Open edX Learner’s Guide: Ficus Release¶

Find a Course’s Start Date¶

Often, you can enroll in a course before it actually starts. You can find the course start date on your dashboard; however, the exact time is not published.

• You do not need to sign in exactly when the course begins.
• If the course content is not immediately available, check back later on the start date.

To find the course start date, follow these steps.

1. At the top of any page, select the dropdown menu icon next to your username.
2. Select Dashboard. Your dashboard lists every course that you are enrolled in.
3. Locate the course in the list of courses on your dashboard.
   • For courses that have not yet started, “Starts” and the date appear below the name of the course.
   • For courses that are already in progress, “Started” and the date appear.
   • If the course team has not yet announced the start date, a message such as “Coming Soon” appears.
   • For archived courses that are no longer running, “Ended” and the date appear.

Start a Course¶

To start work in a course that is in progress, follow these steps.

1. On your dashboard, locate the course.
2. Select View Course. The course Home page opens. This page shows important dates and, typically, a welcome message from the course team.
3. Select Course. The first section of course content opens.

View an Archived Course¶

You can enroll or continue to work in some courses even after the course end date. These courses are archived, which means that while you can access the course content, you cannot submit answers for graded problems or participate in course discussions.

To view the content of an archived course, follow these steps.

1. On your dashboard, locate the course.
2. Select View Archived Course.

View a Course Grade¶

To view your current grade in a course that has not yet ended, see Checking Your Progress in a Course.

To view your final grade in a course that you have completed, follow these steps.

1. On your dashboard, locate the course. Your final grade appears under the course name.
2. Optionally, print your dashboard to obtain a record of your achievement in the course.

You can also view the course and open its Progress page to view your final grade, as well as your grades on all course assignments.

Access a Certificate¶

If you earn a certificate for a course, options to access your certificate are available on your dashboard soon after the course ends. For more courses, certificates are available within two weeks.

To access the certificate that you have earned in a course, locate the course on your dashboard. Next to the course name is an option for accessing the certificate. For example, the option might be View Certificate or Download Your ID Verified Certificate (PDF).

For information about how to access certificates, including how to download certificates, see Getting a Course Certificate or Badge.

Change a Course Email Preference¶

To change your email preference for a course, follow these steps.

1. On your dashboard, locate the course.

2. Select the course settings icon. The course settings icon resembles a gear and appears next to View Course or View Archived Course.

   

3. Select Course emails.

4. Select or clear the Receive course emails check box, and then select Save Settings.

   Note

   If you clear this check box, you will not receive any of the email messages that course teams send to communicate with enrolled learners in the course.

Unenroll from a Course¶

If you find that you cannot complete a course, you can stop viewing and working in the course. You do not have to drop or unenroll from the course.

If you unenroll, the course no longer appears on your dashboard, and you cannot access course content or information about the grade or certificate you might have earned in the course.

To unenroll from a course, follow these steps.

1. On your dashboard, locate the course.

2. Select the course settings icon.

   

If you change your mind before the course ends, you can enroll in the course again. Your status in the course, including your scores for all completed assignments, is available as soon as you re-enroll.

Change Your Password¶

To change your password, follow these steps.

1. At the top of any page, select the dropdown menu icon next to your username.

2. Select Account.

3. Select Reset Password.

   The system sends a confirmation message to the email address in the Email Address field.

4. Select the confirmation link in the email message.

Update Your Email Address¶

You use your email address to sign in to your account. In addition, communications from your course teams are sent to this address.

To update your email address, follow these steps.

1. At the top of any page, select the dropdown menu icon next to your username.
2. Select Account.
3. In the Email Address field, select your current email address and replace it with the new address.
4. To save your changes, click anywhere on the page outside of the Email Address field, or navigate to a different page.

Change Your Full Name¶

Your full name appears on the certificates that you earn. Other learners see only your username. They do not see your full name.

To change your full name, follow these steps.

1. At the top of any page, select the dropdown menu icon next to your username.
2. Select Account.
3. In the Full Name field, make the revisions that you require.
4. To save your changes, click anywhere on the page outside of the Full Name field, or navigate to a different page.

Select a Language¶

You can specify the language that you want the site to use during your visits.

To select a language, follow these steps.

1. At the top of any page, select the dropdown menu icon next to your username.

2. Select Account.

3. Select a Language. The site saves your selection immediately.

   The website is currently available in a limited number of languages.

Select Your Time Zone or Location¶

You can select the time zone that you want course dates and times to appear in, and update the country or region where you live.

To select your time zone or location, follow these steps.

1. At the top of any page, select the dropdown menu icon next to your username.
2. Select Account.
3. Select a Time Zone. The site saves your selection immediately.
4. Select a Country or Region. The site saves your selection immediately.

Specify Additional Information¶

Additional account information is optional and includes the following information.

• Education Completed: The highest level of education that you have completed.
• Gender: The gender you identify as.
• Year of Birth: The year that you were born.
• Preferred Language: The language that you prefer to communicate in.

To view or change this information, follow these steps.

1. At the top of any page, select the dropdown menu icon next to your username.
2. On the Account Settings page, select Account Information.
3. On the Account Information page, locate the Additional Information section, and then make your changes.

The site saves your changes automatically.

Link or Unlink a Social Media Account¶

You can link your account to social media and other accounts, including Facebook, Google, school, and company accounts. When your accounts are linked, you can sign in automatically by signing in to your other account.

To link your account with another account, follow these steps.

1. At the top of any page, select the dropdown menu icon next to your username.

2. Select Account.

3. On the Account Settings page, select Linked Accounts.

4. On the Linked Accounts page, select Link Your Account under the name of the account that you want to link to your account.

   To unlink your account from a social media account, select Unlink This Account under that account name.

Add or Update a Limited Profile¶

A limited profile includes only your username and, optionally, an image.

To add or update a limited profile, follow these steps.

1. At the top of any page, select the dropdown menu icon next to your username.

2. Select Profile.

3. On your profile page, locate learners can see my, and then select Limited Profile.

4. (optional) Add an image that you want to associate with your username. Your image must be a .gif, .jpg, or .png file. The image must be between 100 bytes and 1 MB in size. If you do not add an image, the placeholder image appears as your profile image.

   1. Move your cursor over the placeholder image, and then select Upload Image.
   2. In the dialog box, select the image file that you want, and then select Open.

   To change or remove your profile image, move your cursor over your image, and then select either Change Image or Remove. When you remove your profile image, the placeholder image appears as your profile image.

The site saves your changes automatically.

Add or Update a Full Profile¶

A full profile can include the following information. Your username and country or region are required.

• Your username.
• An image that you select to identify yourself.
• Your country or region.
• Your preferred language.
• A paragraph about yourself. You might include your interests, goals, or other information that you want to share. This paragraph can contain up to 3000 characters.

To add or update your profile, follow these steps.

1. At the top of any page, select the dropdown menu icon next to your username.

2. Select Profile.

3. Locate learners can see my, and then select Full Profile.

4. On your profile page, move your cursor over the information that you want to add or change.

   If you have not added information to the field, the field appears highlighted and surrounded by a dashed line.

   

   If the field already has information, the field appears highlighted, and a pencil icon appears.

   

5. Move your cursor inside the field, and then either enter text in the field or select a different option from a list.

The site saves your changes automatically.

View Another Learner’s Profile¶

You can view other learners’ profiles through their posts, responses, or comments in course discussions.

1. On the Discussion page, select the username of any learner in a post, a response, or a comment.

   A page that displays the discussion activity only for the selected learner opens.

2. On the learner’s Discussion page, select their linked username.

The learner’s account profile page opens.

Discussion Topics¶

Discussion topics are created by the course team and organize all posts in the course discussion. Discussion topics 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”. In the discussion navigation pane, course-wide topics do not have other topics indented below them.
• Content-specific discussion topics are added as part of a course unit, and relate to specific video lectures, reading assignments, homework problems, or other course content. In the discussion navigation pane on the Discussion page, content-specific topics are indented under an identifying category name.

For course-wide topics, you read or add posts, responses, and comments on the Discussion page. For content-specific discussion topics, you can read or add posts, responses, and comments both on the Discussion page and in the discussion that is embedded in the course unit on the Course page.

Before you add a post, look through the topics. When you add your post to the most appropriate topic, others with the same interest can find, read, and respond to it more easily.

Types of Discussion Posts¶

When you make a contribution in a course discussion topic, you add your post as either a question or a discussion.

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

When you add a post to a discussion topic, you must specify whether it is a question or a discussion.

On the Discussion page for your course, a question mark icon identifies posts that ask questions and a conversation bubble icon identifies posts that start discussions.

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 require 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.

How to Use Discussions¶

The How to use edX discussions graphic appears in the main area of the Discussion page when you have not selected any topics or posts.

This graphic shows the basic actions you can take with course discussions. You can select the Receive updates option in the graphic to receive a daily email digest of new activity from course discussions.

When you browse topics and posts from the Discussion Navigation Pane, the How to use edX discussions graphic is replaced by the contents of the topic or post that you selected.

Discussion Navigation Pane¶

Use the discussion navigation pane on the left side of the Discussions page to access discussion topics and posts in your course, including discussions that appear inline in course content.

You can view all discussion topics or only the posts that you are following, or you can view a specific topic. You can also filter posts by entering keywords or phrases that you want to find in post titles or text.

The breadcrumb path above the navigation pane shows you the topic that you are currently viewing. In the following example, Posts I’m Following is selected.

When you view topics and posts, the navigation pane shows various icons and labels to provide you with information about the status or content of posts.

• Posts that appear in blue type with a blue bar indicate posts that you have not read.
• Posts that appear in gray type without a bar indicate posts that you have read.
• The post type icon indicates whether a post is a question or a discussion. For more information, see Determining the Post Type: Discussion or Question.
• The check mark icon indicates a “correct answer”. The check mark icon indicates that one of the responses to the post correctly answers the question asked in the post.
• The response or comment count indicator shows the number of responses and comments for a post. The number of new responses or comments that were added after you previously read a post is displayed next to the indicator. For more information, see Keeping Up with New Activity.
• A “Pinned” label shows that a post has been pinned by administrators so that it always stays at the top of the topic list regardless of sort order.
• A “Following” label marks posts that you are following.
• A “Staff” or “Community TA” label marks posts that were added by course staff or community teaching assistants (TAs).

View Topics on the Discussion Page¶

On the Discussion page, you can view both course-wide and content-specific discussions. Select All Topics above the discussion navigation pane to see all of the discussion topics in the course. To see all of the posts in an individual topic, select the topic name in the discussion navigation pane.

Note that course-wide topics do not have other topics indented below them, while content-specific topics are indented under a category name.

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 show the list of posts for that content-specific 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 a post title to open the complete post and its responses and comments next to the above the discussion navigation pane.
3. In the text of a post, select the name of the discussion topic to go to the discussion inside the unit.

Add a Response or Comment¶

To participate in an ongoing discussion, you reply to the initial post by adding a response, or expand on a particular response by adding a comment.

The same options for formatting the text and for adding links or images are available for responses and comments as for posts.

Sorting by Activity¶

In the discussion navigation pane you can sort posts by activity. To do this, select the drop-down list of sorting options at the top of the discussion navigation pane and select either by recent activity or by most activity.

Sorting by recent activity changes the order of the posts so that the post that was most recently updated appears at the top of the list. Updating includes having responses or comments added.

Sorting by most activity changes the order of the posts so that posts with the most responses or comments appear at the top of the list.

Sorting by Votes¶

In the discussion navigation pane you can sort posts by the number of votes received. To do this, select the drop-down list of sorting options at the top of the discussion navigation pane, and select by most votes.

Sorting by the most votes changes the order of the posts so that posts that have received the most votes appear at the top of the list. In this view, instead of the response and comments count indicator, the number of votes that each post has received is shown. Votes for responses are not included in the number.

For more information about voting for posts, see Vote for Posts or Responses.

Numbers¶

You can use the following types of numbers.

• Integers: 2520
• Fractions: 2/3
• Normal floats: 3.14
• Floats with no integer part: .98

The largest number you can use is 1.7977e+308, which is the largest float possible in the Python programming language.

Scientific Notation and Metric Affixes¶

You can enter metric affixes or scientific notation to indicate very large or very small numbers. For scientific notation, you can type either a caret (^) or the letter e followed by a number to indicate an exponent. You can use both positive and negative exponents.

For example, to indicate 0.012, you can enter either of the following expressions:

• 1.2*10^-2
• 1.2e-2

To indicate -440,000, you can enter either of the following expressions:

• -4.4*10^5
• -4.4e5

The following table shows how to enter numbers with metric affixes, with scientific notation, and with e notation.

Constants¶

You can use several different constants in your mathematical expressions.

Greek Letters¶

To use any of the following Greek letters, type the name of the letter in the calculator or the response field.

Functions¶

To use a function, type the letters that represent the function, and then surround the expression in that function with parentheses. For example, to represent the square root of 4*a+b, type sqrt(4*a+b).

You can use the following functions.

• Common functions

  • sqrt
  • log10
  • log2
  • ln
  • exp
  • abs

• Trigonometric functions and their inverses, as well as hyperbolic trigonometric functions and their inverses.

  Function	Inverse	Hyperbolic Function	Inverse
  sin	arcsin	sinh	arcsinh
  cos	arccos	cosh	arccosh
  tan	arctan	tanh	arctanh
  sec	arcsec	sech	arcsech
  csc	arccsc	csch	arccsch
  cot	arccot	coth	arccoth

• Factorials: Enter factorials as fact(3) or factorial(3). You must use integers. For example, you cannot enter fact(1.5).

• A “parallel resistors” operator (||). For example, 1 || 2 represents the resistance of a pair of parallel resistors (of resistance 1 and 2 ohms), evaluating to 2/3 (ohms).

Step 1. Explain Your Choice¶

Write an explanation for why you chose your answer.

This step is your opportunity to provide a persuasive argument about why your answer is the correct one. You might include references to a course video or textbook, or describe how you arrived at the choice you made.

Together, the answer that you chose and this explanation are your initial response. When you select Next, your initial response is added to the collection of initial responses by all of the other course participants.

Step 2. Review Other Initial Responses¶

Review the initial responses that other participants in the course submitted. The course team decides how many you see. You might see one response for each of the possible answer choices, or a set that is chosen completely at random.

This step gives you a chance to learn from the explanations that other learners submitted, and reassess your own understanding of the topic.

Because they are part of the collection of initial responses, your answer and explanation are likely to be shown to other learners when they get to this part of the assignment.

Step 3. Revise Your Response¶

Decide whether you want to change your initial response by selecting a different answer choice, revising your explanation, or both.

This step is optional. You can submit a final response that is the same as your initial response, or change it completely. When you select Next Step, you learn the correct answer.

Step 4. Review the Correct Answer¶

Review the correct answer choice and the explanation provided by the course team.

Step 5. Compare Answers¶

Use the graphs to compare the percentage of your fellow learners who selected each answer. The first graph shows the percentage of learners who selected each answer initially, and the second graph shows the percentage of learners who selected each answer after they had the opportunity to review the explantions that other learners provided. Compare your own choices, and the correct one, to your peers’.

This step might be just as thought provoking as the other steps.

Documentation¶

The EdX Learner’s Guide is available on the docs.edx.org web page. This guide is also available when you select Help while you are in a course, and from your dashboard of enrolled courses.

In a Course¶

All edX courses have a discussion page where you can ask questions and interact with other students and with the course team: select Discussion. Many courses also offer a wiki for additional resources and materials: select Wiki.

Other resources might also be available, such as a course-specific Facebook page or Twitter feed. Be sure to check the Home page for your course as well as the Discussion and Wiki pages.

Resources on the edx.org Website¶

To help you get started with the edX learning experience, edX offers a course (of course!). You can find the edX Demo course on the edx.org website.

When you are working in an edX course, you can select Support to access a help center with frequently asked questions and answers.

If you still have questions or suggestions, you can get help from the edX support team: select Support, select Contact at the bottom of any edX web page, or send an email message to info@edx.org.

For opportunities to meet others who are interested in edX courses, check the edX Global Community meetup group.

Course Team Support in the edX Partner Portal¶

EdX partner course teams can get technical support in the edX Partner Portal. To access technical support, submit a support ticket, or review any support tickets you have created, go to partners.edx.org and select Course Staff Support at the top of the page. This option is available on every page in the Partner Portal.

Release Announcements by Email¶

To receive and share product and release announcements by email, you can subscribe to announcements on one of the edX portal sites.

1. Create an account on the Open edX Portal or the edX Partner Portal as described above.
2. Select Community and then Announcements.
3. Under Subscriptions, select the different types of announcements that you want to receive through email. You might need to scroll down to see these options.
4. Select Save.

You will now receive email messages when new announcements of the types you selected are posted.

The edX Course Creator Series¶

The courses in the edX Course Creator Series provide foundational knowledge about using the edX platform to deliver educational experiences. These courses are available on edx.org.

Documentation¶

Documentation for course teams is available on the docs.edx.org web page.

• Building and Running an 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.

  You can access this guide by selecting Help in Studio or from the instructor dashboard in the LMS.

• Using edX Insights describes the metrics, visualizations, and downloadable .csv files that course teams can use to gain information about student background and activity.

• The edX Release Notes summarize the changes in each new version of deployed software.

These guides open in your web browser. The left side of each page includes a Search docs field and links to the contents of that guide. To open or save a PDF version, select v: latest at the lower right of the page, then select PDF.

Email¶

To receive and share information by email, course team members can:

• Subscribe to announcements and other new topics in the edX Partner Portal or the Open edX Portal. For information about how to subscribe, see Release Announcements through the Open edX Portal.
• Join the openedx-studio Google group to ask questions and participate in discussions with peers at other edX partner organizations and edX staffers.

Wikis and Web Sites¶

The edX product team maintains public product roadmaps on the Open edX Portal and the edX Partner Portal.

The edX Partner Support site for edX partners hosts discussions that are monitored by edX staff.

Documentation¶

The edX Research Guide is available on the docs.edx.org web page. Although it is written primarily for data czars and researchers at partner institutions, this guide can also be a useful reference for members of the Open edX community.

The edX Research Guide opens in your web browser, with a Search docs field and links to sections and topics on the left side of each page. To open or save a PDF version, select v: latest at the lower right of the page, and then select PDF.

Discussion Forums and Email¶

Researchers, edX data czars, and members of the global edX data and analytics community can post and discuss questions in our public research forum: the openedx-analytics Google group.

The edX partner portal also offers community forums, including a Research and Analytics topic, for discussions among edX partners.

Data czars who have questions that involve sensitive data, or that are institution specific, can send them by email to data.support@edx.org with a copy to your edX partner manager.

Wikis¶

The edX Analytics team maintains the Open edX Analytics wiki, which includes links to periodic release notes and other resources for researchers.

The edx-tools wiki lists publicly shared tools for working with the edX platform, including scripts for data analysis and reporting.

Documentation¶

Documentation for developers is available on the docs.edx.org web page.

• The edX Platform Developer’s Guide includes guidelines for contributing to the Open edX project, options for extending the Open edX platform, instrumenting analytics, and testing.
• Installing, Configuring, and Running the Open edX Platform provides procedures for getting an edX developer stack (devstack) and production stack (fullstack) operational.
• 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 about the XBlock API.
• edX Open Learning XML Guide provides guidelines for building edX courses with OLX (open learning XML). 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.

GitHub¶

These are the main edX repositories on GitHub.

• The edx/edx-platform repo contains the code for the edX platform.
• The edx/edx-analytics-dashboard repo contains the code for edX Insights.
• The edx/configuration repo contains scripts to set up and operate the edX platform.

Additional repositories are used for other projects. Our contributor agreement, contributor guidelines and coding conventions, and other resources are available in these repositories.

Getting Help¶

The Getting Help page in the Open edX Portal lists different ways that you can ask, and get answers to, questions.

Wikis and Web Sites¶

The Open edX Portal is the entry point for new contributors.

The edX Engineering team maintains an open Confluence wiki, which provides insights into the plans, projects, and questions that the edX Open Source team is working on with the community.

The edx-tools wiki lists publicly shared tools for working with the edX platform, including scripts and helper utilities.