 and 102, said:
“The way to fix dropout rates is to make better courses. This offer is really just a benefit for the students. Some of them will want to start ventures after completing the course, and this is a great way for them to get something online.”
Here is the complete list of goodies you get if you enroll and pass either course as a verified student.
- $1,000 in AWS credits valid for 2 years
- Free access to the AWS Essentials: 1 day web-based or instructor-led training (normally ~$600/course), plus 8 tokens for self-paced labs (normally ~$30/lab)
- One month of premium AWS Business Support
- Free access to 1:1 virtual office hours with AWS solutions architects
- Special offers from other companies that help startups, including Chef, Bitnami, Amazon Payments, SOASTA, Podio, CopperEgg and more
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