Open edX
Educational support software
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Open edX platform is the open-source software, originally developed by Piotr Mitros,[2][3] 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.[4] The source code can be found on GitHub.[5][6] Maintenance was transferred to edX, an MIT/Harvard education initiative, in 2012.
 Logo of Open edX | |
Type of site | Online education |
|---|---|
| Available in | Multilingual (14) |
| Created by | Piotr Mitros, edX, CRL/Axim |
| URL | www |
| Commercial | No |
| Launched | January 2012 |
| Current status | Active |
| [1] | |
When edX was acquired in 2021 by 2U,[7] 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.[8]
Uses
Open edX was designed for the MITx project, which was renamed to the edX project and made into a separate 501(c)3 after Harvard joined. This 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.[9]
Software
| Version [10] | 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[11] | 2021-12-20 |
| Nutmeg | 2022-04-12 | Olive[12] | 2022-10-11 |
| Palm | 2023-06-14 | Quince | 2023-12-11 |
| Redwood | 2024-06-09 | Sumac | 2024-12-17 |
The Open edX server-side software is based on Python, with Django as the web application framework.[13]
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.[14]
The community hosts an annual Open edX Conference, which rotates worldwide each year. In 2022 it was held in Portugal.[15]