Open Learning Initiative

Carnegie Mellon University, in collaboration with state agencies and national affinity groups, will establish a consortium of community colleges that will enact a large scale, systems-change process that increases efficiency in the way instruction is developed, delivered, evaluated, and continuously improved. The overarching goal is to demonstrate a 25% higher rate of course completion for students from vulnerable populations, with a focus on gatekeeper courses critical to graduation success. Within three years, the Community College Opening Learning Initiative (CC-OLI) will scale to 40 community college partners and will reach an additional 50-100 classrooms.

CC-OLI will foster a collaborative, participatory process for developing, adapting, evaluating, and continuously improving learning environments. The project will move from the current approach of cottage-industry course development and delivery that leads to uneven learning and mass inefficiency to a consortium of institutions, departments, and faculty members working on consolidated solutions driven by solid evidence of effectiveness. The change process will build on the strengths of the existing community college culture and address directly historic barriers to change such as the tension between standards and local autonomy.

Please This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it in one of the following projects.

CC-OLI Introductory Statistics

The course has been developed and continues to be evaluated and improved. If you teach statistics at a community college and would like to evaluate the effectiveness of the CC-OLI statistics course in supporting your teaching and your students learning let us know. We have honorariums available to support your participation in the research.

CC-OLI Introductory Anatomy and Physiology (A&P)

OLI and Connexions are collaborating to reduce cost and increase quality in Anatomy & Physiology (A&P) courses. The outcome of this collaboration will be both a full CC-OLI A&P course and an A&P open textbook in Connexions that has a companion labs and assessments course in OLI. The course and textbook are currently under development. If you would like to review and contribute to the development or if you would like to evaluate the effectiveness of the CC-OLI A&P course in supporting your teaching and your students learning let us know. We have honorariums available to support your participation in the development and in the research.

CC-OLI Introductory Microbiology

OLI and Connexions are collaborating to reduce cost and increase quality in Microbiology courses. The outcome of this collaboration will be both a full CC-OLI Microbiology course and Microbiology open textbook in Connexions that has a companion labs and assessments course in OLI. The course and textbook are currently under development. If you would like to review and contribute to the development or if you would like to evaluate the effectiveness of the CC-OLI Microbiology course in supporting your teaching and your students learning let us know. We have honorariums available to support your participation in the development and in the research.

CC-OLI Introductory Psychology

OLI and the University of Texas at Austin in collaboration with with multiple institutions in the state of Texas and elsewhere, are designing an introductory Psychology course that will be taught as a transfer level course on campuses of both community colleges and universities in Texas. The course is currently under development. If you would like to review and contribute to the development or if you would like to evaluate the effectiveness of the CC-OLI introductory psychology course in supporting your teaching and your students learning let us know. We have honorariums available to support your participation in the development and in the research.