Stanford to Collaborate with edX to Develop a Free, Open Source Online Learning Platform
From a Joint Announcement (Stanford U. and edX):
Stanford University will collaborate with edX, the nonprofit online learning enterprise founded by Harvard and MIT, to advance the development of edX’s open source learning platform and continue to provide free and open online learning tools for institutions around the world.
[Our emphasis] By June 1, edX will release the source code for its entire online learning platform. In support of that move, Stanford will integrate features of its existing Class2Go open source online learning platform into the edX platform, use the integration as a platform for online coursework for on-campus and distance learners, and work collaboratively with edX and other institutions to further develop the open source platform.
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Stanford will continue to provide a range of platforms for faculty to choose from in hosting their online coursework, including continued partnerships with Coursera, Venture Lab and other providers. The university will focus its ongoing platform development efforts on the new merged platform, combining key features from the Class2Go open source platform with the open source edX code base.
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EdX and Stanford will collaborate along with others around the globe on the ongoing development and refinement of the edX online learning platform. EdX will support and nurture the community of developers contributing to the enhancement of the edX platform by providing a rich environment for developer collaboration as well as technical and process guidelines to facilitate developer contributions.
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The edX learning platform source code, as well as platform developments from Stanford, edX and other contributors, will be available on June 1, 2013, and can be accessed from the edX Platform Repository. On that date, developers everywhere will be able to freely access the source code of the edX learning platform, including code for its Learning Management System Studio, a course authoring tool; xBlock, an application programming interface (API) for integrating third-party learning objects; and machine grading API’s.
Read the Complete Announcement
Filed under: Management and Leadership, News, Open Access

About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.