Reengineering an Introductory Computer Education Course for Undergraduate Students

The Open Learning Initiative (OLI) at Carnegie Mellon University combines intelligent tutoring systems, virtual laboratories, simulations, and frequent opportunities for assessment and feedback to deliver dynamic, flexible, and responsive web-based instruction that fosters learning. Computing@Carnegie Mellon (C@CM) is a required 3-unit course for all incoming undergraduate students. Over the past year, C@CM has transitioned to an OLI course, and last year, 1,682 students participated in this course. This presentation will provide a high-level summary of the effectiveness of this initiative, its implementation, learning gains, and findings based on OLI system data, course evaluation responses, and qualitative observations.

Learning Objectives:
*Learn about Carnegie Mellon's required introductory computer education course that has evolved over the past 22 years, which is now reengineered in OLI environment
*Learn about a powerful feature of OLI instruction, embedded tracking and assessment of instructional user activities, which can be leveraged to drive feedback for continuous evaluation and improvement
*Learn about course content that's controlled by a campus-wide advisory committee