Open edX Learner’s Guide¶

December 2015¶

October 2015¶

August 2015¶

June 2015¶

May 2015¶

The edX Partner Portal¶

The edX Partner Portal is the destination for partners to learn, connect, and collaborate with one another. Partners can explore rich resources and share success stories and best practices while staying up-to-date with important news and updates.

To use the edX Partner Portal, you must register and request verification as an edX partner. If you are an edX partner and have not used the edX Partner Portal, follow these steps.

1. Visit partners.edx.org, and select Create New Account.
2. Select Request Partner Access, then fill in your personal details.
3. Select Create New Account. You will receive a confirmation email with your account access within 24 hours.

After you create an account, you can sign up to receive email updates about edX releases, news from the product team, and other announcements. For more information, see Release Announcements by Email.

The Open edX Portal¶

The Open edX Portal is the destination for all edX users to learn about the edX roadmap, as well as hosting, extending the edX platform, and contributing to Open edX. In addition, the Open edX Portal provides product announcements, the Open edX blog, and other rich community resources.

All users can view content on the Open edX Portal without creating an account and logging in.

To comment on blog posts or the edX roadmap, or subscribe to email updates, you must create an account and log in. If you do not have an account, follow these steps.

1. Visit open.edx.org/user/register.
2. Fill in your personal details.
3. Select Create New Account. You are then logged in to the Open edX Portal.

System Status¶

For system-related notifications from the edX operations team, including outages and the status of error reports. On Twitter, you can follow @edxstatus.

Current system status and the uptime percentages for edX servers, along with the Twitter feed, are published on the edX Status web page.

Resources for Course Teams¶

Course teams include faculty, instructional designers, course staff, discussion moderators, and others who contribute to the creation and delivery of courses on edx.org or edX Edge.

Resources for Researchers¶

Data for the courses on edx.org and edX Edge is available to the “data czars” at our partner institutions, and then used by database experts, statisticians, educational investigators, and others for educational research.

Resources for Developers¶

Software engineers, system administrators, and translators work on extending and localizing the code for the edX platform.

Resources for Open edX¶

Hosting providers, platform extenders, core contributors, and course staff all use Open edX. EdX provides release-specific documentation, as well as the latest version of all guides, for Open edX users. The following documentation is available.

• Open edX Release Notes provides information on the contents of Open edX releases.

• Building and Running an Open edX Course is a comprehensive guide with concepts and procedures to help you build a course in Studio, and then use the Learning Management System (LMS) to run a course.

  When you are working in Studio, you can access relevant sections of this guide by selecting Help on any page.

• Open edX Learner’s Guide helps students use the Open edX LMS to take courses. This guide is available on the docs.edx.org web page. Because learners are currently only guided to this resource through the courseware, we encourage course teams to provide learners with links to this guide as needed in course updates or discussions.

• Installing, Configuring, and Running the edX Platform provides information about installing and using Devstack and Fullstack.

• The edX Platform Developer’s Guide includes guidelines for contributing to Open edX, options for extending the Open edX platform, using the edX public sandboxes, instrumenting analytics, and testing.

• Open edX XBlock Tutorial guides developers through the process of creating an XBlock, and explains the concepts and anatomy of XBlocks.

• Open edX XBlock API Guide provides reference information on the XBlock API.

• EdX Open Learning XML Guide provides guidelines for building edX courses with Open Learning XML (OLX). Note that this guide is currently an alpha version.

• EdX Data Analytics API provides reference information for using the data analytics API to build applications to view and analyze learner activity in your course.

• EdX Platform APIs provide reference information for building applications to view course information and videos and work with user and enrollment data.

Resources for Learners¶

edX Learning Management System¶

The following table shows operating system and browser support for the edX learning management system (LMS), which learners and course teams use to interact with course content.

For more information about the LMS, see Building and Running an edX Course.

edX Studio¶

The following table shows operating system and browser support for edX Studio, which course teams use to build a course.

For more information about Studio, see Building and Running an edX Course.

edX Insights¶

The following table shows operating system and browser support for edX Insights, which course teams use to review and download data about their courses and learners.

For more information about edX Insights, see Using edX Insights.

Overview¶

After you create an edX account, you can view a list of your current courses, change your account settings, or create a profile. You can access course, account, or profile information from any edX page, whether you are in a course or browsing the course catalog.

• Your dashboard gives you access to course information, such as start and end dates, email settings, and certificates. To access your dashboard at any time, select your username in the upper right corner of any edX page.
• The Account Settings page allows you to change settings such as your email address, education level, and country or region, and to link your edX account to a Facebook or Google account. To access your account settings at any time, select the arrow next to your username in the upper right corner of any edX page, and then select Account Settings.
• On your profile page, you can create a profile that includes an image and biographical information. To access your profile at any time, select the arrow next to your username in the upper right corner of any edX page, and then select My Profile.

Exploring the Learner Dashboard¶

When you create an edX account or enroll in an edX course, you automatically go to your dashboard. You can also access your dashboard at any time by selecting your username in the upper right corner of any edX page.

Your dashboard contains important information about your courses. You can take several actions on your dashboard.

• Access your current and archived courses.

  To access a current or archived course, select View Course or View Archived Course. Note that archived courses may provide limited access to content.

• See when courses start or end.

  Course start and end dates appear below the name of the course.

  • If a course has not yet started, you see the course start date.
  • If a course has started but not ended, you see the course end date.
  • If a course has ended, you see the course end date.

• Change your course email settings.

  1. Select the Options icon for the course, and then select Course emails.
  2. Select or clear the Receive course emails check box, and then select Save Settings.

• Unenroll from a course.

  To unenroll, select the Options icon for the course, select Unenroll, and then select Unenroll in the confirmation dialog box.

• View your grades in courses that you have completed.

  Your final grade appears under the name of the course.

• Download a certificate.

  To download a certificate, select Download Your Certificate (PDF) or Download Your ID Verified Certificate (PDF). You can then print the PDF certificate.

Exploring the Account Settings Page¶

When you create an account on edX, some basic information is required, including your email address and your name. You can also provide additional, optional information when you create your account, such as the level of education you have completed. Course team members can access this information to find out more about the learners who enroll in their courses. This information also helps edX increase the quality and quantity of our courses.

Exploring the Profile Page¶

Your edX profile allows you to share information about yourself with the edX community. Your profile can include an image that identifies you on the edX site as well as your location and other biographical information. Course teams and other learners in your courses can view your profile.

You can share a limited profile or a full profile.

A limited profile can include only your username and an image.

A full profile can include biographical information.

View Another Learner’s Profile¶

You view other learners’ profiles through the course discussions.

1. On the Discussion page, select the username of any learner in a post, a response, or a comment.
2. When the Active Threads page for that learner opens, select the learner’s username in the upper left corner of the page.

The following image shows a learner’s username in a post, the learner’s username on the Active Threads page, and the learner’s profile page.

Basic Elements: Posts, Responses, and Comments¶

Discussions are made up of posts, responses, and comments. Together, posts, responses, and comments are known as contributions, and a post together with its responses and comments is an exchange.

• Posts initiate a conversation by asking a question or making a statement for learners to consider.
• Responses reply directly to the post.
• Comments, in turn, reply to specific responses.

The following conversation shows each of these contributions:

Post: "Please introduce yourself."
  - Response: "My name is Lee and I teach secondary school maths in Canberra,
    Australia."
  - Response: "Hello everyone, I am Sumei from Hong Kong, China."
    - Comment: "Hi Sumei, I am taking this course in Hong Kong too. Maybe we
      should make a study group!"
    - Comment: "I'd like to join the Hong Kong study group too, I think it
      will help me keep up with the homework."
  - Response: "Hi from Johannesburg! I am taking the course to prepare for my
    matric exams."

You can see posts, comments, and responses, as well as other information about the course discussions and individual posts, on the Discussion page.

The Discussion Page¶

When you go to the Discussion page in your course, you see a page that looks like the following image. You can select the image to enlarge it.

Right Pane¶

When you select the Discussion tab, the right pane opens to a home page that lists ways that you can interact with posts. Each of these interactions is covered later in this topic. For more information, see the following sections.

• Explore Posts
• Follow Posts
• Provide Feedback on Contributions

On the home page, you can also specify that you want to receive an email message each day that summarizes discussion activity for the posts you are following. To receive this daily digest, select the Receive updates check box.

After you select the title of a post, the right pane shows the original post, responses to the post, and comments on responses. The page is formatted to help distinguish between posts, responses, and comments:

• The post and its title appear at the top of the page.
• Responses appear indented and with a white background below the original post.
• Comments on a response appear with a gray background below the response. The font size for comments is smaller than the font size for responses.

These elements appear in the image below. You can select the image to enlarge it.

Additionally, in the upper-right corner of every post, response, and comment, you can see several option icons. The icons that you see depend on the type of contribution. (For more information, see Provide Feedback on Contributions.)

The icons that you see might include the following options.

• A plus sign (+), together with the number of votes the post has received. Select this icon to vote for the post or response. For more information, see Vote for Posts or Responses.
• A star (posts only). Select this icon if you want to follow the post. For more information, see Follow Posts.
• A check mark (responses only). For questions, the student who posted the question, or discussion team member, can use this icon to indicate that the response is correct. For more information, see Answer Questions and Mark Questions as Answered.
• An ellipsis, or “more”, icon (...). When you select this icon, you may see several additional options:
  • Edit. This option is only visible if you are the author of the post, response, or comment. You can change the text of your contribution, or, for posts, you can change the type of post. For more information, see Edit or Delete a Post, Response, or Comment.
  • Delete. This option is only visible if you are the author of the post, response, or comment. For more information, see Edit or Delete a Post, Response, or Comment.
  • Report. You can use this option to report an inappropriate post, response, or comment. For more information, see Report Discussion Misuse.

Overview¶

Finding out whether someone else has already asked the same question or initiated a conversation about the subject that interests you, and then reading and contributing to that exchange instead of starting a new one, helps make the time that everyone spends with the course discussions more productive. You can search for something specific, or you can browse through the posts in a single discussion topic.

Search the Discussions¶

To search for text, select All Discussions and enter a phrase, a word, or part of a word in the Search all posts field above the list of posts. When you press Enter, the search tries to find:

• A match or close match to your text in any post, response, or comment. The display updates to show a list of the posts that have a match at any level of interaction.
• A similar value in any post, response, or comment (if no exact matches are found). A “No results found for {text}. Showing results for {similar}” message appears above the posts that have similar text at any interaction level.
• Any usernames that are an exact match to your text. A “Show posts by {username}” option appears above any posts that have an exact text match at any interaction level. Select the username in the message to read that user’s posts, responses, and comments. For more information about viewing contributions from a specific user, see View Contributions from a Specific Participant.

View Discussions about a Specific Topic¶

Every post in the course discussions has an associated topic. When a participant creates a post, the participant selects a topic from a list of topics that the course team has provided. You can look through topics in the discussions to find one that you’re interested in.

Discussion topics for edX courses can be course-wide or content-specific.

• Course-wide discussion topics cover matters that affect the entire course, and can include topics such as “Frequently Asked Questions” and “Troubleshooting”.
• Content-specific discussion topics cover specific video lectures, reading assignments, homework problems, or other course content.

View Topics in a Course Unit¶

Content-specific topics are located in specific units in the course. They typically appear below the content they apply to.

You can access a content-specific topic by viewing the unit that contains the topic. To see the discussion, select Show Discussion.

You can also use the Discussion page to access a discussion in the unit where that topic is located.

1. In the list of topics, select the topic that you want.
2. Select the name of a post to open the post in the right pane.
3. In the right pane, select the name of the discussion topic below the text of the post to go to the discussion inside the unit.

View Only Unread or Unanswered Posts¶

To limit the posts shown on the Discussion page, you can select one of the filter options. Above the list of posts, the Show all filter is selected by default.

• To list only the discussions and questions that you have not yet viewed, select Unread.
• To list only question posts that do not yet have any responses marked as answers, select Unanswered.

View Pinned Posts¶

Pinned posts appear at the top of the list of posts when you view all discussions. Pinned posts can contain important information about the course or any part of the course, such as a particular video or problem. The pinned post may originate from anyone in the course, including students and the discussion moderation team, but only members of the moderation team can pin posts.

View Contributions from a Specific Participant¶

You can review all the posts, responses, and comments that a specific participant has made. You can select other learners, or members of the course team. To do this, select the username that appears at the top of any of the participant’s contributions. A page opens that shows the following information about the participant.

• The participant’s username.
• The participant’s role (for example, student or community TA).
• The number of posts the participant has created (listed in the upper-left corner as the number of discussions started).
• The total number of responses and comments the participant has added to other posts (listed in the upper-left corner as the number of comments).
• A list of all the posts that contain a contribution from the participant, whether the participant created the original post or contributed a response or comment to a different post. The list of posts includes the title of the post and the username of the participant who created the post. To see the comments or responses on any post, select View Discussion below the post to open the discussion on the Discussion page.

Add a Post¶

When you add a post to a discussion in your course, you decide what type of post to make and the topic of the post. You then add the post either directly inside the course unit or on the Discussion page.

Determine the Post Type: Discussion or Question¶

To make sure that other students and the course team can find and respond to your post, decide what type of post you want to make: either question or discussion.

• A question post raises an issue so that the discussion moderation team or community can provide answers.
• A discussion post starts a conversation by sharing thoughts and reflections, and inviting community participation.

If you have any difficulty deciding which type of post you want to add, think about whether you want to get concrete information (a question) or start an open-ended conversation (a discussion). If you are asking a question about the course and need an answer from the course team, be sure to create your post as a question, so that the course team sees that a response is required and responds appropriately.

After you make your post, on the Discussion page for your course, a question mark image identifies posts that ask questions and a conversation bubble image identifies posts that start discussions.

Determine the Post Topic¶

Every post in the course discussions has an associated topic. The course team creates the list of discussion topics for each course, and you’ll choose a topic from the list when you create your post. Before you add a post, you should look through the list of topics in the course discussions so that you can decide which topic is the most appropriate for your post. For more information, see Explore Posts.

After you’ve decided on a post type and topic, you can add your post on the Discussion page or in the body of the course.

Add a Post on the Discussion Page¶

You can add a post for course-wide or content-specific discussion topics on the Discussion page.

1. Select the Discussion page.

2. In the upper-right corner, select New Post.

3. Select Question or Discussion to select the type of post that you want to create.

4. Select the most appropriate discussion topic for your post.

   

5. In the Title box, enter a short, descriptive title. The title is the part of your post that others see when they are browsing on the Discussion page or scrolling through one of the content-specific topics.

6. Enter the complete text of your post. To format the text or add links or images, select the buttons above the text field.

In a few courses, you can add posts, responses, and comments anonymously. If this is the case, you’ll see a Post Anonymously check box under the field where you enter your text. When you post anonymously, the discussion moderation team can see your username, but other students cannot.

Add a Post in a Course Unit¶

If you come to a discussion as you work through the units in your course, or if you know where in the course a particular discussion originates, you can add a post for that discussion right from the unit in your course. This only applies to content-specific discussions.

1. Select Courseware.

2. Open the unit in the course that includes the discussion topic that you want to add to.

3. Select Show Discussion to read what others have already contributed to the conversation.

   You can scroll through the posts that have already been added: the title and the first sentence or two of each post appear. To read an entire post, view the responses to it, and see any comments, select Expand discussion.

4. Select New Post to add a post.

   

5. Select Question or Discussion to select the type of post you want to create.

6. In the Title field, enter a short, descriptive identifier for your post. The title is the part of your post that others see when they are browsing on the Discussion page or scrolling through one of the content-specific topics.

7. Enter the complete text of your post. Select the buttons above the text field to see options for formatting the text and for adding links or images.

In a few courses, you can add posts, responses, and comments anonymously. If this is the case, you’ll see a Post Anonymously check box under the field where you enter your text. When you post anonymously, the discussion moderation team can see your username, but other students cannot.

Add a Response or Comment on the Discussion Page¶

You can add a response or comment to course-wide or content-specific discussion topics on the Discussion page.

1. On the Discussion page, find the post that you want to contribute to. To help you decide where to add your thoughts, review the current responses and their comments.

   For more information about finding posts by searching, sorting, or using filters, see Explore Posts.

2. Add a response or comment.

• To add a response to the post, select Add A Response. When your response is complete, select Submit.

  

• To add a comment to a response, select inside the Add a comment field below the response. When your comment is complete, select Submit.

Add a Response or Comment in a Course Unit¶

You can add a response or comment to a content-specific discussion topic inside the course.

1. In the unit that contains the discussion topic where you want to make your contribution, select Show Discussion.

2. Scroll to the post that you want to contribute to. To help you decide where to add your thoughts, review the current responses and their comments.

3. Under the text of the post, select Expand discussion.

   

4. Add a response or comment.

• To add a response to the post, select Add A Response. When your response is complete, select Submit.
• To add a comment to a response, select inside the Add a comment field below the response. When your comment is complete, select Submit.

Edit or Delete a Post, Response, or Comment¶

You can edit or delete your own posts, responses, or comments at any time. You cannot edit or delete contributions from other students.

1. Locate the contribution that you want to edit or delete, either in the body of the course or on the Discussion page.

2. In the upper-right corner of the contribution, select the “More” icon (...). A menu opens.

   

3. Edit or delete the contribution.

• To edit the contribution, select Edit, make the changes that you want in the text editor that opens, and then select Update Response. For posts, you can change the post topic and the post type as well as the text of the post.
• To delete the contribution, select Delete, and then select OK in the pop-up confirmation box.

Read New or Updated Posts¶

The list of posts on the Discussion page provides visual cues to help you distinguish posts that are new, or that have responses or comments that you have not read yet, from exchanges that you have already read completely.

Sort by Activity¶

Color-coded callout images appear when you sort the list of posts by recent activity or by most activity. This is the default view when you open the Discussion page.

• A gray callout image on a gray background indicates that you have read the post and all of its responses and comments.
• A white callout image on a gray background indicates that you have read the original post, but the post has new responses or comments that you have not read yet.
• A blue callout image on a white background indicates that you have not yet read the post.

The number in each callout image indicates the total number of contributions in the exchange (the post and its responses and comments). To see the number of contributions that you haven’t read yet, move your cursor over the callout image.

Sort by Votes¶

You can also sort the list of posts by number of votes. To do this, select the sorting list in the upper-right corner of the list of posts, and then select by most votes.

If you sort by most votes, the number of votes that the post has received appears in place of the callouts. For more information, see Vote for Posts or Responses.

Receive Daily Digests¶

You have the option to receive an email message each day that summarizes discussion activity for the posts you are following. To receive this daily digest, select Discussion to go to the discussions home page, and then select the Receive updates check box in the right pane.

Overview¶

As you read the contributions that other students and course team members make to discussion topics, you can provide feedback without writing a complete response or comment. You can:

• Vote for posts and responses to provide positive feedback.
• Follow posts so that you can check back in on interesting conversations and questions easily.
• Answer questions, and mark your questions as answered.
• Report a contribution that is inappropriate to the course team.

To select a feedback option, you use the icons at the top right of each post, response, or comment. When you move your cursor over these icons a label appears.

When you select the “More” icon, a menu of available options opens. Options vary depending on whether the contribution is a post, response, or comment, and on whether you are a student or a member of the discussion team.

Vote for Posts or Responses¶

If you like a post or one of its responses, you can vote for it. Hover over the plus sign (+) icon for the post or response, and then select Vote.

You can sort the list of posts so that the posts with the most votes appear at the top: select the drop-down list of sorting options and select by most votes.

You can see the number of votes that each post has received in the list of posts. (Votes for responses are not included in the number.)

Follow Posts¶

If you find a post particularly interesting and want to return to it in the future, you can follow it. To follow a post, hover over the star icon for the post, and then select Follow.

Each post that you follow appears with a “Following” indicator in the list of posts.

To list only the posts that you are following, regardless of the discussion topic they apply to, select the drop-down Discussion list and select Posts I’m Following.

Answer Questions and Mark Questions as Answered¶

Anyone in a course can answer questions. Just add a response with your answer to the question post.

You can indicate that a response to your own question post is the correct answer. To do this, hover over the check mark icon for the response, and then select Mark as Answer.

After at least one response is marked as the answer, a check or tick mark image replaces the question mark image for the post in the list of posts.

Report Discussion Misuse¶

You can flag any post, response, or comment for a discussion moderator to review: view the contribution, select the “More” icon, and then select Report.