Guidelines for New Online Degree and Certificate Program Grants
1.
Background/rationale
CU Online has been charged with assisting CU Denver and Anschutz Medical Campus schools and colleges
in growing their online degree programs. The key finding of the Online Visioning Task Force (OVTF) was
“The University is not meeting the needs for online and hybrid programs for current students, selfidentified prospective students, and market-identified potential. These students are either not enrolling
or are enrolling elsewhere where they perceive programs better meet their needs. It is apparent we do
not offer many of the online degrees students are seeking and the online degrees we have do not have
the characteristics they are seeking and competitors provide.”
Not only will more courses and degree programs help meet continued student demand, but having more
online degrees will enable us to expand the number of out-of-state students we serve. Out-of-state
students are a potentially significant new source of enrollment growth and revenue. However, out-ofstate students are typically only interested in online courses if they lead to a degree. A second benefit of
increasing the number of online degrees is that it will position us better to respond to an increasingly
competitive market. Online courses are not a novelty anymore. Most colleges and universities have
online programs. Competition exists and is likely to continue to increase. We have very few complete
degree programs available and this puts us at a competitive disadvantage.
2.
What degree programs are eligible?
CU Online is currently contacting schools and colleges where research has indicated a large need for new
programs. Areas of interest include:
 Full Degrees with
o National demand
o Internal demand
o Growth opportunity
o Workforce/market demand
 Low-residency or hybrid degrees
 Minors
 Certificates
 Innovative bundles of courses (i.e., courses listed as State of Colorado Guarantee Transfer
courses)
 New degrees to be offered online
3.
Approval
The proposal must be approved by the department chair and the dean of the school or college offering
the degree.
4.
Development grants
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New Course development grants: $4,000 will be provided to support development and delivery of
each new online course required to offer the online program. A faculty who develops an existing
hybrid course for online delivery will be provided $2,000. In addition to developing a course that will
be taught the scheduled semester, faculty will be required to sign an “Agreement for Development of
an Online Course”, successfully complete the Online Skills Mastery (OSM) training and obtain a Peer
Review to receive grant funds. Faculty may take this as a stipend or have the funds transferred to a
development account for any use that would benefit their online teaching. CU Online will provide
faculty with technical support and training. Faculty developing more than one course for a program
will be required to participate in advanced training.
Courses for which an online section has already been developed are not eligible for the course
development subsidy. However, faculty teaching those courses are eligible for the training and
technical support.
Program Coordination: $5,000 will be provided to compensate the faculty member assigned to
coordinate the project within the school/college and CU Online. The faculty serving as program
coordinator will be required to provide the CU Online Marketing Manager with information needed to
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5.
6.
launch a marketing campaign and insure all the terms of the online grant proposal are met to receive
the grant funds.
Marketing Assistance: CU Online will assist with marketing research, design of print and web
materials, building a program webpage, and deploying web technologies to assist with marketing.
Commitments every program must make

The school or college offering the online degree/program must commit to offer all the courses
required in the major and sufficient electives on a schedule that would permit a student to complete
an undergraduate degree within 4 years and a masters’ degree that allows the student to complete
12 credit hours per semester. Sufficient courses are available online to satisfy the CU Denver
undergraduate core curriculum. The program is encouraged to offer courses during the summer
semester. If those core requirements change, every effort will be made to assure any new
requirements are also available online.
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The school/college offering the online degree/program must commit to offer the degree/program for
5 years and not discontinue the degree/program without the provost’s approval.
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The program must commit to assigning a faculty member to coordinate the project (above).
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The program coordinator will identify the faculty who will be developing and teaching each course in
the program. If more sections of that course are offered or the faculty is no longer delivering that
course, the course will be made available for other faculty to use.
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The program coordinator will coordinate with CU Online to determine training needs and schedule for
faculty and will coordinate with faculty receiving grants to develop new courses concerning their
participation in seminars and workshops about developing and teaching online courses.
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During the course development process and first semester the course is offered faculty receiving
grants to develop new courses must agree to successfully complete the Online Skills Mastery (OSM)
course and participate in a Peer Review of the newly developed course conducted by a faculty peer
chosen by the course developer and approved by the department chair. The Peer Review will be
conducted no sooner than after the midterm of the first semester the course is offered. Faculty
developing more than one course for a program will be required to participate in advanced training.
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The school or college is responsible for quality standards and may require additional quality standards
and may designate someone to work with CU Online to develop quality standards and common
course elements, if any, for development and delivery of the online courses. They will work with
program developers and CU Online to determine how to implement them.
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The program coordinator will develop curriculum advising materials for students.
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The program coordinator will coordinate with the marketing manager of CU Online to determine
marketing needs and schedule for the program. The program coordinator will complete and return
the Marketing Plan Questionnaire provided by CU Online and meet with the marketing manager of CU
Online to discuss the questionnaire and marketing prospects and approve the marketing plan with a
target date of to launch the marketing campaign __________________ .
Commitments CU Online will make:
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CU Online will provide an agreed upon stipend to faculty for new course development to support
them with their development and delivery of each new course required to offer the online program.
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CU Online will provide faculty with technical support and training.
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CU Online will assist with marketing research, design of print and web materials, build a program
webpage, and deploy web technologies to assist with marketing.
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CU Online will work with the program coordinator to secure necessary UC Denver leadership
approvals.
New Online Degree Proposal
Brief Background Narrative: (include a general overview of program, and comment on the relation
to unit/college academic plans and the capacity of the unit/college to undertake the project)
Name of the Degree Program:
Current number of students and market potential: (Number of students you would be prepared to
admit into the degree)
Degree requirements: (including courses required for the degree, number of electives necessary to
complete the degree, and other special requirements)
Admission requirements. Transfer student issues/requirement:
List of required courses and electives already available online:
List of required courses and electives you need to develop for online delivery:
Course development and course delivery timeline and faculty who will develop these courses.
(see sample grid)
Course #
Course Name
Instructor Name
Instructor Title
1st Semester Offered
Contact person(s) for this proposal: (Name, address, phone, email)
Approval Signatures:
_________________________________________________________________________________
Program Coordinator,
Date
_________________________________________________________________________________
Chair
Date
_________________________________________________________________________________
Dean
Date
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