The Linux Foundation has just released a free course on edX on Kubernetes, which provides an in-depth view on this powerful system for managing containerized applications.

Kubernetes builds upon 15 years of experience of running production workloads at Google, and is quickly gaining traction as the standard open source platform enabling deployments across public, private, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments.

“In this course, we’ll discuss some of Kubernetes’ basic concepts and talk about the architecture of the system, the problems it solves, and the model that it uses to handle containerized deployments and scaling. This course offers an introduction to Kubernetes and includes technical instructions on how to deploy a stand-alone and multi-tier application. You’ll learn about ConfigMaps and Secrets, and how to use Ingress,” explains the Linux Foundation.

This 10-15 hours course, taught by Neependra Khare, Founder of CloudYuga Technologies, is the seventh edX MOOC offered by The Linux Foundation. In total, over 850,000 students have enrolled across these free courses, which include Intro to Linux, Intro to Cloud Infrastructure Technologies, Introduction to OpenStack, Introduction to DevOps: Transforming and Improving Operations, Introduction to Cloud Foundry and Cloud Native Software Architecture and Introduction to Apache Hadoop.

“Containers have taken the technology sector by storm, and with increasing adoption comes an expanding need for qualified individuals to manage them,” said edX CEO and MIT Professor Anant Agarwal.

Could MOOCs be an idea ahead of our time?

Initiatives such as edX’s MicroMasters, born out of the MOOCs, show successful programs for specialized graduate programs.

(One of the latest cases relates to Questrom School of Business, which has elaborated on the benefits of using MicroMasters as valued credentials for employees on its new Digital Innovation Degree program).

As Dr. Joshua Kim states on his Inside Higher Education column, “MOOCs have acted as living laboratories to develop new capabilities and expertise”.  

• “What might MOOCs look like in 2025 or 2030? Can we imagine a world where open online learning has displaced those parts of postsecondary education that can effectively be pushed to scale?  Would students be better served if the bundle that included foundational learning was broken apart, pushing introductory courses to online and mobile adaptive learning platforms?”

 

• “What MOOCs may eventually enable us to do is to diffuse the benefits of the seminar – as well as the gifts of a classic liberal arts education – to students beyond a privileged few.”

 

• “Let MOOCs take care of education as job training, leaving professors to focus on the work of teaching students how to learn.”

 

Seven of the top 10 universities in the world –according to the 2018 QS World University Rankings list– are edX partners.

EdX founding universities MIT and Harvard University took spots in the top three on the list, with edX partners Caltech, University of Oxford, Imperial College London, University of Chicago and ETH Zurich also appearing in the top ten. Even more edX partners appear on the full list.

QS ranks universities according to six key metrics including academic reputation, employer reputation, teaching quality and research output in order to effectively capture university performance.

Where are the MOOCs heading? Clearly, into professional development and the training sphere with alternative credentials recognized by employers.

A reputable academic analyst, Cathy Sandeen, chancellor of the University of Wisconsin Colleges, claims first on a article in Inside Higher Education that the term “MOOC” will go away (morphing simply into “online courses”), and a viable business model will emerge. “Free and open is no longer completely true. Emphasis on personal enrichment is no longer the value proposition.”

 

Appsembler, an Open edX provider based in Somerville, Massachusetts, has launched a free 30-day trial on its SaaS platform branded as Tahoe. This platform allows to automatically launch an Open edX site and launch courses.

“We wanted a solution that made it quicker and more affordable for people to get started on Open edX. And we wanted a solution that lowered barriers to entry, and empowered people to tap into the power of Open edX to deliver online learning,” explained Nate Aune, creator of the solution and CEO at Appsembler.

Tahoe features a signup wizard to choose your domain name, upload your company logos and colors and choose between a number of styles and fonts. There is also a themes gallery (see images and explanatory video above) and a visual theming editor, page editor and content manager, and a user management tool.

After the trial period, users need to transition into a paid plan, which will be determined with Appsembler’s sales team. Pricing has not been disclosed on the website.

 

Open edX platform is a very complex piece of software and installing it is not an easy to handle task.

A skillful French developer, Regis Behmo, has written a step-by-step guide for experts, intended to install from scratch the Ficus release of the Open edX platform. Interestingly, his instructions do not rely on the Ansible playbook for development.

The whole process is described on his GitHub account. What follows is a reproduction.

Open edX: The “Install From Scratch” Manual

What follows are the instructions for installing an Open edX instance (Ficus release) from scratch. The instructions below do not rely on Ansible playbooks for deployment.

Important notes, FAQ and disclaimer

The instructions listed here do not constitute a one-click install (not at all). You will need to read the various configuration files and understand what all the commands do. As such, it’s an installation manual for experts only.

Do I need this? Why not just use the Ansible playbooks? Great question! Of course, the instructions listed here are heavily inspired by the Ansible playbooks from the edx/configuration repository. The playbooks are the current canonical way of installing an Open edX instance, either on a local or distributed environment. However, we feel there are many cases where the playbooks are not adequate. In particular, it is extremely difficult to understand what the playbooks do if you are not both an Ansible and an Open edX expert. As a consequence, many Open edX administrators do not know very well what services are run, how they coordinate, where to look for information, etc. Also, Open edX has gained an unfair reputation as a very complex piece of software that is difficult to administer. By decomposing the install process in simple steps, we hope to dispell that myth.

I have followed all the instructions but my Open edX install doesn’t have feature X. Open edX supports a gazillion optional features. The instructions given in this manual are for a minimal Open edX install. For instance, we explicitely disable the discussion forums. If you wish to activate a particular feature, we suggest you start with a minimal install and then follow the specific instructions from the Open edX documentation for that feature.

The instructions don’t work! Where can I ask for help? There are many ways for you to get help from the Open edX community: see the Getting Help page. Note however that edX (or Ned!) is not responsible for maintaining this particular set of instructions. If you feel you have stumbled upon an issue that is specifically related to the current set of instructions, please open a Github issue where you describe your problem in details.

Requirements

OS

Open edX Ficus is compatible with Ubuntu 16.04 — it is untested with other environments. In the following, we assume a clean install of Ubuntu 16.04. For bootstrapping, we suggest to start from a clean server or virtual machine (see section on vm configuration).

Resources

It depends 😉

You should have at least 2 Gb of RAM for each LMS and each CMS. Thus, a single-server instance running all services as well as one LMS and one CMS should have at least 4 Gb of RAM. Each LMS server should be able to handle a couple hundred users. (this is a very rough estimate)

Virtual machine configuration

This section is for people who want to test drive Open edX or to setup a development environment in a VM. Skip ahead if you are deploying on a production environment.

Launch virtual machine:

vagrant init ubuntu/xenial64

Add the following lines to the configuration:

config.vm.network "forwarded_port", guest: 8000, host: 8000
config.vm.network "forwarded_port", guest: 8001, host: 8001

Increase the amount of available memory to 2Gb: (actually, it is recommended to get that to 4Gb if you have enough RAM)

config.vm.provider "virtualbox" do |vb|
    vb.memory = "2048"
end

Boot virtual machine:

vagrant up

Login:

vagrant ssh

Add some swap:

sudo fallocate -l 1G /swapfile
sudo chmod 600 /swapfile
sudo mkswap /swapfile
sudo swapon /swapfile
sudo sh -c  'echo "/swapfile   none    swap    sw    0   0" >> /etc/fstab'

All following commands are assumed to be run in the VM.

System preparation

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt autoremove -y

Install base packages:

sudo apt install -y language-pack-en git python-virtualenv
sudo apt install -y build-essential software-properties-common curl git-core libxml2-dev libxslt1-dev python-pip libmysqlclient-dev python-apt python-dev libxmlsec1-dev libfreetype6-dev swig gcc g++

Create unprivileged user which will run the web applications:

sudo adduser edxapp
sudo su edxapp

Note that the edxapp user does not have sudo rights, so all following commands that are run with sudo will have to be run with a different user; for instance, the user with which you created the edxapp user. This is on purpose, as edxapp will be used to run the web services. But if you want to grant sudo rights to edxapp, run : sudo usermod -a -G sudo edxapp.

Create folder in which everything will be installed:

sudo mkdir /opt/openedx
sudo chown edxapp:edxapp /opt/openedx

Services

You will need to setup a couple external services to get Open edX to run. In the development install, it is assumed that they all run on the same machine.

Memcached

Install memcached:

sudo apt install memcached

MySQL database

Create SQL database:

# Install mysql server
sudo apt install mysql-server mysql-client

# Create the mysql database and user
mysql -u root -p
CREATE DATABASE edxapp;
CREATE USER 'edxapp'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'write this password somewhere you will need it in auth.json';
GRANT ALL ON edxapp.* TO 'edxapp'@'localhost';

RabbitMQ

Install rabbitmq broker:

sudo apt install rabbitmq-server

MongoDb

Install mongodb:

sudo apt install mongodb-server

Elasticsearch (optional)

Elasticsearch is only required if you need to setup course search or discussion forums. In the current install those services are disabled. But if you wish to activate these services later, you will need to install a specific version of Elasticsearch.

Install elasticsearch 0.90.13 from the official repositories:

wget -O - http://packages.elasticsearch.org/GPG-KEY-elasticsearch | sudo apt-key add -
sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://packages.elasticsearch.org/elasticsearch/0.90/debian stable main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/elasticsearch.list'
sudo apt update
sudo apt install elasticsearch=0.90.13 openjdk-8-jdk

LMS/CMS install

In Open edX, there are two distinct web applications that need to be run: the LMS is the public website where courses can be subscribed to, followed, etc. by students. The CMS (also called the studio) is where courses are created and it is accessed only by course authors and platform administrators. Note that the LMS don’t have to run on the same servers; however, they need to share all the external services (MySQL, MongoDb, etc.).

From here on, multiple configuration files need to be copied from the current repository and edited. Values that need to be edited are surrounded by triple dashes (“---“).

Preparation, as sudo user

Install packages required by LMS/CMS:

sudo apt install -y gettext gfortran graphviz graphviz-dev libffi-dev libfreetype6-dev libgeos-dev libjpeg8-dev liblapack-dev libpng12-dev libxml2-dev libxmlsec1-dev libxslt1-dev nodejs npm ntp pkg-config

App install (as edxapp user)

Clone repositories:

cd /opt/openedx
git clone https://github.com/edx/edx-platform.git
cd edx-platform/
git checkout open-release/ficus.master

Note: Configuring the JSON files could take a while and requires manual edits to the json files.

Edit config/lms/lms.env.json and copy it to /opt/openedx/lms.env.json.

Edit config/cms/cms.env.json and copy it to /opt/openedx/cms.env.json.

Don’t forget to edit all the values surrounded by “---“! In particular, set the SITE_NAME variable to point to your domain name. In development, this will point to localhost:8000 (for the LMS) and localhost:8001 (for the studio).

Edit and copy config/lms/lms.auth.json and config/cms/cms.auth.json to /opt/openedx/lms.auth.json and /opt/openedx/cms.auth.json.

Copy development settings file from config/lms/development.py and config/cms/development.py to /opt/openedx/edx-platform/lms/envs/development.py and /opt/openedx/edx-platform/cms/envs/development.py.

Create necessary folders:

mkdir /opt/openedx/staticfiles
mkdir /opt/openedx/uploads # (must correspond to `MEDIA_ROOT`)

Create virtualenv:

cd /opt/openedx
virtualenv venv && source venv/bin/activate

Downgrade pip and setuptools in virtualenv:

pip install pip==8.1.2
pip install setuptools==24.0.3

Install python requirements:

cd edx-platform/
pip install -r requirements/edx/pre.txt
pip install -r requirements/edx/github.txt # go grab a coffee, this is going to take some time
pip install -r requirements/edx/local.txt
pip install -r requirements/edx/base.txt
pip install -r requirements/edx/post.txt
pip install -r requirements/edx/paver.txt

Install node requirements (and others):

nodeenv -p  # Install node environment in same virtualenv
paver install_prereqs

Generate assets:

paver update_assets lms --settings=development
paver update_assets cms --settings=development

Run migrations:

./manage.py lms migrate --settings=development
./manage.py studio migrate --settings=development

The following instructions allow you to run LMS and Studio development servers:

paver lms --fast --settings=development
paver studio --fast --settings=development

These development servers should NOT be used in production. For production configuration, follow the instructions from the production deployment section

At that point, you should be able to run the server and access the website.

Quickly, you will find out that you need a staff user to administer your platform. To create a staff user, run:

./manage.py lms --settings=development manage_user --superuser --staff yourusername your@address.com
./manage.py lms --settings=development changepassword yourusername # set an appropriate password

Production deployment

Deploying an Open edX instance in production requires to set up a couple additional services.

Production settings

You will need to create different settings files for production than for development.

Edit config/lms/production.py and add it to edx-platform/lms/envs/.

Edit config/cms/production.py and add it to edx-platform/cms/envs/.

In production, don’t forget to set appropriate urls in /opt/openedx/lms.env.json and /opt/openedx/cms.env.json. Note that you will need to choose different domain names for the LMS and the CMS. In particular, pick an appropriate value for the SITE_NAME.

Usually, the lms is configured on the bare domain name (“myopenedx.com”) or on the www subdomain (“www.myopenedx.com”), while cms typically uses the studio subdomain (“studio.myopenedx.com”).

Note that if your databases (MySQL and MongoDB) and other external services run on a different machine, you will need to point to them in your lms.auth.json and cms.auth.json files.

Static assets

It is necessary to generate static assets again with the production settings:

paver update_assets lms --settings=production
paver update_assets cms --settings=production

Static assets will be generated in /opt/openedx/staticfiles.

Supervisor

Supervisor is a tool for process supervision. You will use it to start and stop Open edX-related services.

Start by installing Supervisor:

sudo apt install supervisor

Edit ./config/supervisor/conf.d/lms.conf and add it to /etc/supervisor/conf.d/lms.conf.

Edit ./config/supervisor/conf.d/cms.conf and add it to /etc/supervisor/conf.d/cms.conf.

Reload supervisor configuration:

sudo supervisorctl update

Gunicorn processes should then be running on port 8000 and 8001. If not, check the logs in /var/log/supervisorfor errors.

Also, there should be asynchronous celery workers running for the lms and the cms. Run the following command to check if everything runs correctly:

$ sudo supervisorctl status
cms                              RUNNING   pid 3070, uptime 0:00:09
cms:cms_default_1                RUNNING   pid 3068, uptime 0:00:09
cms:cms_high_1                   RUNNING   pid 3071, uptime 0:00:09
cms:cms_low_1                    RUNNING   pid 3069, uptime 0:00:09
lms                              RUNNING   pid 3092, uptime 0:00:06
lms:lms_default_1                RUNNING   pid 3096, uptime 0:00:06
lms:lms_high_1                   RUNNING   pid 3094, uptime 0:00:06
lms:lms_high_mem_1               RUNNING   pid 3095, uptime 0:00:06
lms:lms_low_1                    RUNNING   pid 3091, uptime 0:00:06

At any point, to reload the gunicorn processes, run either:

sudo supervisorctl restart lms
sudo supervisorctl restart cms

And to reload all lms or cms-related processes, run either:

sudo supervisorctl restart lms:
sudo supervisorctl restart cms:

Nginx

Nginx is the de facto web server traditionnally used in combination with Open edX. Nginx serves two purposes:

• Proxy to gunicorn for dynamic web pages
• Directly serve static files from disk

Start by installing Nginx:

sudo apt install nginx

Edit ./config/nginx/sites-enabled/lms.conf and add it to /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/lms.conf.

Edit ./config/nginx/sites-enabled/cms.conf and add it to /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/cms.conf.

In the above configuration files, you should check that the domain names and the static assets folders are correct.

Reload nginx configuration with:

sudo systemctl reload nginx.service

At that point, the LMS and the CMS should be available at the urls you have specified in the Nginx configuration files. If not, error logs should be available in /var/log/nginx.

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY293rLg4r0

The first-ever class of MIT and edX’s MicroMasters program –enrolled on the supply chain management program– received its certificates this June and was honored at an online ceremony.

Over 180,000 participated in this program, and more than 1,100 learners finished all five required online courses. Of those students who opted to take the proctored comprehensive final exam, 622 achieved passing grades, automatically earning a chance to apply for a full master’s degree.

It is worth to note that those who passed can now qualify for a master’s program even if they lack many of the traditional application requirements, including GRE scores or even an undergraduate degree. Their progress through the classes was monitored and recorded. “We don’t have to rely on a letter from a professor we don’t know,” said a MIT official.

Combining credit for the completed online coursework plus one semester of on-campus classes, this “hybrid” master’s is available at MIT or any of several partner institutions: University of Queensland, in Australia; Curtin University, in Australia; Rochester Institute of Technology, in Rochester, New York; and the Zaragoza Logistics Center, in Spain.

“Given that the MicroMasters’ testing process and course standards are designed to be as demanding as those of on-campus MIT classes, the MicroMasters credential itself is also expected to provide those who earn it with opportunities for career advancement,” explained MIT News. “It would take roughly 350-580 years of teaching traditional MIT classes in supply chain management to teach a comparable number of students as were reached through the MicroMasters program.”

Modern States Education Alliance, a New York-based charity who is producing edX-formatted courses to provide an affordable access to college education, announced that it will cover the $80 cost of the CLEP (College Level Examination Program) exam fee for the first 10,000 students.

The catalog of Modern States’ courses, viewable at an Open edX-based platform, are built following College Board’s CLEP requirements.

“After you pass an exam, thousands of traditional colleges will give you course credit, enabling you to graduate sooner and at a lower cost,” explained a representative of Modern States.

These courses are part of the “Freshman Year for Free” program, with more than 30 courses that prepare students for exams leading to college credit.

• Orientation course: Passing the CLEP and Learning with Modern States

Red Hat, a leading provider of open source solutions for the enterprise, has joined the edX Consortium to deliver several courses.

The first one is Fundamentals of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, an introductory course to Linux using Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 as a model (see its about video above).

This course, intended to provide students with professional skills, will use real-world scenarios and cases that learners will be able to practice and apply on their own.

Among the big brands who are edX members we find Microsoft, MongoDB, The Linux Foundation, ETS, IEEE, Smithsonian, Amnesty International, Open Education Consortium, W3C and IDB.

Last fall, MIT experimented by offering the edX.org MOOC version of a popular class (6.002 Circuits and Electronics, created in 2012) for on-campus students, for credit, in an attempt to help students who were facing scheduling issues. A recently released internal working paper of the class has found that students not only performed well but also reported feeling less stress and having more flexibility.