Open edX
 | This article may rely excessively on sources too closely associated with the subject, potentially preventing the article from being verifiable and neutral. (May 2022) |
 Logo of Open edX | |
Type of site | Online education |
|---|---|
| Available in | Multilingual (14) |
| Created by | MIT and Harvard and edX |
| URL | www |
| Commercial | No |
| Launched | June 2013 |
| Current status | Active |
| [1] | |
The Open edX platform is the open-source software whose development led to the creation of the edX organization. On June 1, 2013, edX open sourced the platform, naming it Open edX to distinguish it from the organization itself.[2] The source code can be found on GitHub.[3][4] The platform was originally developed as a research project at MIT, with maintenance transferred to edX in 2012.
When edX was acquired in 2021 by 2U,[5] the Open edX team and maintenance were transferred to the Center for Reimagining Learning (tCRIL), a nonprofit founded by Harvard and MIT with the proceeds from the acquisition.[1] In 2023, the nonprofit was renamed the Axim Collaborative.[6]
Uses
Open edX was designed for the edX project, which remains the largest global installation as of 2022, with over 3000 courses and 500,000 regular users. The Open edX community maintains a catalog of other installations, including fully-hosted learning sites open to public courses and 350 other instances run by organizations of all sizes.[7]
An Open edX marketplace also features partners that provide various services to community members running their own instances in multiple languages.
Software
| Version [8] | Date | Version | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Initial | 2013-06-01 | Aspen | 2014-10-28 | |
| Birch | 2015-02-24 | Cypress | 2015-08-13 | |
| Dogwood | 2016-02-11 | Eucalyptus | 2016-08-26 | |
| Ficus | 2017-02-23 | Ginkgo | 2017-08-14 | |
| Hawthorn | 2018-08-07 | Ironwood | 2019-03-22 | |
| Juniper | 2020-06-09 | Koa | 2020-12-09 | |
| Lilac | 2021-06-09 | Maple[9] | 2021-12-20 | |
| Nutmeg | 2022-04-12 | Olive[10] | 2022-10-11 | |
| Palm | 2023-06-14 |
The platform has been released one to two times a year since 2013. Each release is named after a tree, honoring the tree of knowledge.
The Open edX server-side software is based on Python, with Django as the web application framework.[11]
Community
Platform design and development have been co-designed with its community from early in the project's history. The community maintains several working groups focused on marketing, build-test-release cycles, translation, data design, front-end design, and code deprecation.[12]
The community hosts an annual Open edX Conference, which rotates worldwide each year. In 2022 it was held in Portugal.[13]
References
- ^ a b Rosenberg, John S.; Shaw, Jonathan (2021-09-10). "edX Exit". Harvard Magazine. Retrieved 2022-05-25.
- ^ "Stanford to collaborate with edX to develop a free, open source online learning platform". Stanford University. 3 April 2013. Archived from the original on 2014-07-18. Retrieved 2014-06-25.
- ^ "edX". GitHub. Archived from the original on 2016-11-05. Retrieved 2017-02-09.
- ^ "EdX-platform". GitHub. Archived from the original on 2017-04-29. Retrieved 2017-02-09.
- ^ Lederman, Doug (2021-11-17). "2U Completes Purchase of edX". Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved 2022-05-25.
- ^ Rosenberg, John S. (2023-03-30). "Axim Online Education Venture Debuts". Harvard Magazine. Retrieved 2023-07-05.
- ^ "Sites powered by Open edX Platform - Open edX Community - Open edX Confluence". openedx.atlassian.net. Retrieved 2022-05-14.
- ^ Open edX Named Releases https://edx.readthedocs.io/projects/edx-developer-docs/en/latest/named_releases.html Archived 2019-08-01 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Documentation for the Open edX community | edX". docs.edx.org. Retrieved 2022-05-14.
- ^ "changes in the "Olive" release | Open edX". raccoongang.com. Retrieved 2022-05-14.
- ^ "Open edX Architecture". edX Inc. Archived from the original on 19 May 2017. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
- ^ "Open edX Community Working Groups – Open edX". openedx.org. Retrieved 2022-05-14.
- ^ "Shaping the Future of Education Together – Open edX". openedx.org. Retrieved 2022-05-14.
External links
- Open edX Conference site
- Documentation site for the platform