Abstract: An online learning system includes a student engine, a courses engine and a reports engine. The student engine processes identification information for students registered in an online university. The courses engine includes a competencies engine, a challenges engine and a milestones engine. The competencies engine organizes online courses into topics of study. The challenges engine provides one or more series of open-ended questions on the topics of study. The milestones engine provides a series of multiple choice questions on the topics of study. The multiple choice questions are only accessible when a percentage of the open-ended questions in each of the series of open-ended questions are answered correctly. The reports engine provides data relating to student performance.