When crisis strikes, education must endure.
That was the mission driving the launch of the Nation-Wide Online School for Ukraine, a platform designed to provide seamless, equitable, and high-quality education to over 500,000 students in grades 5–11 during times of disruption, war, and uncertainty. Backed by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, the Ministry of Digital Transformation, Osvitoria, UIED, and global education donors, this initiative rapidly deployed a robust national learning platform based on the Open edX LMS, one that supports distance and blended learning at massive scale.
Building a Scalable, Inclusive Learning Platfom
Ukraine’s strategy focused on delivering three guarantees:
- Guarantees of access to knowledge for students,
- Guarantees of delivery for teachers,
- And guarantees of resilience for the system as a whole.
To meet these goals, the team needed an LMS that was:
✅ Open-source and adaptable
✅ Scalable to hundreds of thousands of users
✅ Easy for educators to manage without training
✅ Equipped to deliver content in inclusive and mobile-friendly formats
After analyzing technical requirements and future demands, the Open edX LMS emerged as the ideal platform.
Customizing the Open edX LMS for National Scale
The Open edX platform was customized and extended with:
- A Teacher’s Office, allowing instructors to duplicate and tailor master courses
- Role-based access controls for administrators, methodologists, instructors, and learners
- Full integration with mobile and offline access
- Inclusive features like sign language translation and audio descriptions, supported by UNICEF Ukraine
Teachers could easily:
- Invite learners
- Track performance and view grade journals
- Send communications
- Manage discussions, all from a single dashboard
The result? A user-friendly interface requiring no additional training, a crucial factor in fast national rollout.
Results: From 35,000 to 500,000+ Students
What started with just 35,000 registered learners grew to over 500,000 active users, covering 18.5% of all Ukrainian pupils in grades 5–11. The platform delivered:
- Nationwide learning continuity during school closures
- Open access for learners in occupied territories or abroad
- Resilience and transparency across regions
- Full alignment with Ukraine’s national education standards
Platform Modules and Features
🖥️ LMS
- Course catalogue, registration, glossary, email modules
- Journal of assessments, bookmarks, admin panel
🛠️ Studio
- Course creation and editing
- Media uploads, textbook management, certificate generation
📱 Mobile App
- Access to materials and communication for learners on the go
🔎 Preview Mode
- Instructor preview for quality assurance before publishing
A Blueprint for Digital Education Resilience
The Ukrainian case is a standout example of how open technologies, expert collaboration, and a shared vision for equitable access can create impact, even under the most difficult conditions.
As the world looks to future-proof education, Ukraine’s Open edX–based model offers a blueprint for resilience, scalability, and inclusion.
Learn More
Explore the full case study below, or contact Raccoon Gang, the Open edX implementation Partner, to learn how the Open edX LMS can support digital education in your country or institution.
