2. Exploring Your Dashboard and Profile#

After you create an account, you can see the courses you have enrolled in on your dashboard, create a profile, and change account or course settings.

You can access course, account, or profile information from any page on the website, whether you are in a course or browsing the course catalog. Select the dropdown menu icon next to your username, and then choose one of the following menu options.

  • Dashboard gives you access to the courses and programs that you have enrolled in, and to information such as course start and end dates, certificates, and email settings.

  • Profile gives you the option to provide personal information about yourself that other course participants can see, such as an image and biographical information.

  • Account gives you access to your account settings and preferences. For example, you can update your password or email address and set your time zone.

2.1. Accessing Your Courses from the Dashboard#

Your dashboard lists all of the courses that you are enrolled in. When you create an account or enroll in a course, you automatically go to your dashboard. You can also access your dashboard by selecting the dropdown menu icon next to your username at the top of any page.

The menu that appears on the website when you select the dropdown icon next to your username. The Dashboard option is circled, and the other options are Profile, Account, and Sign Out.

You can find information about your courses and change course-specific email subscription settings on your dashboard. For more information, see Updating Course-Specific Settings.

The dashboard has three main pages.

  • The Courses page provides information about your courses and allows you to change course settings. By default, the dashboard opens to the Courses page. The Courses page on the dashboard now includes two main categories of filters with subcategories in each main category. Course Status includes ‘In progress,’ ‘Not Started,’ ‘Done,’ ‘Not Enrolled,’ and ‘Upgraded.’ These different filters allow you to filter all of the courses based on the course status. Sort includes ‘Last enrolled’ and ‘Title (A-Z).’ These filters allow you to filter the course alphabetically or when you were last enrolled in the course.

  • The Programs page lists any programs, such as XSeries or MicroMasters programs, that edX offers for courses that you are enrolled in. Programs appear on this page if you are enrolled in any course that is part of that program. This page also shows how many courses in the program you have completed, how many are in progres, and the number of remaining courses you have left in the program. For more information, see Explore edX Programs.

  • The Discover New page take you to the edX website and will allow you to search for any courses on the edX platform that interest you.

2.1.1. Sharing Your Courses on Social Media#

On your dashboard, you can share the courses you are enrolled in on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

This feature is available only if it has been enabled by your course provider.

  1. Sign in to the social media site on which you want to share your course enrollment.

  2. From your dashboard, find the course that you want to share.

  3. Click or tap the menu button (triple dot icon) at the top of the course card. In the dropdown select the “Share to (social media site)” item for the social media site of your choice (e.g. Twitter, Facebook). This will open a pop up which will allow you to share info about the course to social media.

  4. Optionally, modify the text of the social media message.

  5. Select the appropriate button to publish your message on the social media site.

2.2. Adding Profile Information#

Your personal profile allows you to optionally share information about yourself with other participants in the courses that you take. If you choose to add profile information, course teams and other learners in your courses can view the information that you share.

You can share either a limited profile or a full profile.

Note

If you are under 13 years of age, your limited profile only includes your username. You cannot add a profile picture.

  • A limited profile shares only your username. You can also add a profile picture, if you are over 13 years of age.

    A learner's limited profile showing only username and image.
  • A full profile includes the following details.

    • Your full name

    • Your username

    • Your profile image (optional)

    • The date that you joined edX

    • Your language (optional)

    • Your location (optional)

    • Information about you (optional)

    • Links to any course certificates that you have earned

    • Links to your social media accounts (optional)

    A learner's full profile shows full name, join date, location, language, biographical information, links to course certificates, and linked social media icons, in addition to username and profile image.

2.2.1. Add or Update a Limited Profile#

A limited profile includes only your username and, optionally, an image.

Note

If you are under 13 years of age, your limited profile only includes your username. You cannot add a profile picture.

To add or update a limited profile, follow these steps.

  1. At the top of any page, select Dashboard from the dropdown menu icon next to your username, then select the Profile tab.

  2. In the header area of your profile page, for Profile Visibility, select Limited Profile.

  3. (optional) Add an image that you want to associate with your username. Your image must be a .gif, .jpg, or .png file. The image must be between 100 bytes and 1 MB in size. If you do not add an image, the placeholder image appears as your profile image.

    1. Move your cursor over the placeholder image, and click Upload an image.

      A profile with the image upload area selected.
    2. In the file navigation window, select the image file that you want to use as your profile image, and then click Open.

    To change or remove your profile image, move your cursor over your image, and then select either Change image or Remove. When you remove your profile image, the placeholder image appears as your profile image.

The site saves your changes automatically.

2.2.2. Add or Update a Full Profile#

Note

You must specify your year of birth on the Account Settings page before you can share a full profile. If you are under 13 years of age, you can share only a limited profile.

If you create a full profile, you share the following information in addition to your username and profile image.

  • Your full name.

  • Your location.

  • Your language.

  • A paragraph about yourself. You might include your interests, goals, or other information that you want to share. This paragraph can contain up to 300 characters.

  • Links to your personal social media accounts.

To add or update your profile, follow these steps.

  1. At the top of any page, select Dashboard from the dropdown menu icon next to your username, then select the Profile tab.

  2. In the header area of your profile page, for Profile Visibility, select Full Profile.

  3. (optional) Add a profile image.

    Your image must be a .gif, .jpg, or .png file that is less than 1 MB in size. If you do not add an image, the placeholder image appears as your profile image.

    1. Move your cursor over the placeholder image, and click Upload an image.

    2. In the file navigation window, select the image file that you want to use as your profile image, and then click Open.

    To change or remove your profile image, move your cursor over your image, and then select either Change image or Remove. When you remove your profile image, the placeholder image appears as your profile image.

  4. On your profile page, move your cursor over the information that you want to change.

  5. Click inside the field to choose an option from the list, or enter text.

The site saves your changes automatically.

Note

If you change your profile type from Full Profile to Limited Profile, your full name, location, language, and descriptive paragraph are no longer visible on your profile page. However, this information is saved, and becomes visible again to other learners and course teams if you change your profile back to Full Profile.

2.2.4. View Another Learner’s Profile#

You can view other learners’ profiles through their posts, responses, or comments in course discussions.

  1. On the Discussion page, select the username of any learner in a post, a response, or a comment.

    A page that displays the discussion activity only for the selected learner opens.

  2. On the learner’s Discussion page, select their linked username.

The learner’s account profile page opens.

2.3. Updating Course-Specific Settings#

From the dashboard, access the courses that you are enrolled in and change course-specific settings. You can also unenroll from a course from the dashboard.

2.3.1. Change a Course Email Preference#

To subscribe or unsubscribe to emails from a course, follow these steps.

  1. On your dashboard, locate the course.

  2. Select the course settings icon. The course settings icon resembles a gear and appears next to View Course or View Archived Course.

    The course settings icon next to the View Course button on the learner dashboard.
  3. Select Email Settings.

  4. Select or clear the Receive course emails check box, and then select Save Settings.

    Note

    If you clear this check box, you will not receive any of the email messages that course teams send to communicate with enrolled learners in the course.