As lead sponsor for the Open edX Conference 2015, we were thrilled at the turnout and the energy from such a diverse attendance — global attendance, higher ed & industry, IT consultants & internal IT staff. Clearly there is much excitement and activity around the Open edX platform. The community is growing and the platform is both getting better and easy to try out. This is why we’re so excited.
Contributions to the community
There are good reasons that we were both the sole sponsor of last year’s conference and the lead sponsor of this year’s conference — we are big believers in the power and flexibility of this platform. How have we acted on this belief?
- We are creating the xblock directory, a tool for the community to use as a general repository of these flexible modules for extending the platform’s abilities. (An official announcement will be coming out soon.)
- We have contributed, and continue to contribute, to the edX and Open edX platforms.
- We have been a primary contributor to the new search functionality that is being rolled out in the platform’s next release.
- We co-chair the Open edX Adaptive Working Group.
- We co-organize the Open edX Boston Meetup group with edX and Appsembler.
At the conference we saw lots of people and organizations with lots of interest in extending the platform and in becoming active in the community. The talks were well attended with many good questions about both technology and usage. We were very happy with the turnout to the talk given by Ed Daciuk, a principal at ExtensionEngine, on using an adaptive learning approach with the Open edX platform.
Trying out the Open edX platform
The Open edX platform (and the made-for-MOOCs edx.org web site) is very appropriate for any organization looking to do online or blended learning at any scale, with or without adaptive learning or a CBE-focus. There’s no such thing as Open Coursera, so don’t go looking for it. Further, the platform continues to get better and more easily meet the needs of a broader audience. As the leading provider of Open edX expertise, ExtensionEngine is a fantastic partner for anyone looking to explore how to use Open edX — or even how to then integrate it with their Canvas LMS (since we’re an Alliance Partner with Instructure).
Contact us and talk with us about your needs. We have probably already implemented something similar so we can share some insights.
