Carnegie Mellon University has announced a $1.5 million grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation in Menlo Park, California, to develop online versions of high-demand courses as part of its Open Learning Initiative (OLI).

In 2002, the foundation awarded Carnegie Mellon $1.9 million to launch the initiative. The new grant will allow the Pittsburgh-based university to expand its course offerings from four to twelve. Created by faculty at both CMU and the University of Pittsburgh, the courses provide real-time feedback and individualized tutoring to enrollees and are available free of charge to anyone with Internet access, and for a nominal fee to colleges and universities that offer them to students for credit. To date, 3,500 students at thirty-five institutions have enrolled in courses offered through the initiative.

"Ultimately, OLI will take us from merely putting textbooks on the Web to effective, learner-centered online education," said lead researcher Joel Smith, vice provost for computing services at Carnegie Mellon. "The work is transformational. It's the sort of thing we've long hoped for but almost never have seen in educational technology."

"Despite its potential, the World Wide Web has not made a truly significant impact on how people learn or how higher education is delivered," added Marshall S. Smith, education program director for the foundation. "We believe that Carnegie Mellon University, with its emphasis on interdisciplinary, research-based instruction, can change that."