0

I had all my assignments handed in (and did well on all of them) except for pset 8 which says right at the top, "if unable to get the Google Earth Plug-in working on your computer, you may skip this problem set."

On 31 Dec, they put a big yellow-highlighted message on the CS50x page on edx with a continually-updating countdown to the second to 6AM. I was able to get pset8 working and handed in before 6AM, but have found myself auto-enrolled in CS50x3/2015 and without certificate, so clearly they did not count that.

I have emailed every address I can find to ask that they consider my case for a certificate as I in good faith met the deadlines they gave, or at least correct the problem so no one else gets screwed by it; and no one has even bothered to answer. I loved this course and I am really upset.

Did anyone else get screwed or was I the only one idiotic enough to trust the most recent communication we'd had from them (the new announcement on edX)?

Improve this question
7
  • Thanks for responding. Sorry for ambiguity (I tend to think of the project and the psets as assignments) I did the final project early; and my gradebook has 100% on every pset (including pset 8 and the final project) but there is some link I found once and have not yet been able to find again that said that I handed in pset8 late (again, I handed it in per the deadline they gave me). I would have had to click on a link to sign up for CS50x and I am sure that I didn't. When I check on gradebook 2014 and 2015 CS50x it gives me 2 different ones (100% vs all blank, respectively). Any ideas?
    – oneofmanystudents
    Commented Jan 17, 2015 at 12:50
  • Forgot to mention how I found out about the 2015 class: I had the dashboard up and every day hit refresh to check for the certificate; and one day CS50x3 (2015) appeared at the top of the list of classes.
    – oneofmanystudents
    Commented Jan 17, 2015 at 22:27
  • Questions that do not seek expert/informed answers to specific problems are off-topic here. Stack Overflow is not a discussion forum; this type of content belongs on the cs50 subreddit or Facebook group instead.
    – Air
    Commented Jan 21, 2015 at 17:32
  • This seems to seek expert and informed answers to a specific question to me. Specifically I want to know who I can talk to in order to solve my problem, but will take what info I can get. Not all of us are willing to submit to putting our lives online, so I won't sign up for facebook, especially not for one question. Does subreddit track like facebook does?
    – oneofmanystudents
    Commented Jan 23, 2015 at 11:26
  • The site is www.reddit.com/r/cs50. You can read without registration and you have the option of registering without an email address (but you will not have the benefit if password recovery).
    – Air
    Commented Jan 23, 2015 at 14:50

4 Answers 4

Reset to default
1

There was no incorrect deadline. For CS50x 2014 edition, the deadline was 31 Dec 2014. As it says in the yellow box at the top of the course info page:

If you did finish CS50x 2014 and met the syllabus's expectations for a certificate, your certificate should appear at courses.edx.org/dashboard as a downloadable, printable PDF by 31 January 2015. Don't worry if your dashboard says your final grade is 0%. CS50 doesn't use edX's built-in gradebook, so everyone's dashboard says that!

So, sometime in the next two weeks (and by 31 Jan) your certificate link should appear on your dashboard.

Everyone enrolled in 2014 was auto-enrolled in 2015 (probably because there were many people who did not meet the deadline and it was meant to ease their transition to the new year.) Feel free to unenroll from the 2015 CS50x3 class (but, I'd wait until I'd got my certificate from the 2014 class just in case).

Improve this answer
2
  • Thanks, I don't have a problem being auto-enrolled in CS50x2015, I actually think the auto-enrollment is kindof cool; I was just concerned about the potential implications about whether I get a certificate or not. I hope you are right about there not being a wrong deadline; I have proof that at 5:37 PM it had a countdown of 12 hours, 22 minutes and 6 seconds at the time I did the screencap. Can't find a way to post images here though.
    – oneofmanystudents
    Commented Jan 18, 2015 at 0:07
  • Screencap uploaded to........................................ dropbox.com/s/r65wdzpmo4q9vg8/CS50xDeadline.jpg
    – oneofmanystudents
    Commented Jan 18, 2015 at 0:17
1

They are still working on the certificates of the past year. I think nobody has recived one yet. Better wait to see your final grade.

You didn't mentioned in your post but the final project is also mandatory in order to receive the certificate.

You can see if your pset8 was graded by accessing the gradebook with the link on the progress tab in the course page.

I can not tell for sure but i think that they can not auto-enroll you in the new course. If you are enrolled, most probably is that you enrrolled yourself by mistake.

Also noticed that the gradebook is shared for the last year course and the present one, this can create a bit of a confusion.

EDIT:

It seems, as @curiouskiwi says in the comments, that everybody registered in cs50x_2014 has been automatically auto-enrolled to cs50x_2015.

Improve this answer
3
  • everyone was auto-enrolled in the 2015 course to make it easier for folks who hadn't finished yet.
    – curiouskiwi ♦
    Commented Jan 17, 2015 at 23:50
  • Thanks, that's good to know and takes care of one element of the mystery.
    – oneofmanystudents
    Commented Jan 18, 2015 at 0:05
  • Oh, didn't know that auto-enroll was a thing in edx. Thanks for the info. I'll edit the answer.
    – wallek876
    Commented Jan 18, 2015 at 10:22
0

Resolved. I still don't know who to talk to, but I did get my certificate today!

It still says 0% (scary to see even while understanding that they don't store grades on the edx system) but it had a link to download the certificate which when I open it, says I passed.

I wanted to post in case anyone has similar problems in future they can look up one example and know what happened.

Improve this answer
0

I have been burned by a deadline issue on edX. I took a six-week course with only a week remaining until the certificate deadline, which the dashboard stated was Mon 29 May. I hustled all week and Memorial Day Weekend long to complete the work. Once I completed all of the work into the wee hours of the morning of the 29th, I was shuttered into the "audit track" with no certificate available. Their customer service refuses to budge, stating the deadline has passed.

I'm glad to see this isn't just me having this problem. This treatment is not unusual for higher education.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .