<p><a href="http://www.cmu.edu/oli/overview/index.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.cmu.edu/oli/overview/index.html</a></p>
<p>and</p>
<p><a href="http://www.cmu.edu/oli/index.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.cmu.edu/oli/index.html</a></p>
<p>Creating a New Paradigm for Online Education</p>
<p>Through the OLI project, Carnegie Mellon is working to help the World Wide Web make good on its promise of widely accessible and effective online education. OLI grew out of collaboration among cognitive scientists, experts in human computer interaction and seasoned faculty who have both a deep expertise in their respective fields and a strong commitment to excellence in higher education. The project adds to online education the crucial elements of instructional design grounded in cognitive theory, formative evaluation for students and faculty, and iterative course improvement based on empirical evidence.</p>
<p>Innovative Components</p>
<p>OLI courses include a number of innovative online instructional components such as:</p>
<pre><code>* cognitive tutors
* virtual laboratories
* group experiments
* simulations
</code></pre>
<p>Cognitive theory and faculty expertise guide the initial development of each course. As the courses are delivered, OLI researchers conduct a variety of studies to examine the effectiveness and usability of various educational innovations. The research results are used not only to improve the courses themselves, but also to contribute to a growing understanding of effective practices in online learning environments.</p>
<p>Assessment and Evaluation</p>
<p>Students and faculty who use the courses benefit from the opportunities for assessment and evaluation that are built into all courses. Frequent formative evaluation gives students the type of constructive and timely feedback on progress that is available from individual tutoring sessions but almost always absent from digital learning environments. Continuous evaluation of class performance gives faculty the information they need to effectively modify or supplement instruction to meet learning objectives.</p>
<p>Building a Community of Use</p>
<p>A primary objective of the project is to build a community of use for the courses that will play an important role in ongoing course development and improvement. The courses are developed in a modular fashion to allow faculty at a variety of institutions to either deliver the courses as designed or to modify the content and sequence to fit the needs of their students and/or their curricular and course goals. These courses will be broadly disseminated at no cost to individual students and at low cost to institutions.</p>
<p>Initial Courses</p>
<p>The first courses developed through OLI are introductory courses intended to replace large lecture format courses in Economics, Statistics, Causal Reasoning, and Logic. The courses are highly effective, intellectually challenging sequences of instruction that reflect not just cutting edge technology but the most compelling ideas about pedagogy and content of introductory college level instruction.</p>
<p>A New Generation of Online Courses</p>
<p>OLI should have a profound impact on higher education by increasing access to education, enhancing the quality of instruction and providing a model for a new generation of online courses and course materials that teach more effectively and appeal to students more powerfully than anything in existence today.</p>