| There are two major discussions emerging out of higher education. The first is the dual challenge of increasing completion rates and reducing the cost of instruction. The second is about the impact of technology on higher education, a topic brought to the fore in the past year by the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) phenomenon. The Open Learning Initiative (OLI) is an educational technology that sits at the intersection of those two discussions.;OLI is a grant-funded research and development project at Carnegie Mellon University that collaborates with colleges and universities across the country to develop and evaluate high quality, scientifically-based open online courses. The OLI approach, in contrast to the MOOC approach, requires a switch from a purely individual, intuitive approach to an evidence-based collaborative approach for course development, delivery, assessment and research. Semantic data collected from student engagement with OLI are used to give real-time feedback to students and instructors, to direct course improvement, and to refine theories of learning.;Policy makers, foundations and administrators view OLI as a potential model for using information technology to address the dual challenge of cost and attainment. As is the case for any potential model for transforming teaching and learning in higher education, engaging faculty in the transformation is critical. To facilitate transformation in teaching and learning, the popular one-sided emphasis on faculty disinterest in teaching or resistance to change must be counterbalanced with insights gathered from faculty who have decided to participate and experiment with technology-supported research based teaching practices.;This qualitative study gives voice to the faculty who, under the radar of all of the hype surrounding technology and the crisis in higher education, brought together their dual interest and expertise in research and teaching and chose to engage in OLI as a community-based research activity in service of improving teaching and learning. |
