Core Contributor News for Sprint: May 10th - May 23rd, 2025
This sprint brought a mix of experiences. 73.3% rated their experience as either good or great, while 26.7% faced some challenges.
What are we celebrating?
- Working on an exciting proposal to align on shared Figma design files that are currently fragmented/not well-documented. I’m excited that this could help allow some work to happen in parallel that is currently duplicated, and accelerate design improvements to the platform!
If you’ve achieved something recently—big or small—that you’re proud of, don’t hesitate to share it in the comments! We’d love to celebrate your wins and keep everyone in the loop.
Who needs help?
If there’s anything you’re stuck on, need help with, or would like input on, please feel free to leave a comment in this topic. We’re here to support you!
What Pull Requests (PRs) need review?
As a CC, check for PRs that are stuck and need attention. Don’t have write access? No problem! You can still help by reviewing to move things forward. Ping Axim if there are issues merging after you review.
Below is a list of stalled PRs that need urgent attention:
- feat: xblock asides view for rendering in an iframe in MFE
- chore: Remove usage of deprecated
assertDictContainsSubsetunittest method. - fix: cohorts api permissions
- feat: third party authentication automatic logout with a single redirect
- fix: styles for share video functionality of the video xblock
- fix: problem editor content style
- feat: allow disabling spaced out sections in self paced courses
- fix: unhide discussion tab when enabling it (#677)
- fix: use a single ‘provider_type’ key for storing discussion provider type in course
- fix: sidebar completion for completable XBlocks with children
Find a full list of PRs ready for review here, or focus on edx-platform PRs that need attention.
What are the Working Groups up to?
| Working Group | Latest Updates |
|---|---|
| BizDev | The BizDev session will explore the European GTM strategy for Open edX, addressing regional adoption challenges, vertical focus, and partner roles. Key topics include brand positioning, micro-credentials, and alignment with Axim’s pilot programs and approval status. Strategic input is sought on technical priorities, corporate learning opportunities, and the potential for a European GTM working group.Last meeting notes → 2025-05-28 Partnership development Meeting |
| Build-Test-Release (BTR) | Sumac.3 has been tagged; some GitHub issues delayed branch renaming. Next testathon is set for May 27, with testing ~80% complete. Key blockers identified, priorities set, and community contributions are growing. Latest meeting notes → 2025-05-19 BTR Meeting Minutes |
| Contributor Coordination | The working group decided to adopt an asynchronous-first model, retiring monthly meetings in favor of ad-hoc calls when necessary. Jorge will update the charter and share guidelines to support this shift. The team also discussed addressing stalled pull requests by encouraging contributors to take ownership of unmaintained code areas. Last meeting notes → 2025-05-13 CC Working Group Meeting Notes |
| Core Product | On May 6, 2025, a Special Teak Release Test-a-thon was held, organized by Chelsea Rathbun. The event aimed to provide the community with a virtual space and time to complete tests as part of the Teak Release Testing Process. Participants were instructed to select a test from the “TEAK TESTS” tab, perform it, and update the status in the testing sheet. If a test failed, participants were to create a GitHub issue with a detailed description and steps to reproduce. Feedback on unclear test instructions was encouraged, with suggestions to improve the testing process. Last meeting notes → 2025-05-06 Core Product Meeting Notes |
| Data | Chelsea Rathbun presented the Teak testing sandbox for In-Context Metrics, inviting feedback. She also discussed the User Group Strategy, Use Cases, and MVP requirements, sharing related documents for community input. The team encouraged feedback on the technical design of the User Group model. Last meeting notes → 2025-05-07 Meeting notes |
| Deprecation | On May 15, the Maintenance WG held retrospectives on the Studio waffle flip and late-stage changes to MFEs. The group agreed to use the updated process and board to guide future work. Robert proposed improvements to the DEPR board, including renaming columns to align with the OEP. Latest meeting notes → DEPR Meetings Notes (2025) |
| Documentation | No current updates available. Last meeting notes → 2025-04-17 Docs WG |
| Educators | No current updates available. |
| Frontend | The meeting discussed Micro Frontends (MFEs) transitioning to buildless NPM packages to streamline development, including separating headers/footers into a “shell” app. It explored creating project repositories to manage MFE dependencies and simplify builds. There was also debate on deprecating Webpack in favor of faster bundlers like RSBuild or Vite and maintaining Server-Side Rendering (SSR) as an optional feature for performance benefits. The long-term goal is consolidating MFEs into domain-specific macro frontends for easier maintenance. Last meeting notes → 2025-05-08 Frontend Working Group Meeting Notes |
| Large Instances | In the meeting, Felipe addressed enrollment data mismatches and shared updates on hosting tasks and the Tutor Deck plugin, suggesting potential admin console integrations. He also introduced Casbin as a possible replacement for Bridgekeeper, citing better support but noting performance concerns. Braden shared progress on OpenCraft projects, including Grove’s overhaul, Harmony deployment improvements, and conference preparations. Latest meeting notes → Large Instances Meeting Notes 2025-05-27 |
| Learning Tools (LTI) | No current updates available. Last meeting notes → 2025-04-01 Meeting notes |
| Maintenance | The team’s next major priorities include upgrading to Node 22 and Python 3.12 for Ulmo, while focusing on deprecations to reduce future maintenance. A retrospective reviewed the Studio MFE rollout, highlighting lessons around waffle flag management and coordination during major changes. Another retro discussed late-stage breaking changes to the FooterSlot, emphasizing the need for clearer communication and better timing for operator interventions. Latest meeting notes → 2025-05-15 Meeting notes |
| Marketing | Upcoming events include the Open edX Virtual Meetup on Blockchain Credentials and AI-Powered Proctoring Open edX Virtual Meetup: Blockchain Credentials & AI-Powered Proctoring, and Learntec Europe 2026 with Nicole gathering booth info. On May 28th, there’s a G2M presentation Part 2, while efforts continue to secure additional sponsors for the Open edX Conference. Marketing subgroup updates and OKRs are also under review. Latest meeting notes →Agenda, May 21st, 2025 |
| Mobile | No current updates available. Last meeting notes →Agenda, April 16th, 2025 |
| Technical Oversight Committee | New committee members Shreshtha Gupta (CTO of NSDC, India) and Aref Matin (CTO at 2U). Key announcements included Pearson’s course content translation proposal, discussions on current translation approaches, and upcoming events like the Open edX Conference and a grant opportunity for AI features in Studio. Shreshtha presented NSDC’s digital skilling ecosystem in India, highlighting the Skill India Digital Hub built on Open edX with features like blockchain credentials and job aggregation. Jenna Makowski and Dave Ormsbee outlined plans to revamp Open edX’s role-based access control system to improve security and flexibility through granular, stackable permissions. Next steps include sharing presentations, gathering community feedback on translation proposals, and exploring KeyCloak integration for RBAC. Latest meeting notes → TOC Meeting Notes - 2025-05-14 |
| Translation | No current updates available. Last meeting notes → 2025-04-16 Translation WG Meeting |
| UX/UI | Database of UX/UI Projects. Last meeting notes →2025-05-15 - UX/UI Working Group Meeting |
What events are coming up?
- Teak is here!
Testing: Apr 25–Jun 8 · Launch: June 9, 2025. Open edX Releases Homepage - The Open edX Conference 2025 is July 1 – 4, 2025 at Télécom Paris.
- Seeking additional sponsors
- Educause 2025: EDUCAUSE Annual Conference 2025 - 4 Providers confirmed (Edly, Intela, Aulasneo, and DRC).
- Join a working group meeting using the community calendar.
What are we working on?
- Our community is working on exciting projects! Visit our Open edX Roadmap and Release Planning Spreadsheet to find out what’s happening.
Want to participate in Core Contributor Governance?
- Join us for the next Contributor Coordination Working Group Meeting on Tuesday, June 10th to collaborate on planning and aligning contributor efforts. We’re working on some exciting projects, and we’d love your input. Help us shape the future of Open edX!
Add the meeting to your calendar
Anything to add?
Share your thoughts in Slack (openedx.slack.com) or the comments below!
