Over the coming years, CU Anschutz plans to augment its already robust educational offerings in the digital space to better serve its increasingly diverse body of lifelong learners. In addition to increasing the number of hybrid and fully-online degree programs and certificates, the campus aims to expand digital learning resources to enhance the educational experience for in-person students. Online learning also offers promising opportunities for patients, healthcare providers, and the surrounding community.

The Office of Digital Education (ODE) is a system-level service center supporting all four CU campuses online education programs. ODE is not a profit center or an academic unit.

CU Online is a branded web portal to introduce prospective students to all four campuses and their programs. It is an organized, single destination that highlights the individual campuses and will be key to building CU Anschutz's growth in online education.

Standard Services — An extension of the existing services ODE provided to CU Denver | Anschutz prior to moving to system to all online programs.

• Primary services include access to the systemwide CU Online website, brand marketing, online enrollment and student retention support, and some instructional design support.
• CU Anschutz has an extension agreement through June 2022 with an option to renew, funded through a campus-wide contract.

Enhanced Services — A longer-term relationship between ODE and a program in which all terms are mutually agreed to, services are provided by ODE, and program revenue is shared.

Certain programs with the ability to scale up enrollment significantly to meet market demands will have an opportunity to enter into enhanced services, which will entail a suite of program-specific support services and additional marketing. Participation in an enhanced services model requires support of the campus (including the program and school) and by ODE. In addition to the standard services historically provided by ODE, programs that participate in enhanced services receive additional investment, including marketing support and the option of instructional design and development support. 

This model is aimed at programs that have the potential to scale up enrollment with focused and intentional program-specific marketing. ODE considers a variety of factors to determine if a program is poised for significant market success. All partnerships in this model rest on mutual agreements between the program, the school or college, the campus, and ODE.

Laura Borgelt, Associate Vice Chancellor for Strategic Initiatives, and Ryan Davis, Associate Vice Chancellor for Budget and Planning, are serving as faculty and administrative liaisons from CU Anschutz to the CU system's Office of Digital Education, respectively. 

The Online Education Advisory Group, comprised of faculty and staff with expertise in digital learning from across CU Anschutz's schools and colleges, continues to give voice to those on campus who are designing and delivering cutting-edge learning experiences in online and hybrid education. 

CU Online is a branded web portal to introduce prospective students to all four CU campuses and their programs. CU Anschutz programs in the CU Online web portal will be distinguished with our campus logo and name, helping to strengthen the connection to our campus. Marketing materials for programs that participate in enhanced services model will focus on the specific department and program.

By partnering with ODE, CU Anschutz will join a sophisticated coordination effort that will help lower marketing and recruitment costs and improve student retention. Additionally, CU Anschutz will receive the program support from ODE it has historically relied on, including the benefit of ODE’s instructional design expertise. The shared CU Online web portal supporting all four campuses can lead to more efficient marketing that will help attract potential students to our programs. The structure also provides shared online operations to allow for greater cost efficiencies.

Yes. CU Anschutz will set all admissions criteria and make admissions decisions for online programs. For programs in the standard and enhanced services models, ODE will assist prospective students through the recruitment and enrollment process.

Yes. However, all matters related to the evaluation of faculty will still be decided by CU Anschutz. ODE can poll students on operational and experiential matters in order to assess overall student satisfaction. ODE has additional capabilities in the areas of evaluation and assessment available for use by CU Anschutz, its programs, and faculty solely at the university’s discretion.