For our kick-off meeting, we'll have an introduction to Open edX, and a presentation from Aquent about their use of Open edX.

What is Open edX: edX's Ned Batchelder will present an overview of Open edX, the open-source platform that powers edx.org and hundreds of other online education sites around the world.  What is it, how can you use it, and where is it going? 

Aquent: Aquent's Gymnasium was built and launched on a proprietary MOOC platform in 2013. Two years later, they are relaunching their design school - built on top of Open edX. 

Andrew Miller and Jeremy Osborn will be sharing some tales from this adventure - including the business, technical, and pedagogical decisions, as well as the death-defying stunts required to (re)shape the user experience appropriately. 

About the speakers

Ned Batchelder is a software architect at edX.  He's also an organizer of Boston Python, and likes to juggle. 

Jeremy Osborn is an accomplished author and the academic director of Aquent Gymnasium. He has built websites for Boston-area startups, developed a Graphic & Interactive Design certificate program at Boston University, and consulted for a number of companies, including Google, Microsoft, and Adobe. His latest book, HTML5 Digital Classroom, is an excellent resource for learning the essentials of HTML5 and is available on Amazon.

We'll also have an open discussion time to hear from all of you: what is your interest in Open edX, what would you like this group to be like, and what would you like to hear about in the future? 

Pizza will be provided by edX.