.. _Open edX Hawthorn Release:

Open edX Hawthorn Release
#########################

This page lists the highlights of the Hawthorn release of the Open edX platform.


.. contents::
 :depth: 1
 :local:

New and Improved Features
*************************

The Open edX Hawthorn release includes the following updates.

.. contents::
 :depth: 1
 :local:


LMS and Learner Features
========================

* We’ve enhanced the learner profiles so that they now include the date a
  learner joined the platform and any course credentials they have received.
  Learner profiles link to social media accounts and help learners share
  information with one another.
* Learners now have the ability to purchase all the courses in a
  program in just one transaction. This avoids the hassle of having to enter
  payment information multiple times.
* New discussion notifications now send an email message the first time a
  learner's post receives a comment. The message contains the comment and a
  link back to the course discussions for easy access. Inline discussions are
  expanded by default. This change has led to a threefold increase in
  discussion participation on edx.org.


Studio and Course Author Tools
==============================

* Course teams now have the ability to override learner scores for individual
  problems. This can be done through a setting on both the instructor dashboard
  and the Staff Debug viewer.
* Course Reviews can now be viewed and added by learners from within the course
  experience. Open edX system administrators can configure a reviews provider,
  such as CourseTalk, to allows learners to leave reviews for a particular course.
* Proctored exams have been improved, enabling course teams to add specific exam
  instructions in the Studio proctored exam settings.
* The Files & Uploads page has been updated to significantly simplify the
  experience of adding all types of files to a course. This includes the
  ability to search and a Hide File Preview option.
* The ORA problem editor has been improved. A new interface offers the same
  formatting options for the prompt that are available for HTML components.
  You no longer have to create a separate HTML component above the ORA
  assignment.
* Weekly course highlight messages can now be sent to encourage learners to
  remain engaged with self-paced courses. Specify a few highlights for each
  course section, and the platform sends out a weekly email message that lists
  these highlights. Courses on edx.org that enabled weekly highlights had
  higher verification rates than ones without.
* The HTML components have been updated to give you even more easy formatting
  options such as aligning your text the way you want: aligned to the left or
  right, centered, or fully justified. Images in HTML components can be added
  right inside the HTML component itself, without having to upload files
  beforehand.
* The Video Uploads page is enabled by default. For course teams who partner
  with 3Play Media and cielo24, transcripts (including translations of
  transcripts) are added to Studio automatically.
* You can establish a password policy to require a minimum strength and
  complexity for passwords.

Changes to OLX <transcript> Element for Videos
----------------------------------------------

The primary storage for video transcripts on edx.org is now Amazon S3. In
connection with this change, we have made changes to the ``<transcript>``
element for videos in OLX, which is the XML-based standard for course export
and import on edX. The ``<transcript>`` element, which was formerly a child of
the ``<video>`` element, is now a child of a ``<transcripts>`` element, which
is in turn a child of the ``<video_asset>`` element. Here is an example of an
OLX ``<video>`` element, showing the way transcripts are now handled.

.. code-block:: xml

    <video sub="" display_name="Test Video" edx_video_id="9c563e7d-c86c"
           youtube_id_1_0="FEWSxCV">
        <video_asset client_video_id="test.mp4" duration="319.94" image="">
            <encoded_video bitrate="174" file_size="69880" profile="mobile_low"
                           url="https://abc.cloudfront.net/ABC_MB2.mp4"/>
            <encoded_video bitrate="192" file_size="76816" profile="audio_mp3"
                           url="https://def.cloudfront.net/ABC_MB1.mp3"/>
            <encoded_video bitrate="279" file_size="112012" profile="desktop_mp4"
                           url="https://ghi.cloudfront.net/ABC_MB4.mp4"/>
            <encoded_video bitrate="0" file_size="0" profile="youtube" url="FEWSxCV"/>
            <transcripts>
                 <transcript file_format="srt" language_code="en" provider="Custom"/>
                 <transcript file_format="srt" language_code="de" provider="Custom"/>
           </transcripts>
        </video_asset>
    </video>

Transcript content files are stored in the course's ``/static`` directory,
using the file name format ``[edx_video_id]-[language_code].srt``. For example, in
the preceding example, there should be a transcript file with the name
``9c563e7d-c86c-en.srt`` in the ``/static`` directory.

System Upgrades and Updates
***************************

The Hawthorn release makes version updates to a number of system components.

.. list-table::
   :widths: 60 40
   :header-rows: 1

   * - System
     - Upgraded Version
   * - edxapp
     - Django 1.11.x
   * - Mongo
     - Mongo 3.2
   * - Search
     - ElasticSearch 1.5
   * - Node
     - Node 8
   * - xblock-lti-consumer
     - 1.1.5
   * - Queueing
     - Redis replaces Rabbit


Deprecated Features
*******************

Several features are deprecated or deleted in the Open edX Hawthorn release.

* The waffle flag ``unified_course_view``, which can be used for the new view
  of the course outline on a separate page, was deprecated in Ginkgo.  The old
  sidebar navigation and this waffle flag will be fully removed in the next
  release. We recommend switching this flag to ``True``, so that you will not
  experience any change with the next release.
* ``django-simple-history`` has been deprecated and removed.
* The ``LogoutViewConfiguration`` model has been removed. Single logout is now
  permanently enabled. This means that logging out of the LMS or an IDA logs
  you out of all systems.



**Maintenance chart**

+--------------+-------------------------------+----------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Review Date  | Working Group Reviewer        |   Release      |Test situation                                     |
+--------------+-------------------------------+----------------+---------------------------------------------------+
|2025-04-28    | Docs WG                       | Teak           | Deprecated: This is no longer the current release |
+--------------+-------------------------------+----------------+---------------------------------------------------+