Course Management System (CMS)

The CMS is better known as Open edX® Studio. It’s the user-friendly back end of your platform where your course teams can collaborate to create and manage your online courses. Studio is accessed directly via a web browser and offers an intuitive interface that’s easy to use for beginners and feature-rich for advanced users.

What’s included in Studio?

Add Course Team Members

Add an unlimited number of your colleagues to help you build and manage a course. For added privacy, an individual course team member only has access to the courses they are added to.

Set User Roles and Permission Levels

Course team roles include Admin or Staff. The difference is that Admins can add or remove Staff. 

Outline Editor

Organise your course content into a simple hierarchy of Sections > Subsections > Units > Multimedia Components.

Create with Freedom - Change Your Mind Anytime

Use drag and drop to reorder or move your course content anytime.

Visibility Settings

Not ready to publish your section? Hide content for staff-only visibility. 

Files&Uploads Database

Each course has its own Files&Uploads page where you can upload course assets for use in your course. Examples of file types include:

• images
• documents
audio
• code
• PDFs and more

Add Multimedia Content Types with One Click

Simply point and click to add different multimedia types or advanced components like completion tracking into your course units:

• text editor
• videos
• problems
• discussion forum topic
• advanced components

Text Editor

Use the built-in text editor to add:

• text
• fonts
colours
• copy/paste
• links
• images
• custom html

Insert and Configure Videos in Seconds

Add a video component then click Edit to add configurations for:

• changing the video display name
• adding extra URLs with different quality videos
timed transcripts
• enabling the download option
• video start time and stop time
• speed settings
• and more

Insert Problem Templates and Configure as Needed

There are many problem templates to choose from, plus you can configure them as graded or ungraded, set the maximum number of attempts, give hints and feedback, add randomisation, and more:

• checkboxes
• dropdown
multiple choice
• numerical input
• text input
• true or false
• drag and drop
• and more

Set a Grading Policy

Choose an overall passing grade for the course.

Set Letter Grading

Add letter grades including A, B, C, D, and F. 

Customise and Issue Digital Certificates

There are many problem templates to choose from, plus you can configure them as graded or ungraded, set the maximum number of attempts, give hints and feedback, add randomisation, and more:

• checkboxes
• dropdown
multiple choice
• numerical input
• text input
• true or false
• drag and drop
• and more

Course Launch Checklist

Have peace of mind while building courses with a built-in checklist covering the most important course configurations. 

Best Practises Checklist

Have you followed best practises? There is a built-in checklist for that too. Did you know that learners engage best with short videos followed by opportunities to practice? Research shows that a diverse content experience drives learner engagement, so add multiple content types (such as video, discussion, or problem).

Ready to Get Started with Open edX?