How to enable Insturqt in Open edX?

Overview

Instruqt is a virtual IT lab platform that enables instructors and course authors to build hands-on tutorials, software demos, and interactive coding sandboxes—without requiring learners to download or install any local software. When integrated into an Open edX course via the Instruqt XBlock, learner completion statuses are automatically synced back to the platform. When integrated into a course run via its native XBlock, student environment completion statuses are synchronized dynamically with the platform database.

Step 1: Register the Instruqt XBlock in advanced settings

Before you can drop lab environments into individual course pages, you must add "instruqtxblock" to the Advanced Module List in your course's Advanced Settings.

Procedures:

1. Open your course run in Studio.
2. From the Settings menu in the top navigation bar, select Advanced Settings.
3. Scroll down or search the browser window to locate the Advanced Module List field.
4. Inside the square brackets [ ], add the plugin string key precisely as: "instruqtxblock"
   • Note: If other advanced tool strings are already configured, separate each entry with a comma (e.g., ["library_content", "instruqtxblock"]). Ensure you use standard straight double quotes.
5. Click Save Changes at the bottom of the page.

Step 2: Embed the component into a unit layout

Once saved, the system loads the lab builder tools directly into your unit component selection options.

Procedures:

1. Go back to your Course Outline page under the Content menu.
2. Enter the specific Unit page where you want to embed the lab exercise.
3. Scroll to the Add New Component toolkit selection area at the bottom of the page canvas.
4. Click the Advanced tile.
5. Select Instruqt from the expanded options list. The block container will load immediately onto your unit canvas.

Step 3: How do I configure the Instruqt lab block settings?

The final step maps the embedded container block directly to your specific hosted sandbox tutorial.

Procedures:

1. Find your newly added Instruqt component block on the unit canvas and click Edit.
2. Fill out the following parameters within the modal configuration view:
   • Display Name: Enter the title learners will see for this component (e.g., Hands-On Sandbox: Linux CLI Basics).
   • Track Embed Code: Log into your external Instruqt dashboard and navigate to your Track Detail Page. Click the option for Embedding and copy only the secure source URL string from inside the iframe code block (do not copy the surrounding HTML tags). Paste that absolute source URL path into this text field.
   • Height and Width: Specify the rendering container box scale metrics in pixels or percentages (e.g., 100% width and 700px height) to control how the interface opens on the learner's device view.
   • Calculate score on challenge completion: If this exercise is graded or maps to your course syllabus milestones, toggle this field choice to True. The system will calculate scores based on the proportion of passed exercises:
     
      

     SCORE = [Number of Completed Challenges]/[Total Challenges in Track]
3. Click Save.
4. Click the Publish button in your right-hand unit status sidebar to push the changes live to the LMS.

Learner perspective inside the LMS

When a learner opens this unit in the LMS, the Instruqt lab environment loads directly in the browser window—no separate tab or local installation required. Learners can interact with the live command line, complete step-by-step challenges, and verify code sequences from their browser. Once the track is fully cleared, completion records report back to the server and update their personal Progress dashboard analytics automatically.