How Does It Work?

It’s a powerful yet intuitive tool that allows anyone to generate comprehensive Open edX courses in minutes. Simply provide a prompt, upload relevant documents, and let the AI do the initial heavy lifting.

Start with a topic 

Begin by entering the topic of your course. For example: ‘Data Privacy & Security for New Employees at ABC Corporation’. This sets the foundation for the AI. 

1. Upload  Documents: 

Upload one or multiple documents—handbooks, case studies, FAQs, or any reference material. The AI now pulls insights from all files together, making courses more contextual and accurate 

2. Set audience and duration: 

Specify the target audience (e.g., ‘new hires at ABC Corporation’) and expected duration (e.g., ‘2 hours’). This ensures examples, depth, and pacing match your learners 

3. Pick Components & Generate 
   Select the types of content you need: 

1. HTML Content: Clear, concise textual explanations. 

2. Assessments: Choose from MCQs, checkbox questions, text inputs, drop-down selections, numerical inputs. 

3. Images: Relevant images are automatically created and placed within the content. 

4. Videos: The AI can source relevant public videos (e.g., from YouTube) or pull from your connected video library. (Future integrations could even allow for AI-generated video content via tools like Synthesia). 

4. Interactive Course Outline: 

In seconds, the AI produces a structured outline (e.g., why privacy matters, handling customer data, phishing scenarios). With v2, you can drag and rearrange units, rename or delete sections, or prompt edits like: 

– ‘Add two more phishing examples’ 

– ‘Make this course strictly follow the uploaded documents.’ 

The AI updates instantly. 

5. Preview Before Download 

Once satisfied, click Approve to see a quick preview of the course. This gives you a sense of structure before finalizing. The full interactive version comes alive once imported into Open edX. 

6. Export & Import Seamlessly: 

Once you’re satisfied, the AI Course Creator packages everything into a standard .tar.gz file (typically taking up to 6 minutes to complete the course creation).   

Simply download it and upload it directly to your Open edX instance. From there, you can use the familiar Open edX Studio for any further fine-tuning or updates. 

By leveraging AI for foundational course-building tasks, you reclaim critical hours to dedicate towards strategic, high-value activities. Imagine swiftly moving from concept to delivery, without getting stuck in the initial creation phase.

Recall those long hours outlining courses or searching endlessly for visuals? With the AI Course Creator, your workflow becomes streamlined, efficient, and more creatively fulfilling.

Just the Beginning:

This tool marks one significant step towards our broader vision of enhancing learning ecosystem with AI. We’ll be launching AI-powered tools for Open edX platform, featuring advanced capabilities including:

1. AI Tutoring integrated seamlessly with Slack or MS Teams.

2. Adaptive AI powered Learning paths tailored to learner interactions.

3. AI agents for admin tasks.

And soon, the AI Course Creator will also be available as a plugin inside Open edX Studio – no external downloads required. 

Try the updated AI Course Creator. Share your feedback – it’s exactly how we built v2, and how we’ll keep pushing it forward. 

The post Introducing the AI Course Creator for the Open edX Platform appeared first on Open edX.

The Open edX project is run by Axim Collaborative. They bring together the right partners to ensure that the Open edX Platform remains the best open source learning technology. Axim selected Open edX partner OpenCraft to improve the Open edX Platform to allow learners, faculty, and administrators to better find, organize, and link to content by component or course.

For example, with the new capability, content owners and instructional designers can search for  tags that match their requirements and apply them to their course content. Administrators gain better control over taxonomies, either their own or of third-parties like Open Skills Network or Lightcast Skills, that help them categorize and sort content for better retrieval and understanding. For learners, it means quickly finding the right course to meet their needs.

Adding tags to content is only the start of the Open edX Platform’s Content Tagging Strategy that ultimately will enable authors to build adaptive experiences customized to individual learner profiles and let learners create self-directed learning pathways.

The new tagging system is flexible, allowing users to tag all levels of an Open edX course—from the course as a whole, to its sections, subsections, units, and individual components. The tagging functionality comes with a search feature. For example, say a course developer needs to build a new course and doesn’t know if there might be existing content that she can reuse. With the Open edX platform’s content tagging capability, she can search for tags that match her course requirements.  In the example below, she finds four modules that had been tagged by their creators and adds them to her course. In this way, course authors can quickly build new courses while leveraging the most relevant content. 

Powerful search functionality enables content authors to find items within a course or library using either free-text search or tag-based filtering. Users can refine their search results by content type to make it easier to find a specific section, subsection, unit, or component within a course.

Besides the tagging tool, this effort also includes a taxonomy management system which provides a list of the taxonomies that are available to the user. It also allows authors to import third-party taxonomies like the Open Skills Management Network, or use custom taxonomies created by the organization. Once imported, the user can manage the taxonomy in a number of ways, including editing and updating the taxonomy. Changes will automatically be applied across any course content that has been tagged using the affected taxonomy.

The new capabilities include a taxonomy editor and tagging drawer that primarily uses pre-built components from the  Paragon Design System. A design system is a set of reusable UI elements that deliver visual consistency. By using pre-made components, we ensure the design stays in line with the broader Open edX ecosystem. It also saves development time, prioritizes accessibility, responsiveness, and scalability, and allows us to benefit from ongoing updates from the community.

The Content Tagging feature became available to the Open edX community with the release of Redwood in June 2024. It has continued to grow and improve as the Content Libraries project. We’re thrilled to see course authors actively using the feature and excited to support its continued development.

The post Introducing Content Tagging appeared first on Open edX.

We will explore the challenging yet rewarding aspects of working with the Open edX LMS for a developer, highlighting the extensive customization opportunities the platform provides and the robust community support that accompanies it.

Initially, we will be introducing and emphasizing the significance of the Micro-Frontend architecture in the modern world of web development. Additionally, we will provide some information regarding the challenges that might arise during the process of developing the Open edX theme, as well as the sides that you can truly enjoy. This text will be beneficial plus helpful for all those developers who are willing to utilize the Open edX platform in a more efficient and effective way.

What is the MFE architecture and why is it this important?

MFE or Micro-Frontend architecture, has become an approach that is attracting more attention by day in the modern web application development ecosystem. By enabling big applications to be separated into smaller, independent, easy to manage subsections; this system has replaced traditional one-piece web applications. This way, separate teams can work independently and integrate various technologies, enhance the general performance of the application or make its maintenance more effective.

Among the advantages of MFE is how each module, such as but not limited to user profile, payment system or product search bars, can be developed and distributed separately. These modules can be developed by utilizing different programming languages or frameworks, which enables flexibility in the context of tech stack. Moreover, the process of isolating and resolving bugs becomes much smoother as all modules work independently.

MFE is especially suitable for working with huge and complex web applications however this approach can cause complications for simpler projects.

The enjoyable aspects and challenging sides of developing Open edX themes

The Open edX LMS is a strong open-source e-learning platform, which is used by numerous education companies worldwide. Some of the enjoyable aspects and challenges that you can encounter, while developing the platform theme, are listed below.

Challenges:

• Complex Structure: The Open edX platform has a broad and complicated structure. This might become a challenge for especially new developers at the initial stages of their journey. It can take some time to fully understand the architecture of the system and the elements of it. This process requires intense effort and dedication.
• Customization: Open edX’s theme customization features, algorithms or systems can often become complex. Developers may have to use Django and some other technologies as well as CSS, JavaScript and Python. It is also important that the developer is knowledgeable about and confident with working with the MFE architecture, React and various frameworks, such as Redux and Router. Learning these features in advance can advance the learning process by fastening the progress. Additionally, the length of the style compile can become overwhelming in sections that do not contain MFE.
• Deployment: Even though customization is a rough feature to get used to and become confident/fluent in, after gaining some experience you can become faster and steadier. On the other hand, the duration of the deployment is one thing that I have been dissatisfied with for a long while. Deployment is actually a time-consuming and systematically, computationally intensive operation.
• Documentation: Although Open edX’s documentation is comprehensive, it might sometimes be insufficient and out-of-date, which constitutes one of my biggest challenges. In those cases community support and forums become very important resources for the developer. Yet when the number of Open edX developers is considered, it is obvious that considering or scanning through the responses/solutions coming from the developers for every bug or question mark can become extremely time-consuming.

Enjoyable Aspects:

Communication: In my opinion, the most fun and contributing area is the communication part. Because, for every project made, every new feature developed or every problem encountered, being in a mutual dialogue and negotiation environment can be an excellent opportunity to meet people from different cultures and develop relationships. Mutual exchanges can increase your perspective and imagination. It can dramatically change your future friendships, career changes, and areas of personal growth.

Flexibility and Creativity: The Open edX LMS is a highly customizable platform. It offers a wide range of flexibility when designing your own training platform. This provides an opportunity to generate and implement creative solutions. 

Community Support: Although the process can sometimes take longer, the Open edX ecosystem has a large and active community. This community can be very helpful in solving any problems you may encounter during the development process. Knowledge and experience are shared through forums, GitHub repos, Slack groups, and other resources. 

Contribution to Educational Technologies: While developing the Open edX theme, you have the opportunity to make a contribution to the field of global educational technologies. This can give you valuable experience and connections in your career. 

OmniKampus Ege

OmniKampus Ege is a theme that I developed, inspired by the lush natural beauties of the Aegean region of Turkey. I mentioned the enjoyable aspects of the Open edX platform, flexibility and creativity allow you to work comfortably on the themes you develop. It offers the opportunity to design your file structure, HTML layout, style and script files completely custom. If you wish, you can also proceed by overriding the sections you want to change on top of the default structure. While I make a completely default design for some pages, I proceed by overriding the styles of certain sections for some pages. In the file structure, I prefer to create my own custom style folder and style files with the appropriate naming for the .html files I use, with a different rule from the style addition rule offered by the Open edX software. From my point of view, this method is both more readable and organized. Since OmniKampus solutions are developed under the AGPL (GNU Affero General Public License), which is one of my company’s principles, you can access and contribute to this theme at any time. You can also use OmniKampus Ege in your own projects.

The post New Open edX Theme From Turkey appeared first on Open edX.

Visit the Sandbox

Why Register on the Redwood Sandbox?

Experience the Redwood Release First-Hand:

Get to know the newest Open edX release, Redwood, which was launched in June 2024. Explore exciting new features such as the Content Tagging feature, where tags are structured into Taxonomies, the new navigation experience, and the revolutionary Aspects data and analytics tool designed to provide course creators and administrators with valuable insights on user behavior and performance. Learn more here.

Free and Unrestricted Access:

There is no cost or commitment required to use the public sandbox! Simply register and explore the various user roles the platform offers at your own pace. Experiment with course creation tools and familiarize yourself with the Redwood release and its user interface (UI). The Open edX sandbox provides a risk-free environment to test and evaluate whether this LMS solution suits your project requirements and goals.

Hands-On Discovery for All:

Whether you are an experienced course content developer, new to online learning, or simply curious about the Open edX LMS, this public sandbox is the perfect way to get started.

Seamless Sandbox Development and Maintenance:

Abstract Technology, a verified and trusted service provider in the Open edX community, supports the development and maintenance of this robust and user-friendly sandbox.

The Open edX Sandbox is Perfect for:

Educators and Trainers:

Learn about the latest tools and functionalities in the Open edX platform to streamline online course delivery.

Learning Experience and Instructional Designers:

Experiment with Open edX Redwood’s features to create engaging, interactive, and collaborative e-learning experiences for every type of learner.

Anyone Interested in Open edX:

Explore and evaluate the potential of the Open edX platform for creating and delivering online learning programs.

If you are interested in an Open edX deployment, whether as a SaaS or on-premise solution, simply contact a provider from the marketplace list or reach out directly to Abstract Technology. The open-source community is here to provide help and support for your project. Get in touch with us.

Content Tagging and Taxonomies:

With the new Redwood release, the Open edX platform has introduced a feature that will revolutionize the way educators interact with course content: Taxonomy. This feature offers numerous advantages that enhance the overall learning experience.

Taxonomy allows for a structured classification of course materials. By categorizing content into specific tags and groups, educators can ensure that the material is well-structured. This makes it easier for instructors to navigate through courses, locate specific topics, and understand the relationships between different pieces of content.

Additionally, taxonomies can be uploaded directly into the Open edX Studio. Templates for uploading taxonomies are available for download in Studio as CSV or JSON files. Teachers can easily implement a taxonomy without having to create it from scratch. Download the example files for taxonomies here (CSV and JSON).

This sandbox is hosted by Abstract Technology, an Open edX Partner, and is publicly accessible, ensuring a seamless and familiar experience. With our expertise in developing and customizing Open edX e-learning solutions, we have developed this valuable resource for the community and actively maintain it.

Our team has poured immense effort and passion into this sandbox. We are incredibly proud of what our developers have accomplished for the Open edX community. This sandbox represents the latest advancements and best practices in the Open edX platform, and we are confident that it will meet the high expectations of users and learners worldwide.

Head over to the Open edX sandbox and get ready to explore the exciting world of the Open edX Redwood release. We are proud to empower educators, instructional designers, and learners everywhere with this free and accessible sandbox environment.

The Importance of a Continuous Feedback Loop:

We are always open to feedback and suggestions for improvement. Feel free to contact us and share your thoughts to help us make the sandbox even better.

Only with your feedback can we continuously refine our services and products to meet the needs of our customers and prospects. If you want to share feedback, please use the contact form. Also, check other resources like:

• The Open edX Extensions Directory
• The Open edX Feature List

Already have a running Open edX platform but want to learn more about how to use and implement specific components? Take a look at the How-To-Video series on the Open edX YouTube channel.

If you encounter any problems with the sandbox or have recommendations, suggestions for improvement, or other topics about the sandbox, you can share them here, and we’ll help address your concerns.

The post Explore the Redwood release in the new Open edX sandbox appeared first on Open edX.

Creating a new course from scratch in the Open edX LMS? It sounds exciting, right? But it can also feel like you’re at the foot of a mountain, looking up. That first page – a blank page waiting for your ideas – is both an opportunity and a challenge. Look at it: all clean and empty, ready to be filled with sections and interactive elements that will soon hold your course’s soul.

But let’s be real. Turning this bare outline into a rich learning experience can be tough. There’s so much to do: mapping out the content, designing activities, and all the clicking and typing in between. It’s the kind of work that makes you wish for a magic wand to make it all come alive.

What if I told you that magic is kind of real? Not with a wand, but with the power of AI. What if we could take the tediousness out of the picture and let intelligent technology lend us a hand? That’s exactly what we’re diving into. We’re leveraging the advanced capabilities of Large Language Models (LLM) to generate foundational content. This isn’t about replacing the human touch; it’s about augmenting your creative process with AI efficiency.

AI-Powered Content Generation

By developing a model that feeds on diverse content sources – be it a YouTube video, official documentation like the latest Python documentation, or PDF content – to construct the foundation of our course. This model only uses the content provided and in this way, it provides an insightful learning experience without any hallucination or fabricated information. The model is trained on what a good course looks like and provides its response based on that.

The model also has APIs to integrate it with other tools like editors to make sure we have control over the content, we can edit, improve, and polish it.

The following is a RAG (Retrieval augmented generation) application that gets fed on python 3.12 what’s new doc and creates a short course based on that. 

AI, LLMs and RAG

In the heart of our content creator tool lies a blend of technologies that might sound complex but are quite straightforward. Artificial Intelligence (AI) refers to machines designed to mimic human intelligence. Within AI, we have Large Language Models (LLMs), which are like vast, interactive libraries that understand and generate text in human-like ways. Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) combines the best of both worlds: it fetches accurate information (retrieval) and then creatively molds it into new content (generation). Think of it as a diligent researcher and a creative writer rolled into one. Our application uses these technologies to transform various content into structured educational experiences.

From AI Draft to the Open edX Platform: Refining and Delivering the Course

In the previous step, We used AI to generate our information but that was just the beginning. It’s highly important to add a human touch to our content to transform that information into wisdom. For this step to bridge the gap between AI-generated content and delivering it to the Open edX LMS, we use an editor that makes an API call to model APIs, retrieve AI-generated data, and provides a way for us to edit it and when we are done we can export it as OLX format to load it to the Open edX LMS.

Here is the breakdown of the steps we are going to follow to create our course:

1. Fetch AI-Generated Content: Our Editor communicates with the AI model, providing it with the link to our selected content source.
2. Receive Structured Data: The model processes this content and returns a structured draft of the course, complete with sections, subsections, and initial assessments.
3. Load Into Editor: This draft is then loaded into the editor, laying out the foundation for the course.
4. Edit and Enhance: With the editor, you have the freedom to fine-tune every detail—adjusting the narrative, enriching content, adding multimedia elements, and aligning it with learning outcomes.
5. Export as OLX: Once we’re satisfied with the course content, the editor allows us to export the entire course as an OLX (Open Learning XML) file.
6. Import to the Open edX Platform: The final step is to take this OLX file and import it into Open edX.

Let’s see how it works

Imagine we create a video lecture on YouTube about Python if-else stetements. Now we want to creat a short Open edX course using that video.

1. Let’s enter the video link in the input element of the Editor and click on Create Course

2. After clicking on the button, the editor makes a call to the model’s API and it retrieves the generated content and loads it to the editor.

We should see something like the following in the editor.

3. Now, Let’s fine-tune and enhance our content in the editor, and when we are done click on Export OLX

If our content structure is a valid OLX, the file gets downloaded.

In this example I only added some stylings and a new component Python Code Executer to our course. Remember, this is just a starting point. The essence of a truly successful course lies in the personalized touch you bring to it. AI may lay the foundation, but it’s the insight and expertise of an instructional designer that transform this base into a successful learning experience.

4. Importing the Course into the Open edX LMS

Now let’s go to our course in the Open edX Platform and navigate to the /import/course-v1:TLA+PY106+2024_Q1 URL and Click on Choose a File to Import to pick and import the file downloaded in the previous step

5. Confirm the Course Structure

Now let’s navigate to LMS to confirm our course looks as expected

As you can see we could successfully import our course to the Open edX Platform

In this post, we talked about how AI can help us to speed up the content creation in the Open edX LMS but we’ve only skimmed the surface of what’s possible.

The speed at which AI is evolving promises an even brighter future to have better learning experiences and student engagement.

If you are interested in using this tool with your Open edX instance feel free to reach out to me and I would be more than happy to keep you posted about the development process and give you beta tester access.

For questions or comments, join the upcoming Open edX meetup for free to learn more and register here.

The post AI-Driven Course Creation: Crafting Engaging Content in the Open edX LMS with LLM appeared first on Open edX.

The Open edX platform doesn’t rely on SCORM or xAPI for the creation of your course content, instead, you can leverage the built-in course authoring tools available in Open edX Studio to author your content. When it comes to creating new versions of an existing course, whether it’s because the new course is taking place at a different time or because you need to modify the content without disrupting your original course, the Re-Run feature in Open edX Studio is a lifesaver. 

The Re-run Course button is a great feature to quickly and easily create a duplicate copy or new offering of an existing course in your instance of Open edX Studio

What are Re-Runs in the Open edX LMS?

Re-Runs are a fast, convenient way to reuse your course for a new batch of learners. When you rerun a course, all the content, advanced settings, updates, and grading policies will be copied over to the new course run, whereas none of the user data will be carried across.

This means you can offer the same course to a new group of Learners while reusing all of your content. This can be helpful if you are offering the same course at different times, for example per semester, or if you simply want to take an existing course and improve it for a new audience.

You can watch the video below to see how to Re-Run courses in Open edX Studio.

Who Can Re-Run Courses: As long as you are a Course Team member of the original course, you can make a Re-run of it. To re-run a course, simply visit the Open edX Studio home page, find the existing course that you wish to Re-Run, and click the Re-Run Course button. 

Version Differences: Any changes that you make to your original course after the Re-Run has been made will not be reflected in the Re-Run version of the course, so make sure your original course is ready before making a Re-Run.

What Is Required to Create a Re-Run: You can optionally edit the Course Name and Organization but you are required to change the Course Run. The Course Number will be the same as the original course that you are creating a Re-Run of and cannot be changed.

Get Started

Ready to create your first Course or make a Re-Run? You can get started by signing up for the free Open edX sandbox today. Once you’ve taken the Open edX platform for a spin, we recommend connecting with an Open edX provider from the Open edX Marketplace to help install, host, and customize your OPen edX instance. 

The post Re-Running Your Open edX Course appeared first on Open edX.

The Course Outline is composed of Sections, Subsections, and Units. These are like folders, subfolders, and pages for your content. On top of helping you to organize your entire course by building a navigation experience for Learners, the Course Outline also allows you to apply specific settings to the different Sections, Subsections, and Units inside of your courses. 

Using Subsections in the Open edX LMS

One of the key Subsection configurations is to apply Prerequisites to your course. This means that you can require users to complete certain parts of your course to proceed through and access subsequent parts of your courses. This kind of functionality allows for improved comprehension by your Learners, better retention of those Learners within your course, and the creation of Learning Pathways. 

Prerequisites are an excellent way to to “lock” portions of your course until your Learners have met a set of predefined requirements. For example, to access the “Assessment” Subsection of a course, the user must have completed the preceding Subsection. You can have multiple Prerequisites inside of a single course. Think about it: with the Open edX LMS, you can prevent users from simply skipping to the assessment at the end of your courses.

The video below demonstrates how to configure Subsection Prerequisites in Open edX Studio.

Debugging Prerequisite Issues: In order to utilize the Prerequisite functionality inside of an Open edX course, you must configure the Milestones Application inside of your Open edX instance. To do this, you must set the value of MILESTONES_APP in the lms.yml and studio.yml files to True. For more information about enabling milestones and editing yml files, we recommend reading the documentation available on ReadTheDocs.

Course Structure: 

Prerequisites require at least two Subsections: 

• The Prerequisite Subsection: the Subsection that a user must complete which will unlock access to another Subsection
• The Subsection that Requires the Prerequisite: the Subsection that will be unlocked after the Prerequisite Subsection is completed

You will also need to consider the Minimum Score and Minimum Completion percentage required to unlock the Subsection that requires the Prerequisite.

Get Started

For more information on how to organize your Course Outline and create Subsections, we recommend reading the Create the Course Outline documentation on ReadTheDocs. You can also visit the Open edX Marketplace to connect with an Open edX provider who can help you build and configure your courses and Course Outline or provide you with other specialty services for your Open edX installation.

The post Configure Subsection Prerequisites in the Open edX LMS appeared first on Open edX.

Textbooks in the Open edX LMS

The Textbooks feature in Open edX Studio allows you to connect one or a group of PDF files to your Open edX course. This content type will sit outside of the blocks of content (known as “Components”) that appear on your standard course pages (known as “Units”). In this way, the Textbooks in your course act as supplemental material that your Learners can access and refer to at any point in the course.

The video below walks you through the process of adding Textbooks to your Open edX courses.

Adding Textbooks to Your Open edX Course

Adding the Textbooks:

1. To add a Textbook to your course, visit your instance of Open edX Studio and find your course.
2. From the top navigation menu, click “Content” and then “Pages and Resources”; note that in releases prior to the Open edX Olive release, you will click “Content” and then “Textbooks”
3. If you’re on the Open edX Olive release, click “Textbooks”
4. Here, you’ll see the Textbook interface

Adding the Content:

1. Each textbook you add to the system will consist of a Name, a Chapter Name, and a button to add a Chapter Asset, which is the actual PDF file you will be uploading to your course
2. To select and upload your textbook, click “Upload PDF”
3. Click “Choose File” to use your file browser to upload your PDF
4. Once your file is selected, click “Upload” to add the file to your course
5. Optionally, you can Save now or add new Chapters or additional PDFs by clicking “Add a chapter”

Other Considerations about Open edX Textbooks

Note that you can add one PDF for your entire course but the recommendation is to upload a separate PDF for each chapter of your textbook. This is to ensure simpler file management and better load times for your Learners. Therefore, you may want to break your textbook PDF into separate, smaller PDF files before you upload them to your Open edX course. You can also use this functionality to upload groups of PDFs to your course instead of breaking one PDF into multiple files.

When you add a Chapter, you can only add a Chapter Name and Chapter Asset. If you are uploading a group of PDFs that are not chapters, we recommend using a comprehensive Name, like “PDF Resources”, then you can input the name of each file in the “Chapter Name” section.

Get Started

Textbooks are just one of many content types that can be added to Open edX courses. Content like videos, HTML text blocks, quiz questions, and custom content types, are all available in the Open edX LMS. Get started with the Open edX sandbox today and get help from an Open edX marketplace provider when you’re ready to take your LMS to the next level.

The post Adding Textbooks to Your Open edX Instance appeared first on Open edX.

SCORM packages are typically exported from systems like Articulate, Adobe Captivate Prime, or your preferred SCORM content authoring systems as zip packages. From there, they can be uploaded to your LMS with relatively little headache.

Using SCORM in the Open edX Platform

Although content developed in Open edX Studio does not need to be developed in the SCORM format, content that is developed in that format can still be added to an Open edX course and played back for your users. This is especially helpful if you already have content from a previous LMS or content library in the SCORM format that you would like to include in the Open edX platform. 

The video below is a comprehensive walkthrough of how to set up your SCORM XBlock.

Debugging your LTI XBlock: Note that to get SCORM working on your Open edX platform, you have to make sure you have added the edx_xblock_scorm XBlock to your Open edX instance. There may be another SCORM XBlock you’re using, but the video above is covering the edx_xblock_scorm XBlock. For help deploying this XBlock or any others onto your Open edX instance, we recommend reading the installing-the-xblock documentation available on ReadTheDocs.

Configuring the LTI: In addition to the Display Name for your SCORM content, you can configure other settings like the score and completion, as well as the size of the SCORM window or whether to load in a full-screen window.

Get Started

SCORM is a great way to extend the usability of your Open edX platform. It allows you to continue using renowned authoring platforms and content for other LMSs within your Open edX platform. But when it comes to managing an Open edX instance, you don’t need to do it alone. Providers in the Open edX marketplace can help you get your platform up, running, and customized the way you want. You can even get help from providers with expertise in instructional design and authoring!

The post Leveraging SCORM in the Open edX Platform appeared first on Open edX.

LTIs are also available in the Open edX platform via XBlocks and the LTI Component. XBlocks, first developed by edX, are a specific Component type in the Open edX platform “designed to make it easier to create new online educational experiences.” You can think of them as plugins, widgets, enhancements, and add-ons for your course experience.

With the LTI XBlock, best-in-class platforms like Zoom, TurnItIn.com, as well as countless other solutions, are capable of being connected to your Open edX platform. Additionally, LTIs can allow you to connect your Open edX platform to external solutions (like other LMSs) to pass information from the LMS to the external platform.

Adding LTIs to Open edX Studio

The video below contains a complete walkthrough of how to utilize the LTI XBlock in the Open edX platform. We specifically showcase how to connect Zoom to your Open edX instance, which will allow you to add live and recorded Zoom sessions to your courses. 

Debugging your LTI XBlock: If the steps in the video aren’t working for you, make sure the lti_consumer XBlock has been deployed on your Open edX instance. This is typically already deployed as part of Open edX installations but for details on how to deploy this or any other XBlock in your Open edX instance, we recommend reading the installing-the-xblock documentation available on ReadTheDocs.

Adding the LTI:  To connect to your external platform, you’ll need an ID (the name of the platform like “zoom”), the LTI Key, and the Secret Values. Remember, each external platform will have different LTI Keys and Secret Values to be added to your course.

Configuring the LTI: With the LTI XBlock, you can configure additional settings for your LTI as well, including the Display Name, the LTI Version, and any custom parameters available from your external systems. You should select the LTI Version that is compatible with the platform that you’re looking to integrate inside of your Open edX course. With regards to Zoom, we use LTI 1.1 standard. The external application may also provide Custom Parameters, like the Instructor Email from Zoom. There are other editable settings available in Open edX Studio to further customize the content from your platform.

Get Started 

If you want to try out LTIs today, you can register today for the Open edX Sandbox. You can also connect with one of the numerous providers on the Open edX marketplace to help you install and configure your LTIs for the Open edX platform. 

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