Proposal: Improve Common Cartridge Import to Open edX

[MarshMike]

Abstract

Goal: The primary objective of this initiative is to fully integrate the Common Cartridge (CC) standard into the Open edX platform. This enhancement aims to facilitate the effortless migration of digital learning content from widely-used Learning Management Systems such as Canvas, D2L Brightspace, Blackboard, and Moodle to Open edX. The initiative seeks to address the current challenges faced by educational institutions and businesses in migrating course data seamlessly and without technical barriers.

Problem Statement: Currently, Open edX does not support the Common Cartridge format natively, which leads to a cumbersome and error-prone process using a third-party conversion tool. This limitation acts as a barrier for institutions considering a switch to Open edX, especially given the popularity of Common Cartridge among major LMS providers.

Proposed Solutions:

Quick Solution: Enhance the existing cc2olx converter to improve its reliability and efficiency in transforming .imscc files into .tar.gz format suitable for import into Open edX.

Strategic Solution: Develop native support in Open edX for direct import of .imscc files, enabling a straightforward and user-friendly migration process directly within the Open edX Studio environment.

Intended Outcomes:

Educational Institutions: Facilitate easier transitions to Open edX, providing a viable and attractive alternative to current LMS options.

Open edX Contributors and Community: Simplify the content migration process, reduce the potential for data loss, and increase the platform's appeal and functionality, thereby attracting a broader user base and enhancing the platform’s community-driven development.

Market Impact: Position Open edX as a competitive player in the LMS market by removing interoperability barriers and catering to the needs of institutions looking for robust and flexible education technology solutions.

Context & Background

What is Common Cartridge?

A Common Cartridge (CC) is a set of open standards developed by the 1EdTech member community that enable interoperability between content and systems. Basically, it is a standard for creating and sharing digital learning content in the education sector. This standard is supported by major LMS systems on the market like Blackboard Learn, Moodle, Brightspace, Canvas. As a result, users of these systems can effortlessly export course data in .imscc archive from one system and seamlessly upload it to another, ensuring fast and easy migration between systems. A Common Cartridge file contains features such as an IMS manifest file, roles metadata, LTI links, weblinks, embedded files, and question data.

What is inside Common Cartridge?

A Common Cartridge file contains IMS manifest file, roles metadata, LTI links, weblinks, embedded files, and question data.

• The manifest file describes the content contained in the cartridge. For example, in a Common Cartridge compliant learning app, the manifest file informs which version is being used to package its content. The components that make up the manifest file may be in the package or external to the package.
• Metadata lets developers label and organize a cartridge’s content. The metadata can be in the IMS Learning Object Metadata (LOM) schema or any other metadata schema. Curriculum standards that are attributed to specific content or links packaged in the file can also be included in the LOM. Common Cartridge Metadata file corresponds to the course.xml file in OeX.
• A Common Cartridge file can contain LTI launch links and links to external web pages. The standard allows for data to be exchanged between externally linked applications and a LMS. LTI links can also be used as a method of authorizing users so that they can access remote content securely.
• The package can contain several pieces of multimedia content. This can include web content in an HTML format and common file types, such as PDFs, EPub textbooks, videos, and text documents.
• A Common Cartridge package can contain tests, assessments, and question banks that are formatted using the IMS Question and Test Interoperability (QTI) and Accessible Portable Item Protocol (APIP) standard.
• Common Cartridge files cannot contain SCORM files. However, SCORM content can be converted to Common Cartridges.

Common Cartridge Content Types

.imscc file content example

Common Cartridge Versions

IMS Common Cartridge version	Summary
IMS Common Cartridge 1.0	In the resource metadata context, includes the higher education value. Contains metadata for the intended user roles, Learner and Instructor. These are the user roles that can view the resource. Contains the intendedUse attribute for Web Content Resources. This attribute must contain one of the following values: lesson plan, syllabus, or unspecified.
IMS Common Cartridge 1.1	Offers easy support and integration with IMS Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) v1.0 resources. You can integrate rich learning applications or premium content with platforms or other systems from which applications can be launched, without additional customization. In the resource metadata context, includes the following values: higher education, school, training, and other. Adds metadata for the Mentor intended user role. The intendedUse attribute for Web Content Resources is optional in this Cartridge version.
IMS Common Cartridge 1.2	Includes metadata for curriculum standards, which provides the option to associate the cartridge, resource, or question item with zero or more curriculum standard identifiers, from one or more providers. Users can use any curriculum standard, provided that it supports unique identifiers. The intendedUse attribute for Web Content Resources offers a new attribute called Assignment.
IMS Common Cartridge 1.3	Allows you to import multiple question banks within a single cartridge. Provides the ability to specify Common Cartridge XML descriptions within an imsmanifest.xml file, which are imported by iLearn Learning Environment. Provides the option to add metadata to LTI links. In iLearn Learning Environment, this metadata is incorporated into the content topic so that it can point to the LTI link.
Common Cartridge (CC)/Thin Common Cartridge (TCC) 1.4	Expands upon the legacy specification to include new features: a K-12 profile, built from required metadata; the ability to align to CASE standards; support for the upcoming 1EdTech specification OpenVideo; and adds line items to LTI links. This version extends the interoperability already existing in CC/TCC and provides additional benefits to K20 institutions when publishers take advantage of the K-12 profile.

CC import to OeX — Current state

Open edX currently does not support the Common Cartridge standard, meaning tha courses exported in .imscc format cannot be seamlessly imported into the system. However, a cc2olx converter has been developed to transform Common Cartridge .imscc files into .tar.gz files, which can then be imported into Open edX Studio.

During the process of using the converter to import courses from D2L Brightspace to Open edX, various issues were encountered

1. The imscc. archive contained a path with an unusual UTF-8 symbol, which appeared as “c” but was not recognized by Python’s filesystem library. The problem was resolved by renaming and repacking the exported course.
2. The content included CDATA sections, leading to a ValueError. To fix this, a sanitization script prior to generating OLX was implemented.

The range of issues may expand when it comes to import imscc. files from other LMS systems like Blackboard or Canvas.

Scope & Approach

Market Research

Common Cartridge is employed by major LMS providers including Canvas, D2L Brightspace, Blackboard, and Moodle. These platforms collectively hold 88% of the Higher Ed LMS Market in the US and Canada.

Most institutions that currently utilize a prominent platform often overlook Open edX as a potential alternative. For instance, dissatisfaction with Blackboard Learn LMS has prompted many users to seek migration options, as evidenced in this reddit thread. The challenge of seamlessly migrating courses may contribute to the underestimation of Open edX as a viable alternative.

Solution options

From the current perspective, two possible solutions are available.

Option 1 — Quick Solution Enhance the current cc2olx converter to address any existing issues, allowing for a seamless transformation of courses from imscc format into .tar.gz files.

Option 2 — Strategic Solution Integrate the capability to directly import imscc files into Open edX through Studio functionality. This enhancement will enable effortless migration of courses from other LMS to Open edX, catering to users without technical expertise.

Primary Beneficiaries

Integrating Common Cartridge files into Open edX will streamline the migration process and establish Open edX as an attractive option for educational institutions and businesses currently using platforms like Canvas, Brightspace, Blackboard, or Moodle.

Beneficiaries of this enhancement include:

1. Educational Institutions: Those utilizing platforms such as Canvas, Brightspace, Blackboard, or Moodle can now view Open edX as a practical alternative. This compatibility broadens their choices and facilitates a smoother transition to Open edX should they decide to switch.
2. Open edX Contributors: Contributors will benefit from a simplified and expedited process for migrating courses from the aforementioned platforms to Open edX. This efficiency not only saves time but also reduces the potential for errors during course transfers.
3. Open edX Community: The support of Common Cartridge is likely to attract a broader audience. An increase in users not only enriches the community but also fosters more diverse contributions to the platform’s development and enhancement.

Milestones and/or Epics

Milestone 1: cc2olx converter improvement

Enhance the current cc2olx converter to address any existing issues, allowing for a seamless transformation of courses from imscc format into .tar.gz files.

As a user, I want to effortlessly transfer courses in Common Cartridge to OLX without losing any course data, so that I could smoothly migrate my course from Blackboard, Moodle, Brightspace, or Canvas to the Open edX platform.

Impact metrics

• % of content lost during the convertion

Milestone 2: Support of Common Cartridge by Open edX

Integrate the capability to directly import imscc files into Open edX through Studio functionality. This enhancement will enable effortless migration of courses from other LMS to Open edX, catering to users without technical expertise.

As a user without technical knowledge, I want to effortlessly import courses in Common Cartridge format into Open edX using the user-friendly interface without losing any course data, so that I could smoothly migrate my course from Blackboard, Moodle, Brightspace, or Canvas to the Open edX platform.

As a non-technical user, I want to seamlessly import courses in Common Cartridge format into Open edX using the intuitive interface without compromising any course data, so that I could smoothly migrate my course from Blackboard, Moodle, Brightspace, or Canvas to the Open edX platform.

Impact metrics

• Time needed to import courses in Common Cartridge format to Open edX
• % of content lost during the import
• Number of new users who transitioned to Open edX from Blackboard, Moodle, Brightspace, or Canvas.

Named Release

• First — Sumac.
• Second — Sumac and Teak.

Timeline

TBD

Proposed By

Raccoon Gang

[github-actions[bot]]

Thanks for your submission, @openedx/open-edx-project-managers will review shortly.

[jmakowski1123]

Next steps:

Mariia to coordinate Jenna to find stakeholders

[jmakowski1123]

Hi @mariiamoskalenko - thanks again for submitting this. Great to see this project. A couple of things:

1. I'm wondering if it would help to break the milestones up even more by other LMS platforms? For example, focusing first on converting from Canvas, then Moodle, etc. I touched based with @cablaa77 , who shared data from a CC pilot project that edX ran a few years ago. One of the findings was that Canvas content was much easier to convert than Moodle, for various reasons. The research is a few years old, so it might be worth following up to see which LMS might be the lowest hanging fruit? For example, if the current market trend is a move away from Blackboard in particular AND it turns out that Blackboard content is relatively straightforward, then it would be a no-brainer to start with a milestone around making sure Blackboard works first with the cc2olx converter.
2. Brad shared the full pilot study here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1eU3ZkGIPODRMUbgHx08xG3HRecWlmRerpQ6Aqi4iMYE/edit#gid=0
3. I'd like to see the %of content lost metric quantified quite a bit along the way. Happy to help with product support on this. I'd like to understand what threshold users find acceptable. 95%? 90%? 75%?
4. Milestone 2 will need some UI designs, correct? I'm imagining this would be a subset workflow within the Import UI flow, but that will also need some design thought.

[jmakowski1123]

cc to @cablaa77 @jristau1984 @kdmccormick for further feedback/input

[abyzovaana]

@jmakowski1123 Thank you for your comments. RG is working on updating the proposal based on your feedback to include. Deadline early next week - max June, 18.

[cablaa77]

@abyzovaana we were looking at cc2olx about a year ago with open craft. We got through discovery but ended up prioritizing other workstreams. I think @jmakowski1123 comments are right on the mark and my memory is that thinking about getting to 100% conversion was going to be very challenging but improving conversion seemed reasonable enough. So I would think that coming up with success criteria (what % conversion is good enough) might be valuable. Areas that we thought would be valuable to focus on after discovery included formatting issues, finding a way to help import numeric quizzes properly, finding a way to better handle Flipgrid, and addressing courses with just HTML link and no content.