Academic Application: Open Learning Initiative (OLI) Torus

The Open Learning Initiative (OLI) is a Carnegie Mellon University initiative, part of CMU's Simon Initiative, that creates high-quality, evidence-based online courses grounded in cognitive science and learning engineering research. OLI courses are designed as affordable or free textbook replacements, with interactive learning activities embedded throughout, immediate formative feedback, and real-time instructor analytics at the learning-objective level.

Torus is OLI's next-generation, open-source learning platform (launched 2020, actively developed under the MIT license). Faculty can adopt existing OLI courses, customize and remix them (OLI content is CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licensed), or author entirely new courses. OLI's catalog includes courses in statistics, chemistry, biology, physics, calculus, logic, writing, psychology, economics, engineering, and more.

Faculty: Adopt an existing OLI course as a low-cost textbook replacement, or build a custom course using Torus's web-based authoring tools. Deploy through Villanova's Brightspace for single sign-on and gradebook sync. Use the instructor learning dashboard to monitor student progress per learning objective in real time.

Students: Access OLI Torus course content through your Villanova Brightspace course link (single sign-on, no separate OLI account required). Work through interactive pages with embedded practice activities and receive immediate feedback. OLI courses cost a fraction of traditional textbooks.

Through the OLI Torus link inside your Villanova Brightspace course. Faculty access the Torus authoring and instructor environment at proton.oli.cmu.edu. Students access course content only through the Brightspace course link.

Villanova SSO (when using LTI integration). Students do not need a separate OLI account when the course is accessed via the Brightspace LTI link. Faculty create a Torus author/instructor account at proton.oli.cmu.edu using their Villanova email, then register their institution with OLI before deploying.

Brightspace (D2L)

None

Available to any Villanova faculty member who adopts an existing OLI course or builds one on Torus. OLI's catalog is primarily STEM and quantitative disciplines.

Open Learning Initiative (OLI), Carnegie Mellon University (Simon Initiative) oli.cmu.edu | Torus: proton.oli.cmu.edu

Individual faculty (course setup and authoring), with support from Learning Technologies for LTI configuration.