Hello again from edX! We’ve been busy for the past few weeks, enjoying the Open edX Conference and developing new features and capabilities for you and your learners.
Open edX Conference
We had a wonderful time at Open edX Con this year! Over 200 attendees gathered to enjoy presentations and exchange ideas over two days on Wellesley’s beautiful campus. The two-day hackathon that followed generated 23 projects from 75 participants. Many thanks to all those whose time and effort made the conference possible!
For a blog post recapping Open edX Con 2015, see 2015 Open edX Conference Wrapup.
For a list of the hackathon projects, see Project Presentations.
To see videos of all the Open edX Con presentations, including the breakout sessions, check out the Open edX YouTube channel.
Oppia
We’re excited to announce the addition of the Oppia XBlock! Oppia is an open-source learning platform that allows you to create short, interactive tutorials—called “explorations”—that you can then embed right in your courseware using the XBlock. These explorations can cover any subject, from accounting to zoology. (As one edX employee put it, “These are really cool!”) To add an Oppia exploration to your course, you create the Oppia exploration, then create a link to the exploration using a new advanced component in Studio. EdX captures events when learners interact with the Oppia exploration, so you can see the ways your learners are using your content.
For more information about adding an Oppia exploration, see Oppia Exploration Tool.
Event Data Configuration
EdX has recently updated the configuration process for transmitting event data to Segment. Instead of using the SEGMENT_IO_LMS feature flag and the SEGMENT_IO_LMS_KEY key, you now add SEGMENT_KEY and a valid Segment API key to the lms.auth.json file. For more information, see Segment in the EdX Developers Guide.
Coming Soon
These new features will soon make their debut in the edX platform.
ORA File Uploads
Thanks to an open source contribution, we’re expanding the capabilities of open response assessments. Currently, learners can upload only .jpg and .png image files in their open response assessment submissions. An upcoming change will allow uploads of any file type, including much-requested .pdf and .doc files. System administrators can set a list of restricted file types to help prevent learners from uploading malicious files.
Self-Paced Course Improvements
We’re making improvements to our self-paced courses. Soon, you’ll be able to specify that your course is self-paced by using a setting in Studio, and learners will no longer see assignment due dates in the LMS.
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