The Torus Community
Launched in Fall of 2020, Torus is the next generation implementation of the Open Learning Initiative’s adaptive learning platform, carrying on the tradition of a learning science-based approach to course delivery established with OLI’s legacy platform in 2002. Torus integrates the authoring, delivery, improvement, research, and support of adaptive, online courseware into a single platform, simultaneously applying learning science principles while providing a larger laboratory for expanding our understanding of how humans learn.
The platform rigorously captures robust, semantically informed learner interaction data, which is used to inform and adapt the learner and instructor experience. These same data are used to support iterative course improvement, supporting learning designers and scaffolding all authors in adopting a data-driven perspective. In the aggregate, these data also support learning research, supporting direct experimentation and secondary analysis.
Once a month, we invite all members of the greater Torus community to a meeting where we share information about the Torus roadmap and releases and invite community members to provide feedback.
2024 Meeting and Topic Schedule
All meetings will be held on the first Friday of each month from 12:30pm – 1:30pm Eastern Time. Please register to get the Zoom link used for all meetings.
Important Links
| Date/Roadmap Snapshot Link | Topic/Recording Link |
|---|---|
| March 1 | Introduction of the Torus Product Team; Reporting a feature request or bug; Overview of the April 2024 release (v27) |
| April 5 | Demo of the April 2024 release (v27); Look ahead at the Q2 2024 release (v28) |
| May 3 | Cancelled |
| June 7 | Discuss documentation for requesting Torus features and reporting bugs; advanced access to the new student interface in Torus v28 (release date July 24); discuss the Torus Roadmap and recent changes |
| July 5 | Cancelled; Torus v28 demo posted in place of meeting recording |
| August 2 | Release information about Torus v28; Look at the Torus Roadmap for the rest of 2024 and early 2025 |
| September 6 | Meeting led by UX Designer Jess Fortunato: discussion of user experience research and design for Torus; focus group on how to improve the Torus Community Meeting |
| October 4 | Demo of the Q3 2024 release (v29); Look ahead at the Q4 2024 release (v30) |
| November 1 | Look at the Torus Roadmap for 2025 |
| December 6 | Update on the Q4 2024 release (v30); Other topic TBD |
2023 Meeting Recordings
| Date | Topic/Recording Link |
|---|---|
| January 6 | Overview of 2023 |
| February 3 | Guest speaker: Sebastian Dubreil, Annotation tool |
| March 3 | Torus Roadmap, Scheduling Demo, and Homework System Functionality |
| April 7 | Student Experience and Course Section Creation |
| May 5 | User testing: Analytics and Dashboard Designs |
| June 2 | Advanced authoring/adaptive activities |
| August 4 | Release .24 Demonstration |
| September 1 | Certificate Generation |
| October 6 | Release .25 and Roadmap |
| November 3 | Canceled |
| December 1 | Canceled |
2022 Meeting Recordings
| Date | Topic/Recording Link |
|---|---|
| January 7 | Data, Analytics, and Reporting 1 |
| February 4 | Data, Analytics, and Reporting 2 |
| March 4 | Course Section Administration |
| April 1 | Course Migration from Legacy System |
| May 6 | Activities and Activity Types |
| June 3 | Torus Demo |
| July 1 | Math Needs |
| August 5 | Teaching in Practice |
| September 2 | Metacognitive Skill-Building and Practice |
| October 7 | Research Support |
| November 4 | Torus Demo |
2021 Meeting Recordings
| Date | Topic/Recording Link |
|---|---|
| December 4 | Introduction and Plan |
| January 8 | Legacy Lessons Learned |
| February 5 | Learning Dashboard |
| March 5 | Dashboards |
| April 2 | Wishlist – Course Design |
| May 7 | Wishlist – Math Support |
| June 4 | Tools Integration |
| July 2 | Advanced Section Creation |
| September 3 | A/B Testing |
| October 1 | Torus Demo and Feedback 1 |
| November 5 | Torus Demo and Feedback 2 |
