The Lighthouse Initiative: A Department-Wide Approach to Gateway Course Optimization

One way of understanding what distinguishes the Courseware Lighthouse Implementation initiative is as a shift from isolated course-level pilots to coordinated department-level implementations across multiple sections of a critical gateway course.

Lighthouse helps university math departments implement Learnvia, an AI-enabled courseware, in gateway Calculus I courses. The short-term goal of Lighthouse is to help reduce DFWI rates at those institutions, using a two-pronged approach.

First, Lighthouse works with the institution’s entire department. Second, the technology goes hand in hand with pedagogy. Participating departments are receiving professional development to support instructors with evidence-based teaching practices. Also, to ensure Lighthouse has an impact over the long term, the project partners are planning from the start to see that it generates models and tools that can be shared nationally.

Bringing in the entire department

Jamison Miller, Project Manager for Digital Learning Implementation at Every Learner Everywhere, says even effective technology initiatives often have limited impact for a few reasons. Implementing an innovative use of digital learning typically begins with an individual faculty member hearing about a new tool at a conference or from a colleague and then trying it in one of their courses. If they have success with it, their enthusiasm may influence colleagues to use the tool.

But even then, the tool is unlikely to be used in a coordinated way to support the department’s learning objectives. In those cases, how instructors use the technology in relationship with the curriculum, their syllabus, individual lessons or activities, and the daily work of evaluating and communicating with students remains highly varied. That makes it difficult for one instructor’s success with a technology to be replicated by others, locally or at other institutions.

The Lighthouse initiative begins from the other end of the process with a department committed to using a digital learning technology to collaborate and coordinate on a specific challenge, particularly high DFWI rates in critical gateway courses. The several partners in Lighthouse work with a department to develop a model for rolling out Learnvia in multiple sections of Calculus I at once. This fits well with Every Learner’s work since, from its earliest efforts, it has prioritized getting teams aligned around digital learning initiatives to make them more impactful.

For some departments, says Miller, coordinating teaching and learning of Calculus I across multiple sections has required a mindset shift. Initially, some faculty worry they will lose autonomy in how they teach. But the goal of Lighthouse is to ensure a consistent student experience throughout the department.

“Now that we’ve gotten going, that resistance is really diminished,” says Miller. “Faculty are getting excited about the project.”

Technology plus pedagogy

Another important aspect of the Lighthouse initiative is the understanding that technology can’t be a solution on its own. The new courseware from Learnvia is one facet of the project, along with good pedagogy.

“The learning takes place in the human exchange between the students and the teacher,” says Miller. “The technology is meant to support the faculty members.”

That means offering professional development around digitally enabled, evidence-based teaching practices (DE-EBTs). A principle of all of Every Learner’s work is that digital tools with the potential to improve learning outcomes do not automatically deliver on the potential. Faculty need support deploying digital tools in ways that extend or amplify research-backed pedagogy.

For example, through the Lighthouse program, Calculus I instructors work on implementing Learnvia in ways that promote DE-EBTs like active learning, formative practice, or assessing and activating prior knowledge. Instructors are also supported by faculty learning communities where they can connect and exchange ideas.

Pairing technology with the science of teaching and learning also means treating faculty as designers and co-creators who are delivering a curriculum in the best way to support their classroom. “There’s still plenty of room for you to customize how you teach,” says Miller.

The Lighthouse partners

Every Learner is the coordinating partner of the Lighthouse initiative, managing the cohort, cross‑institution learning, and communications among three other partners.

The Gardner Institute

The John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Higher Education has a long history of helping institutions optimize gateway courses. Their role in Lighthouse is to analyze student data to understand how students are performing in the course, as well as trying to understand where Calculus I fits in the curriculum across departments, and how important it is to student pathways.

The Gardner Institute is also structuring much of the professional development part of the initiative and facilitating communities of practice where Calculus I faculty can share ideas and strategies.

TPSE Math

Transforming Postsecondary-Education in Mathematics (TPSE Math) is a professional organization of active faculty members providing additional support with implementing new teaching practices, especially active learning, in mathematics classrooms. TPSE Math has worked with Learnvia, says Miller, which helps them act as a bridge between the technology and the classroom.

WestEd

WestEd is a nonpartisan research, development, and service agency acting as the Lighthouse evaluation partner. They will draw out best practices and design assets to share with other institutions interested in trying a project like this.

Learnvia

Learnvia is a nonprofit learning collaborative launched by Carnegie Mellon University, which develops free-to-students, AI-enabled courseware based on evidence-based teaching principles. It is particularly focused on courseware that helps students build mastery in gateway courses.

Learnvia draws on decades of research into the science of teaching and learning, so “they’re very aware of what the tech can accomplish, and what has to come from an instructor,” says Miller.

An evolving initiative

The two-year Lighthouse project kicked off with onboarding meetings and campus visits with day-long workshops. The first cohort of eight universities started using the courseware in fall of 2026, while the second cohort of four will start in the spring of 2027.

The initial visits have been going a long way toward establishing mutual trust between the 12 institutions and the project partners, says Miller: “It added a tremendous amount of clarity as to what’s going on, how things are going to be shaped, and how they’re going to be supported.”