Contributors Meetup Async Update - Sep 28th - Oct 11th, 2024

Working Groups Core Contributors
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Core Contributor Update: Sep 28th - Oct 11th, 2024

Use the jump links below to view the section that interests you:

  1. Working Groups Updates
  2. Events
  3. Projects
  4. Next async update and meetup

1. Working Groups Updates

Working Groups Calendar

1.1. BTR Working Group

Chair: @jalondonot

:paperclip: Latest news

:memo: Meeting notes

1.2. Contributor Coordination Working Group

Chair: Jorge Londoño

:paperclip: Latest news

  • Discussion on Newsletter Plugin Proposal:
    The conversation shifted towards a proposal to implement a new plugin for the community’s discussion forum which would automatically generate newsletters from forum posts. The idea aimed to address a communication gap within the community by ensuring members are regularly updated with the latest discussions and changes, which had previously been identified as a significant issue. Doubts about how to proceed with the plugin’s installation and administration were raised, including who would have the authority to install and manage it, and lead the effort behind the proposal. To volunteer for this, it was encouraged to submit a proposal to the upcoming Core Contributor Summit.
  • Core Contributor Summit Preparations:
    The discussion largely focused on the upcoming contributor summit. There was an emphasis on organizing the summit to make sure it serves as an effective platform for discussing and deciding on various proposals, including the aforementioned plugin. It was also mentioned that the summit would be a good opportunity to address communication needs more broadly, discuss how the community interacts, and how best to target different audience segments with relevant information. The future steps involved dividing the time appropriately among the various proposals and ensuring a robust review process to facilitate productive discussions at the summit.
  • Next Steps:
    The meeting wrapped up with confirmation of the procedures for the upcoming summit. It was agreed that the summit proposals need to be organized, reviewed, and presented effectively during the summit. A plan to introduce ground rules for the proposal presentations was discussed to ensure clarity and efficiency will be drafted and reviewed async by the working group, before the date of the summit.

:memo: Meeting notes

1.3. Data Working Group

Chair: @e0d & @blarghmatey

:arrow_down: Past meeting notes 2024-09-18 Meeting notes

  • The Course Comparison Dashboard (currently on a sandbox) will be released with Sumac in December.
  • The dashboard allows filtering of courses and course runs using course-level tags. There was a discussion about how tags function on the platform, with documentation available for adding tags at the course level and general content tagging. (Note: Tag filters only work for tags applied at the course level).
  • The dashboard lets users compare multiple courses and course runs, with access determined by user permissions in Django. A permissions matrix is available for more details.
  • Several improvements will be added to existing dashboards (course, at-risk, and individual learner dashboards) with the Sumac release.
  • A demo of the current Course Dashboard is available, and a new demo video covering the Individual and At-Risk Learner Dashboard will be recorded soon.
  • Campus IL is looking into xAPI events for Drag and Drop and Open Response Assessments - will follow-up with an update once there is more to report
  • Plans for next Data Working Group Meeting - hoping to discuss OEX platform data strategy draft with the community for feedback

:memo: Meeting notes

1.4. DEPR Working Group

Chair: @feanil

:arrow_down: Past meeting notes DEPR Meeting Notes (2024)

:memo: Meeting notes

1.6. Tutor Users’ Group

Chair: Kyle McCormick

:arrow_down: Past meeting notes Tutor Users GW 2024-09-23

:memo: Meeting notes

1.7. Educators Working Group

Chair: @john_curricume

:paperclip: Latest news

  • In this session of the Open edX Educators Working Group, Eric J. Larson discusses AI literacy, focusing on the distinction between AI capabilities and human-like reasoning. Participants, primarily educators, explore the implications of AI in education, emphasizing the potential and limitations of current AI technologies. Larson elaborates on his book ‘The Myth of Artificial Intelligence,’ highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of AI as an educational tool. They discuss issues such as hallucinations, the impact of AI on student learning, and the importance of maintaining critical and creative thinking. Larson promotes leveraging AI thoughtfully to complement human cognitive abilities, especially in educational settings, while acknowledging the inherent challenges and unpredictable errors of AI systems.

:memo: Meeting notes

1.8. Frontend Working Group

Chair: @arbrandes

:arrow_down: Past meeting notes 2024-09-26 Frontend Working Group Meeting Notes

  1. Slot Documentation and Release Notes (Sarina Canelake):
    • Sarina proposed improving the release notes for plugin slots, specifically aimed at non-technical decision-makers. She emphasized using screenshots and user-friendly descriptions to show the value of new features.
    • The discussion covered providing before-and-after comparisons in screenshots to demonstrate the changes, like how a header or course card could be customized with plugins.
    • Sarina clarified that she’s not asking engineers to write release notes but would need clear visual examples to assist her in crafting non-technical documentation.
  2. Plugin Slot Props and Standards (Adolfo Brandes):
    • Adolfo introduced the topic of slot props and clarified that adding props to slots is a non-breaking change. This allows for flexibility and evolution of the slots without breaking previous functionality.
    • Jason and Max, who authored a plugin-related PR, discussed how they can meet the technical documentation standards and Sarina’s request for more user-friendly examples.
  3. Modifications to Plugin Slots (Brian Smith):
    • A conversation around how plugin slots are being used in modifying components. The group agreed on the need to ensure plugins do not rely on default content but use provided props.
    • The team discussed how plugin props can be merged without explicitly passing them and considered the risks of plugins assuming default content that might change in the future.
  4. Handling Arbitrary JavaScript in MFEs (Max Frank):
    • Max raised the idea of improving how arbitrary JavaScript can be injected into micro frontend environments (MFEs). Currently, a workaround is used by placing scripts in the footer slot, which isn’t ideal.
    • He proposed refactoring the external scripts functionality to pull loaders from an end-config.js file, making it more configurable and efficient. There was broad support for this idea, though considerations around performance were also mentioned.
  5. Upcoming Releases and Deadlines:
    • The team was reminded of the upcoming Sumac release cutoff on October 23rd. Developers were encouraged to ensure any final features are submitted before that deadline.
  • Key Takeaways:
    • The group emphasized improving communication and documentation between technical and non-technical stakeholders.
    • Slot props were highlighted as a flexible tool that can evolve without causing breaking changes.
    • There was an interest in improving how JavaScript is injected into MFEs to accommodate more diverse needs efficiently.
    • The next major event will be the Sumac release, with a final cutoff in late October.
    • This meeting was productive in addressing both technical and user-facing improvements related to the frontend development workflow.

:memo: Meeting notes

1.9. Large Instances Working Group

Chair: @braden & @Felipe

:arrow_down: Past meeting notes 2024-09-17 Large Instances Meeting Notes

  • Internal Hackathon Project and Harmony Works Implementation
    Jhony Avella discussed the progress of an internal hackathon project, which involved the implementation of integration tests for their Harmony chart and plugin. He mentioned that the project is still a work in progress and will be reviewed once a more stable version is available. Jhony also shared that they plan to start implementing the Harmony Works technology on their stack in the next few weeks. He mentioned that they are analyzing what is missing to implement this technology and will propose adjustments before proceeding with the migration.
  • Pod configuration
    Jhony also discussed the changes they are making to the configuration of their pods, including the number of workers, HPA settings, and memory limits, to improve performance and prevent errors. The team is using the K6 load testing library to evaluate these changes.
  • Administrative Details
    Felipe Montoya mentioned a potential shift in hosting calls to Google meets and promised to keep Braden and others informed. The team also discussed the recording of their meetings, with Braden noting that he receives an email with the recording link.

:memo: Meeting notes

1.10. Marketing Working Group

Chair: Eden Huthmacher

:arrow_down: Past meeting notes 2024-09-18 MWG Meeting Notes

:memo: Meeting notes

1.11. Maintainers

Chair: Feanil

:paperclip: Latest news

  • Discuss access for teams that maintain many repos across the org:
  • Action items
    • Next time: AndrĂ©s GonzĂĄlez would like to bring into the agenda the topic of how many releases back are we keeping under maintenance. We, as site operator and Open edX service provider, have the policy to use in production the previous release to the latest. The reason behind that is that even when a new major version is released, there are still bugs that are discovered by real use. Cannot create new course for new organization using the frontend-app-authoring MFE · Issue #1199 · openedx/frontend-app-authoring is an example of a bug found in Redwood while it is the current release. In addition, the fix to this bug implied un-archiving an archived repo. IMO, repos of the versions under maintenance shouldn’t be archived. I would like to propose to keep the latest two (2) versions under maintenance. I know this can be a challenge to the maintenance group, considering the scarce resources they have. But I think this is something to bring back to the maintenance agenda.
    • Next time: Robert Raposa Flaky test process. Flaky Test Process was updated to use Github instead of Jira. We need feat: add flaky-test label by robrap · Pull Request #566 · openedx/repo-tools to land. There are 21 Jira tickets that could migrate or be lost. Ideas for migrating?
    • Next time: Robert Raposa [inform] [idea] Old ticket was closed with idea to add Celery to Support Windows. See #maintenance-wg Slack thread for details.

:memo: Meeting notes

1.12. Product Working Group

Chair: Jenna Makowski

:paperclip: Latest news

  • UX/UI Working Group
    • Current Projects Discussion:
      • Updated the group on the ASU project, which is in the discovery phase, and other mobile projects that are progressing through the UX stage.
      • The content libraries project is moving quickly toward development, with a code freeze anticipated in a few weeks.
    • Content Libraries Preview:
      • A demonstration of the content libraries was given, highlighting features such as:
      • Creation and management of collections and components.
      • Advanced filtering tools for easier navigation.
      • A sidebar for library-level information.
    • Review of the Notifications Proposal:
      Discussion regarding the notifications proposal, emphasizing the need for clarity before sharing the screen to avoid overwhelming participants.
      • Notification Complexity and Grouping
        1. The complexity of notifications across various channels (email, mobile push, etc.) was highlighted.
        2. The importance of grouping messages was noted, referencing that too many notifications can reduce user engagement significantly.
        3. Example: X’s platform has experienced a notable drop in click-through rates when users receive more than a certain number of notifications.
      • Proposed Grouping Mechanism:
        1. Notifications could be grouped based on course relevance and urgency.
        2. Examples shared included:
        3. A notification indicating unread replies to a single discussion post.
        4. A summary notification for multiple discussion updates within a single course.
        5. A combined notification for upcoming assignments across multiple courses, which could simplify user experience.
      • Database Overview for Notification Categories
        There is a database that serves as a child page to the centralized multi-channel modifications proposal.
        The database aims to categorize message types, levels, and routing details for both web and mobile notifications.
        Status Indicators: Messages are categorized as “proposed” or “draft” to clarify their development stage.
        Feedback Request: Attendees were encouraged to review the simplified view of the database and identify any expected messages that may be missing.
    • Event-Triggered Notifications Discussion
      • Additional Ideas:T he possibility of implementing event-triggered notifications instead of relying solely on date-based triggers was raised.
      • Examples of event-triggered notifications:
        * Course completion notifications.
        * Achievement notifications (e.g., certificate received).
        * Community engagement updates (e.g., failed assessments).
      • Connection to Course Updates: A discussion ensued about the potential for linking event-based triggers to course updates, enabling more timely and relevant communication with learners.

:memo: Meeting notes

1.13. Security Working Group

Chair: Feanil Patel

:arrow_down: Past meeting notes 2023-07-26 Security WG Meeting

:memo: Meeting notes

1.14. TOC

Chair: Ed Zarecor

:arrow_down: Past meeting notes 2024-08-13 TOC Meeting Summary

  • Open edX’s Current Market Position and Future Potential
    The dialogue opened with concerns about Open edX not achieving a definitive product-market fit which poses a risk to its ecosystem and stakeholders. It was highlighted that expanding the platform’s functionality to cater to residential (on-campus) learning could open new avenues and potentially invigorate its adoption. It would aim to create learning experiences that are more integrated and interactive, providing real-time feedback and support in physical classrooms. However, there was notable deliberation on whether Open edX, in its current architecture, could pivot to meet the demands of residential learning without extensive overhauls or if starting anew with a different product would be more feasible.
  • Concerns and Alternative Suggestions
    Participants expressed concerns about fragmenting the Open edX community with a shift towards a new product. There was also skepticism about whether an entirely new platform was needed or if iterative improvements to Open edX could achieve similar goals. Suggestions were made to further modularize Open edX to allow for easier customization and extension, which could potentially support more interactive and residential learning experiences without starting from scratch.
  • Funding and Resources
    The discussion touched on the need for funding innovative projects that could either extend or complement Open edX to support new forms of learning. It was proposed that small, funded projects could explore innovative educational technologies and tools that could later be integrated into Open edX or stand alone as new products.
  • Conclusion
    The meeting concluded without a consensus on a specific course of action but opened several critical lines of inquiry about the future direction of Open edX. It was agreed that more discussion was necessary, particularly around defining the target customer and market for Open edX and understanding the technical and financial implications of expanding or altering its offerings. The possibility of setting up further discussions or working groups to explore these issues was suggested.
  • Agreed Next Steps:
    • Further Discussions: Organize additional meetings or discussions, possibly involving external experts or stakeholders, to delve deeper into the feasibility and desirability of shifting towards residential learning platforms.
    • Market Analysis: Conduct a thorough market analysis to better understand the needs and expectations of potential markets for Open edX, particularly in the residential learning sector.
    • Technical Review: Assess the technical capabilities and limitations of Open edX in relation to the proposed new features for residential learning, considering both integration into the existing platform and the development of a new product.
    • Community Engagement: Engage more actively with the Open edX community to gather input and feedback on the proposed changes and ensure that any new direction has broad support and meets the needs of current and future users.

:memo: Meeting notes

1.15. Translation Working Group

Chair: Eden Huthmacher

:paperclip: Latest news

:memo: Meeting notes

2. Events

  • Would anyone like to highlight any past or upcoming events? Let us know in the comments!

3. Projects

Are there any new or ongoing projects you’d like to discuss? Get the conversation started in the comments below.

4. Next async update and meetup

  • Friday October 25th - Async update
  • Tuesday October 29th - Join the meetup here!
  • Details and draft agenda on Confluence

:speech_balloon: Anything to add?

If there’s anything else you’d like to mention, please let us know in the comments below.

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Core Contributor Check-in: Sept 28th - Oct 11th, 2024

:exclamation:Reminder: Summit to Enhance the Core Contributor Experience

vote

The Summit to Enhance the Core Contributor Experience is happening on October 21, 2024, from 13:00 to 15:00 UTC! This is a fantastic opportunity for all proposal presenters to showcase their ideas. View the full details and agenda here.

If you’re unable to attend, don’t worry—there will be a recording available for you to catch up. Plus you’ll have the chance to vote on the proposals asynchronously, to make your voice heard! Your participation is important as we work together to shape the future of our community of core contributors.

Looking forward to seeing many of you there!

:stopwatch: Core Contributor Hours

There was a total of 219 hours of contributions reported this past sprint with a 32% response rate.

RESPONSES
RESPONSES1408×500 29.2 KB

:notebook_with_decorative_cover: Summary of Responses

Do you need any help? Or is there anything you’d like to collaborate on?

@pdpinch

  • A PR that would be really nice to merge before Sumac is cut
  • Not clear on what the next steps would be for the related DEPR - I’ll contact my colleagues on the DEPR team about this

What did you accomplish this sprint?

@Felipe

  • Maintenance of my libraries (edx-organizations, hooks)
  • Released the Wordpress Plugin of eCommerce in the official index
  • Got familiarized with the openedx-learning repo and the content libraries
  • Attended the Marketing meetup

@farhaanbukhsh

  • Reviewed a couple of huge PRs

@pdpinch

  • Finalized 3 product proposals for the text and problem editors. My colleague Shilpa Idnani presented them to the product working group. It seems like one of the proposals was already being implemented in Libraries, so we’re optimistic it can be applied to course editors. The WG agreed with our proposed solution for the other two proposals – to restore the markdown editor for problems – but there are some details to work out.

@Zia.Fazal

  • Reviewed PR 42 of H5P xBlocks and pushed new version to PyPI
  • Published workflow of AI Coach xBlock and pushed new version to PyPI

@mafermazu

  • Launched the Open edX Commerce plugin in the WordPress plugin pages
  • Started getting involved in the LTI redesign project
  • Helped with a Discuss question

@Emad

  • I joined the program in the middle of this sprint but managed to continue working on some PRs, open some new issues, and fix some Persian translations which were blocked in the openedx-translations repo

@estebanetcheverry

  • Promo Video for Conf 2025
  • Open edX Meetup for Sep '24
  • Coordination and MC BTR coordination for next release testing phase
  • Coordinating new member from our team to Translations WG

@jill

  • Merged OSPR
  • Prepared & reviewed proposals for Core Contributor Summit
  • Regular repo maintenance

@ali_hugo

  • Submitted 2 proposals for the CC Summit

What do you plan to work on in the upcoming sprint?

@mafermazu

  • LTI
  • WooCommerce Plugin
  • Documentation

@farhaanbukhsh

  • Planning to improve Gradebook MFE this week

@jill

  • Reviewing OSPRs before Sumac cut
  • Helping to replace Elasticsearch with Meilisearch

@ali_hugo

  • Presenting at the CC Summit

@pdpinch

  • Will finally merge PR 34432 (I know it’s small, but I didn’t want to merge over a long weekend in the U.S.)
  • Work with AndrĂ©s GonzĂĄlez to prepare for Sumac testing
  • On vacation 9/16 - 9/23

@farhankhan

What went well this sprint?

@pdpinch

  • Working with AndrĂ©s GonzĂĄlez on handing over my role as the Release Testing Coordinator

@antoviaque

  • Great list of proposals for the Core Contributor summit!

@Felipe

:speech_balloon: Questions or comments?

Please add any questions or comments you might have below. We’d love to hear from you!

And if you’d like to take a peek at the full report, see it on Listaflow

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