This is an XBlock which allows students to maintain per-course user profiles. Per-course user profiles allow students to give information relevant to a course. For example, in a course on teaching physics, the students could give information about whether they've taught physics, done education research, or just have a general interest, e.g. as parents.

This concept is inspired by the way profiles work for meetups, as well as NovoEd.

As of this writing (Jul 29, 2014), this XBlock is unfinished, but I am actively developing it. For example,

• There is a JSON configuration language, but the configuration is hard-coded in the XBlock
• The list of contact information (Facebook, etc.) is ugly
• There is no way for students to view each others' profiles
• Is there a better way to handle phone number (esp. regarding country codes?)
• How should we phrase open-ended questions so we get clear, consistent answers?
• Will users find the number of contact info input fields overwhelming or privacy-invading?

This README file probably won't be updated often (specifically, not until the XBlock is done). Odds are, by the time you read this, a few of these will be fixed, and a few will still be outstanding (in particular, ones where we run into rough edges with the XBlocks architecture, where it makes sense to fix XBlocks rather than hacking around).