CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts,
Sept. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Online
learning venture edX continues to transform higher education by
announcing today its agreement with Pearson VUE to offer learners
the option of taking a proctored final exam.
"Our online learners who want the flexibility to provide
potential employers with an independently validated certificate may
now choose to take the course exam at a proctored test site," said
Anant Agarwal, president of
edX. "This option enhances the value of our courses in the
real world, helps us maintain our goal of making high-quality
education both accessible and practical and thus is a natural
evolution of edX's core philosophy of transforming lives through
education."
Pearson VUE, a Pearson business, is the global leader in
computer-based testing. Due to this new agreement, edX
learners now have the option of taking a course final exam at one
of over 450 Pearson VUE test centers in more than 110
countries. Proctors at the centers will verify the identity
of the examinee and administer the tests. Examinees using the
Pearson VUE centers will take the same rigorous exam as online
learners and will be charged a modest fee for the proctoring
service. EdX will offer the option to test takers for one of
its online courses this Fall.
Robert Whelan, president and
chief executive officer of Pearson VUE said, "We are thrilled to
collaborate with edX and help its learners improve their
employability and career prospects. Pearson VUE is also pleased to
help edX protect the integrity of their courses by providing the
option of proctored exams."
About edX
EdX is a not-for-profit enterprise of its founding partners
Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that features
learning designed specifically for interactive study via the web.
Based on a long history of collaboration and their shared
educational missions, the founders are creating a new
online-learning experience with online courses that reflect their
disciplinary breadth. Along with offering online courses, the
institutions will use edX to research how students learn and how
technology can transform learning–both on-campus and worldwide.
Anant Agarwal, former Director of
MIT's Computer Science and Artificial
Intelligence Laboratory, serves as the first president of edX.
EdX's goals combine the desire to reach out to students of all
ages, means, and nations, and to deliver these teachings from a
faculty who reflect the diversity of its audience. EdX is based in
Cambridge, Massachusetts and is
governed by MIT and Harvard.
About Pearson VUE
Pearson VUE (www.pearsonvue.com) is the global leader in
computer-based testing for information technology, academic,
government and professional testing programs around the world.
Pearson VUE provides a full suite of services from test development
to data management, and delivers exams through the world's most
comprehensive and secure network of test centers in more than 175
countries. Pearson VUE is a business of Pearson (NYSE: PSO; LSE:
PSON), the international education and information company, whose
businesses include the Financial Times Group, Pearson Education and
the Penguin Group.