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How to Enable XBlocks in an Open edX Course

Enable Advanced Interactive Components in Open edX Studio

Overview

The XBlock specification is an open component architecture designed to extend the core authoring features of Open edX. By enabling specific XBlocks, you can add custom educational assets, interactive labs, third-party integrations, or specialized collaborative modules to your course units.

To use an XBlock, you must first register its unique identifier string at the course level. Once registered, the block becomes accessible within the unit authoring workspace.

Tip: Ensure you are logged into Open edX Studio with appropriate Admin or Staff permissions before proceeding.

Step 1: Register the XBlock in Advanced Settings

Every XBlock has a specific, unique string identifier that must be declared in your course configuration data.

Procedures:

  1. Open your course run in Studio.
  2. From the Settings menu in the top navigation bar, select Advanced Settings.
  3. Locate the Advanced Module List field near the top of the configurations page.
  4. Inside the square brackets [ ], enter the exact XBlock identifier string wrapped in straight quotation marks (e.g., "done" for the Completion/Done XBlock, or "lti_consumer" for LTI tools).
    • Note: If multiple XBlocks are required, separate each unique string with a comma (e.g., ["done", "lti_consumer", "ubc_peer_assessment"]).
  5. Click the Save Changes button that appears at the bottom of your screen.

Step 2: Embed the XBlock into a Unit

Once saved, the system loads the plugin resources into your unit authoring toolkit.

Procedures:

  1. Navigate back to your Course Outline and enter the specific Unit where you want to add the interactive asset.
  2. Scroll down to the Add New Component selection bar at the bottom of the workspace.
  3. Click the Advanced tile.
  4. A submenu will expand displaying all the XBlocks you registered in Step 1. Click on the name of your target block (e.g., Completion or LTI Consumer) to drop it onto your unit canvas.

Step 3: Configuring Your Component Block

While every specialized XBlock features unique input properties, all blocks share a standardized administrative control tray within the Unit Editor:

  • Edit: Launches the primary configuration window to customize the block's content, titles, or source API keys.
  • Settings: Manage visibility permissions (e.g., restricting the block to specific Content Groups or Cohorts).
  • Duplicate: Creates an exact replica of the component block and its saved settings directly below it.
  • Move: Shifts the block to a completely different Unit, Subsection, or Section within the course run structure.
  • Delete (Trash icon): Removes the component from the unit canvas.

Once your configurations are complete, click the Publish button in the right-hand unit status panel to make the new features visible to learners in the LMS.