BULB: BU Learning Blocks
BULB (BU Learning Blocks) is a WordPress plugin for the creation of interactive learning content. It allows the creation of open educational resources (such as open workbooks or textbooks) using the leading open web platform, to save textbook costs both for BU students and for students around the world. Content created in BULB can be conveniently updated to allow access to current materials for lifelong learners after graduation.
The BULB plugin adds several functions to WordPress specific to interactive learning modules. It gives WordPress the capability for self-assessment questions with instant feedback, to allow students to interact with the learning materials they are reading. It also includes next/previous page functions, tabbed content containers and glossaries. It is based on WordPress’s Gutenberg editor (also referred to as the Block Editor).
BULB has been successfully piloted by faculty adopters at Boston University. In Spring 2021, the BULB team celebrated the launch of BULB version 1.1, which released BULB in the WordPress plugin library as a free, open-source plugin available to all WordPress users (both within and outside BU).
For those outside of Boston University, please view our plugin listing in the WordPress Plugin Library. For those interested in using BULB at Boston University, all you need to do is request a WordPress site using this form. Make sure to mention that you want BU Learning Blocks installed in the description field of the form. For developers interested in contributing to BULB, check out our GitHub repository. For documentation on using BULB, please consult our BULB User Guide. If you want to learn more about BULB, feel free to fill out our Contact Us form.
Project Spotlight
Svitlana Malykhina (Lecturer, Russian Language and Culture, Boston University) uses BULB on her site Russian Poetry. The purpose of the project is to introduce learners of Russian to the treasures of Russian poetry in the original, starting with the poets of the Silver Age in the twentieth century and moving chronologically into the twenty-first century. The project contains Biographies on Russian poets, commentaries on individual poems, full text of poems, and self-study learning tools to improve reading fluency and comprehension. For more information on the project, please read this article in the FLTMAG.
Professor Wayne LaMorte (Professor of Epidemiology at the School of Public Health) also used BULB to create a series of BUSPH Learning Modules covering Quantitative Methods in Public Health.
Additional BULB sites from BU's School of Public Health, Department of Engineering, and BUMC’s Center for Excellence in Women’s Health, among others, are in development and will be added here when they are available for the public.
In The News
- Plugin Launch: Developed by the BU Web Team with support from the our office, BU Learning Blocks (BULB) is an innovative way for instructors to create open and iterative educational resources within WordPress using the Gutenberg editor. Read more.
- Create Open Lessons Online with BULB: Read about the BU Learning Blocks Incubator project history and evolution via this DL&I News post.
- EdTech & Incubator Spotlight: BULB, Boston University DL&I WordPress Plugin, supports the creation of OER online. BU World Languages & Literatures Svitlana Malykhina and Nadiya Prokopyeva share their experiences using BULB for Russian Poetry via The FLTMag.
Project Team & Partners
Wayne LaMorte is a professor of epidemiology and Assistant Dean of Education at Boston University School of Public Health. He graduated from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and later earned a PhD in Biochemistry and a Master of Public Health degree…
