How to edit documents in OpenOlat with ONLYOFFICE

Welcome the newly introduced integration that allows users to work with office documents using ONLYOFFICE online editors within OpenOlat, an open-source e-learning platform. Read on for more details.

OpenOlat is a web-based LMS (learning management system) for teaching, learning, assessment and communication developed by frentix, a company based in Zurich, Switzerland. Among frentix customers are Avaloq, Ernst & Young, Hamilton Medical, VCRP (virtual campus of Rheinland Pfalz), Furtwangen University, schools in Switzerland such as Juventus Schulen, Feusi, and many others.

The name OpenOlat stands for Open Online Learning And Training. OpenOlat is used to create and share educational content, form groups, organize users, and assign users to the courses. A sophisticated modular toolkit provides course authors with a wide range of didactic possibilities.

Each OpenOlat installation can be individually extended, adapted to organizational needs, and integrated into existing IT infrastructures. The architecture is designed for minimal resource consumption, scalability, and security.

ONLYOFFICE is now available for all OpenOlat users (both those who host it themselves and those who use the public OpenOlat cloud) as an additional functionality. All you need to do is to activate the corresponding module in OpenOlat providing your ONLYOFFICE server credentials (so, an instance of ONLYOFFICE Document Server is required).

Users are able to directly create, edit and collaborate on office documents both within folders and in the task block of OpenOlat. Word documents, Excel files and PowerPoint presentations are all supported.

Due to the direct integration in the course structure of OpenOlat, document processing is implemented in the learning environment. In contrast, file storage services outside of OpenOlat (such as SharePoint, OneDrive, Dropbox) require an independent structure and are not directly integrated in the learning process of the participant.

Possible learning scenarios with ONLYOFFICE in OpenOlat:

• Collaborative working on notes during a lesson.
• Writing papers directly within online course structure.
• Performing various tasks (e.g. essays, filling out forms, editing given Excel grids).
• Preparing group presentations. 

How to work   

You need to configure the service credentials in the backend:

You can create new documents in the LMS:

You can edit all the previously uploaded office documents:

You can open ONLYOFFICE to co-edit documents uploaded to OpenOlat:

More info on the integration is available on the official OpenOlat website (in German).

Would like to use ONLYOFFICE within your favorite platform? Find here the full list of available integration apps.

Need an app to connect ONLYOFFICE to your web service? Or have you developed one? Just contact us at sales@onlyoffice.com to discuss the details.

If you have any questions, leave your comments below or tweet us at @only_office.