Changes to CU’s online education strategy will better serve students

The University of Colorado is making changes to its online education strategy to better meet the needs of students and adjust to lessons learned during the pandemic about how best to serve a growing market.

A cross-campus and system project team has been meeting since January and taking input from various stakeholder groups. The project team has delivered recommendations to the chancellors and president, which have been accepted. These recommendations are aligned with each campus’s specific plan to move forward with their own integrated digital education approach.

“Our success in serving our state and students depends on CU’s campuses creating and realizing a vision for multi-modal learning,” said CU President Todd Saliman. “By taking time and collaborating across the system to consider how we provide the online component of multi-modal learning, each campus is identifying the necessary steps to meet students’ needs now and in the future.”

The CU system will continue to provide support for the CU Online platform and aggregator website (online.cu.edu), where online programs being featured could expand to include categories such as low-residency programs and non-degree, continuing education options for all four campuses. These system service offerings will be known as Integrated Online Services and will reside within University Information Services (UIS). All other services previously provided by the Office of Digital Education inclusive of learning design services, enrollment services (recruitment and student support) and programmatic digital marketing services, will be provided by the campuses.

The next phase will focus on specific implementation plans to transition, by June 30, to the new service structure outlined above ensuring a seamless experience for current and prospective online-only students.