History

In the fall of 1992, CAPA (a Computer-Assisted Personalized Approach) was piloted in a small physics class of 92 students. CAPA provides students with personalized problem sets, quizzes, and exams. Students are given instant feedback and hints via the Internet and may correct errors without penalty until the assignment due date. The system records the students' participation and performance and the records are available online to both the instructor and the individual student. CAPA is a teaching tool, not a curriculum, and as such does not dictate course design, content or goals. Instead, it enables faculty to augment their courses with individualized relevant exercises.

The LectureOnline project was started to serve physics course material over the web in the fall of 1997 with 770 students. With only the web-browser as interface, LectureOnline enables instructors to seamlessly put together a presentation of material gleaned from all over the Internet, and to create different types of individualized online homework. Grading, communication, groupwork and enrollment are also handled by the system.

In 1999, the CAPA and LectureOnline groups joined efforts in the creation of the LearningOnline Network with CAPA (LON-CAPA), which provides a superset of the CAPA and LectureOnline functionalities. LON-CAPA was first beta-tested with two courses at MSU in spring 2001.

Today, LON-CAPA is used at more than 160 other institutions, ranging from middle school to graduate level courses. Disciplines include astronomy, biology, business, chemistry, civil engineering, computer science, family and child ecology, geology, human food and nutrition, human medicine, mathematics, medical technology, physics, and psychology.