Week of 27 June 2016

The following information summarizes what is new in the edX platform this week.

The edX engineering wiki Release Pages provide detailed information about every change made to the edx-platform GitHub repository. If you are interested in additional information about every change in a release, create a user account for the wiki and review the dated release pages.

LMS

  • Changes to the grading process have improved the performance of grade calculation for the Progress page. Changes include ending support for the XBlock field always_recalculate_grades, which was not used in any active XBlocks, and caused performance issues when set to True. (TNL-4453)
  • Staff can now use the “View As Specific Student” feature to see timed exam content as a particular learner, even if the timed exam is hidden from learners after they submit the exam. (TNL-4808)
  • Accessibility enhancements were made in the LMS, including to video player menu options and the calculator. (AC-454, AC-484, TNL-4853)

Open edX

Open edX platform users who have installed the E-Commerce service can now create coupons to give their learners discounts on courses that have fees. Coupons can be single-user or multi-user and can be valid for just one course or for multiple courses.

For more information, see Create and Manage Coupons in the Installing, Configuring, and Running the Open edX Platform guide.

Documentation

The Getting Started with edX section in the Building and Running an edX Course guide and the Getting Started on edX section in the EdX Learner’s Guide have been updated to clarify the process of creating and activating accounts on edx.org and edX Edge.