1.3. Potential extension capabilities for the GTC Platform#
While the capabilities described in this chapter have not been included in the scope for the initial version and pilot project of the GTC platform, they represent very important potential extensions or directions for future enhancement.
1.3.1. Native Mobile apps and offline learning capabilities#
The posibility of incorporating native mobile applications to deliver a mobile first learner experience into the GTC platform is within reach to the extent that there are 2 sets of open source codebases for mobile apps that work as mobile clients for the Open edX plaftorm LMS. Each of the mobile apps implementation set has the sourcecode available for the iOS and Android mobile operating systems.
The first set of mobile apps is currently in use by large initiatives such as edx.org and is available at the following repositories:
More information and detailed configuration and deployment instructions for these mobile apps can be found here.
This set of apps incorporate certain level of learning experience that can hapen offline, specially around the storage and reproduction of video content.
The second set of mobile apps is a more recent addition and is set to become the new de facto standard for native mobile experiences with the Open edX platform. This project is available in the following repositories:
This set of apps has a wider offline learning capability, initially covering text and video, but currently being extended to also cover other types of content including graded activities.
It should be noted that in order for this set of mobile apps to work, the open edX platform also needs to be extended with the following plugin.
1.3.2. Other advanced capabilities within reach#
There is a number of other advanced or complementary capabilities that were not included in the scope for the GTC platform, but could be at some point incorporated as the technological foundations are already developed to some extent as part of the larger Open edX platform ecosystem. These include for example:
Credentials service. A backend service to support the generation of course and programs certificates, that will be replaing the current certificate generation.
More information about this initiative can be found in the following sources: Credentials service repository Credentials service documentation
Modular Learning Initiative. Work is currently to design and scope new functionality to support modular, unstructured learning sequence authoring and delivery.
Event Bus. A means for asynchronous communication between services using the pub/sub model. The Open edX platform uses OpenEdxPublicSignals to send events within a service, based on Django Signals. The event bus extends these signals, allowing them to be broadcast and handled across multiple services.