- Opportunities:
- We are looking for community college faculty teaching Statistics, Anatomy & Physiology, Biology, and Psychology to participate in an evaluation study of our new courses.
- Status:
- Courses are being evaluated in pilot studies at community colleges.
- Courses are under continued development.
- Funder(s):
- The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Lumina Foundation, and The Walter S. Johnson Foundation
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.
- Introduction to 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 statistics course in supporting your teaching and your students learning, please let us know. We have honorariums available to support your participation in the research. Contact us about Statistics.
- Anatomy & Physiology I & II (A&P I & II)
- OLI and Connexions are collaborating to reduce cost and increase quality in Anatomy & Physiology I & II courses. The first seven units are currently available for use and the remaining units are under development.
If you teach anatomy & physiology at a community college and would like to review and contribute to the development or if you would like to evaluate the effectiveness of the A&P course in supporting your teaching and your students’ learning, please let us know. We have honorariums available to support your participation in the development and in the research. Contact us about Anatomy & Physiology.
- Introduction to Biology
- If you teach biology at a community college and would like to evaluate the effectiveness of our biology course in supporting your teaching and your students’ learning, please let us know. We have honorariums available to support your participation in the development and in the research. Contact us about Biology.
- Introduction to Psychology
- OLI and the University of Texas at Austin in collaboration with multiple institutions in the state of Texas and elsewhere, designed an introductory psychology course that will be taught as a transfer level course on campuses of both community colleges and universities in Texas.
If you teach psychology at a community college and would like to evaluate the effectiveness of the psychology course in supporting your teaching and your students’ learning, please let us know. We have honorariums available to support your participation in the development and in the research. Contact us about Psychology.
