Just a few days from now, the city of Paris will welcome some of the most forward-thinking minds in education and technology. The Open edX Conference 2025 is set to take place in Télécom Paris, France, where the Open EdX community and educational experts will come together to discuss new ideas and share real-world learning experiences powered by open-source technology. And as always, Edly will be there too, not only to attend but to share our journey, our work, and the lessons we’ve learned along the way.
About Open edX Conference 2025
The Open edX Conference 2025 is being co-hosted by EMOOCs 2025 and will take place at Télécom Paris, Polytechnic Institute of Paris, France, from July 1st to July 4th, 2025.
Télécom Paris is not only organizing EMOOCs but also proudly co-hosting the Open edX Conference on its campus. The theme of this year’s Open edX Conference is “Leveraging the Power of Open Source to Democratize Education and Fuel Advances in Learning”.
As an attendee, you can expect a very diverse program that features keynotes, hands-on workshops, community sessions, and discussions on the latest advancements in online learning technologies. The conference will offer you an opportunity to connect with the vibrant Open edX community and shape the future of digital learning.
The Open edX Conference 2025 Program
The program of the 2025 Open edX conference spans four days. It’s briefly mentioned below:
- July 1st (Tuesday): 90-minute interactive workshops and tutorial sessions on product management, platform usage, extending and operating the Open edX LMS, and pedagogy and instructional design.
- July 2nd & 3rd (Wednesday and Thursday): Keynote presentations and 45-minute talk sessions from leading educators and innovators.
- July 4th (Friday): Community Town Hall, Open edX Working Group meetings, Open edX Office Hours with Axim Engineering team members, and a final day celebration with networking opportunities.
Keynotes of the Open edX Conference 2025
The Open edX 2025 conference will feature two notable keynote speakers who will be presenting on July 2nd (Wednesday):
- Dr. Ángel Cabrera: President of the Georgia Institute of Technology, Dr. Ángel Cabrera will speak about the connection between technology, education, and innovation. He’ll also share how platforms like Open edX can help shape the future of higher education, drawing from his experience leading Georgia Tech through record-breaking achievements.
- Professor Mairéad Pratschke: A global expert on digital education and artificial intelligence, Professor Mairéad Pratschke is a chair in digital education at the University of Manchester. She will discuss how GenAI and platforms like Open edX LMS can reshape online education, support lifelong learning, and contribute to workforce development.
Edly’s Journey Through the Open edX Conferences
Being a trusted Open edX service provider since 2013, Edly has been a consistent and enthusiastic participant in the annual Open edX conferences. Over the years, we’ve not only attended but also contributed as speakers, workshop hosts, and solution providers for the global Open edX community.
In 2022, we were proud to sponsor the event. It felt like a natural next step in our long-standing commitment to open-source learning. Each year, our role has grown as we continue working to make learning more accessible through technology.
Highlights From our Last Open edX Conference
At the 2024 Open edX Conference in Cape Town, we delivered four sessions, each focused on a different aspect of digital learning. Our team spoke about discussion-based learning, shared new thinking around instructional design, introduced our Repo Health Dashboard, and explored how Open edX fits into campus-based education.
It was a good mix of hands-on work and big-picture thinking. Beyond the sessions, it was great to meet people from around the world, exchange ideas, and be part of conversations shaping the future of the platform. Being there and contributing to the community meant a lot to us.
What to Expect this Year: Edly at the 2025 Open edX Conference
Edly is one of the organizations that are sponsoring the 2025 Open edX Conference. In terms of team participation, our ten members are going to take part in the event this year. All of them will take the stage to share real stories of strategic growth, impactful learning, and forward-looking technology.
Here’s where you’ll find us:
July 2nd (Day Two): Let’s Walk Through XBlocks to Unleash the Power of Open edX
1:00 PM – Amphi 5
Presented by: Salman Nawaz & Muhammad Farhan Khan
At 1:00 PM, in Amphi 5, Salman Nawaz and Muhammad Farhan Khan will lead a deep dive into the world of XBlocks: modular components that shape the Open edX learning experience.
Their session offers a strategic walkthrough of both well-known and underutilized XBlocks and the newly developed XBlocks, highlighting their practical applications and how they can be used to design more interactive learning environments.
July 2nd (Day Two): What We Often Get Wrong about Learner Engagement—and How to Fix it
4:30 PM – Amphi 5
Presented by: Faqir Bilal
At 4:30 PM, in Amphi 5, Faqir Bilal will present a session to challenge some common assumptions about learner engagement in online education, particularly within Open edX.
Their session unpacks how overemphasizing engagement can sometimes undercut actual learning outcomes. It showcases case studies and presents evidence-informed strategies to strike a better balance between engagement, motivation, and achievement for more effective course design.
July 3rd (Day 3): Scaling Open edX (Tutor) to 50,000 Concurrent Users with Oracle Cloud
2:00 PM – Amphi 7
Presented by: Muhammad Jalal ud Din & Hammad Daoud
At 2:00 PM, in Amphi 7, Muhammad Jalal ud Din and Hammad Daoud will share how Edly scaled Open edX (Tutor) to support 50,000 concurrent users on Oracle Cloud, despite regional and infrastructure limitations.
Their session delves into deployment strategies using Kubernetes, vertical scaling, Nginx tuning, and load testing with Locust. The session also offers practical insights to optimize system performance and handle cloud-specific challenges.
July 3rd (Day 3): Django Admin: Not Just for Developers (Anymore!)
3:30 PM – Amphi 4
Presented by: Mahnoor Sarwat & Faqir Bilal
At 3:30 PM, in Amphi 4, Mahnoor Sarwat and Faqir Bilal will discuss how Edly reimagined the Django Admin for non-developers working within Open edX.
Although Django Admin is a powerful tool, its steep learning curve and limited role management often lead to unnecessary developer dependency. This session will show how Edly turned it into a user-friendly interface that removes barriers and enables wider teams to manage tasks with confidence.
July 3rd (Day 3): Whatever Happens, Don’t prune
3:30 PM – Amphi 3
Presented by: Régis Behmo
At the same time, when Mahnoor Sarwat and Faqir Bilal will be presenting in Amphi 4, Régis Behmo will be in Amphi 3, sharing Edly’s engineering perspective in his talk, “Whatever happens, don’t prune.”
But that’s not all. Régis will be joined by an outstanding lineup of speakers:
- Peter Pinch (MIT Open Learning) exploring “Extending Existing xBlocks with Asides”
- Felipe Montoya (CTO, eduNEXT) presenting “The Administrator Console: Powering Flexibility with Kernel + Extensions”
- Qasim Gulzar (Founder, Primzel Solutions) discussing “Open edX Powered by Postgresql”
July 3rd (Day 3): Extending Open edX Codebase Beyond the Core
4:30 PM – Amphi 3
Presented by: Shafqat Farhan Ahmed & Mohammad Ahtasham Ul Hassan
At 4:30 PM in Amphi 3, Shafqat Farhan Ahmed from Edly will be joined by Mohammad Ahtasham Ul Hassan (from the edX team) for a technical session on extending the Open edX codebase without disrupting its core.
Have you ever wanted to add custom logic to meet your organization’s unique needs, only to hit a wall because it didn’t align with the Open edX community standards? This session explores how Django App Plugins can help you implement business-specific features in a clean, scalable, and upgrade-friendly way. So you can build with freedom while staying in sync with the Open edX platform.
Meet us in Paris
Our team will be on-site throughout the conference, ready to connect, exchange ideas, and explore what’s next for online learning. Whether you’re tackling infrastructure challenges or looking to create more engaging learner experiences, we’d love to hear your story and share ours.
See you at Telecom Paris. Let’s build the future together.
