Open Learning Initiative

OLI currently has multiple offerings in the area of biology, Modern Biology and Biochemistry!

Modern Biology

Modern Biology covers topics found in the fields of cellular biology, molecular biology, biochemistry, and genetics. This intro-level course provides the background biology students will need for advanced biology classes.

Programming is really just a way of organizing a task so that it is replicable by something else -- a computer. If you have ever given someone directions, or written down a recipe, you have some experience with programming. Learning more about programming will help you develop the skills of systematically thinking about a task and breaking it down into manageable pieces.

Introduces the basic concepts, logic, and issues involved in statistical reasoning. Topics include Exploratory Data Analysis, Producing Data and Study Design, Probability and Statistical Inference.

Select one of the two new courses below. Both courses include all expository text, simulations, case studies, comprehension tests, interactive learning exercises, and the StatTutor labs. Both courses contain all of the instructions for the four statistics packages options we support. To do the activities, you will need your own copy of Microsoft Excel, Minitab, the open source R software, or a TI calculator. The only difference between the two new courses is the path through probability.

The course called Probability and Statistics includes the classical treatment of probability as it is in the earlier versions of the OLI Statistics course.

The course called Statistical Reasoning includes a new streamlined probability option that forgoes the classical treatment of probability in favor of an empirical approach using relative frequency. This path includes only those concepts that are necessary to support a conceptual understanding of the role of probability in inference.

You can also choose to work through only the StatTutor labs. You will need your own copy of Microsoft Excel, Minitab, R, or a TI Calculator to do the StatTutor activities.

• StatTutor Labs

The French courses are introductory, interactive video-based courses intended for use by university students and independent learners on the Internet. We currently offer both French I and French II.

The OLI American English Dialect course supplies the necessary reinforcement of dialectical structure, audio, production technique and phonetic representation for each sound. The student has the flexibility of time to experience, at his own pace, aural and visual aspects of a sound. Within the environment, participants are assessed on their ability to recognize each sound in a variety of contexts and given feedback on their particular answers.

While OLI is committed to continual, iterative improvement of the courses we offer, we are always busy on new courses that will be freely available in the future. The following courses are ones that are currently funded and in development. They will be made available freely when they are ready for use!

Principles of Computing

Development work is just beginning on a new course developed in conjunction with the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon. This 14 unit course will begin with a brief introduction of the history of computer science and reach as far as discussions of intractable problems in computer science. This introductory survey course is funded by the Kresge Foundation.

Secure Coding

An ongoing development effort in collaboration with the Software Engineering Institute's CERT, this course focuses on common security issues in C and C++ development. With security expert Robert Seacord serving as lead content author, the course addresses a key need in professional education for software developers. Topics to be covered include the secure and insecure use of integers, arrays, strings, dynamic memory, formatted input/output functions, and file I/O. Continued development is being funded by partnerships with industry.

Course on Course Design

We are creating a series of modules, delivered over the web or in blended mode, which introduce, explain and model the methodology, processes and design principles OLI uses to address learning challenges in a variety of domains. We are developing this resource for course designers and content authors who would like to learn the current state of our thinking about course design and to see examples of resources we have created using this method and set of principles. A key take away for students will be an explicit connection between the learning objects we have created with the underlying methodology and principles we used to create them. The ultimate goal of this experience is for those taking this course to identify when and how these principles apply to their own learning challenges and to be able to utilize our methodology in their own course design projects.

CC-OLI Biology

This extension development effort will expand our biology offerings by designing learning objectives for community college students, specifically focusing on introduction to biology course requirements for community college students enrolled in health science programs, such as nursing, animal science, food science and nutrition, ecology, field biology, biomedical engineering, ecology, kinesiology, etc.. The developed course will consist of exposition, text, learning activities and assessment items; additional design artifacts will be created during the course of development.

Introduction to Psychology

We are working with a team of psychologists from across the country to create a course that covers central topics in introductory psychology. The course will have 15 units, each corresponding to one of the topics covered in a typical chapter in an introductory psychology textbook. This course is part of our CC-OLI Initiative: although the course is intended for general enrollment, the development team includes faculty from community colleges and our target audience is students from community colleges. The course includes text that presents theories, explanations, examples, and applications, but active exploration, learning activities, and self-assessment opportunities are the foundation of instruction. Our goal is to complete and release the initial version of the course in Fall of 2012.