Office of Online Services and Educational Outreach

Eight Things to Consider When Deciding to Launch an Online Program

What program is moving online?
Are you transitioning an existing program? Proposing a new one? Is a certificate an option? Identify which programs will be best suited for a new online modality, considering tracks and options (if applicable). These decisions determine which approvals will be required and help to establish a timeline. Please be mindful pandemic-era modality changes do not constitute HLC approved modality changes.  The university is responsible for reporting official changes in modality to the HLC. 

Is there an associated minor that could move online at the same time?
For undergraduate programs that are being considered, could a fully online minor be developed?  If all of the classes in the minor will be offered in an online format, marketing a new online minor option provides students in other online programs more options to complete their degree and broaden their knowledge base.  

 Is there market demand for this program?
How much demand is there for this program in an online modality? What job prospects are there for students who earn this credential? Request a market analysis report from the Enrollment Systems, Research & Analysis team (ESRA). 

What instructional capacity is available in your department and is the school or college supportive?
Is the department positioned to take on development and implementation work? Consider current course capacities, faculty assignments, and the costs associated with adding new sections. Many academic units have an approval process for programs that intend to offer the program fully online and working with your dean’s office is the first step in the approval process.  

Who will serve as the Program Director?
Appointing a program director to coordinate administrative tasks such as marketing content, application setup, check-ins, etc. and serve as program representative on the Online Launch Team is critical to keeping everyone informed and ensuring that the program can launch on time. This individual commits to ongoing coordination postlaunch as well. 

How will the course rotation serve the online students?
Consider how many sections of each course need to be offered and in what order; this will impact your department’s capacity.  Ideally, students should be able to enter the program at two points during an academic year.  The courses should be set up in such a way that part time students or students who cannot take classes in a certain semester could still graduate in a reasonable amount of time. Most online programs develop a course rotation with 7- or 8- week sessions during the fall and spring and 5-or10-week options during the summer.  The 3-week winter session may also be used optionally for courses that fall outside major requirements, such as electives or minor classes. 

Course Design
Students deserve quality academic experiences not only for compliance reasons but for serving our mission at SIUE. Faculty involvement is critical to the success of the course. There are numerous resources to help faculty use best practices with the Blackboard platform as well as other software that supports the online experience. The Center for Faculty Development & Innovation provides professional development opportunities throughout the year and recorded sessions on demand. Instructional Design & Learning Technologies (IDLT) provides 1 on 1 course redesign services, training courses, and a robust  Knowledge Base where faculty can find on-demand resources. Instructional Designers will adhere to the OSCQR rubric and best practices during the build and evaluation phases. Online Services and Educational Outreach provides captioning services for faculty-produced videos. 

Compliance
SIUE maintains its HLC accreditation and ability to offer online courses in all 50 states and is allowed to offer federal financial aid to students through maintaining robust compliance practices. As such, new online programs will receive a full compliance review.  Online courses must follow Regular and Substantive Interaction guidance, and must work to monitor out of state activity including clinical or other off-campus placements that occur out of state. Additionally, IDLT will work to ensure that your courses are accessible to all students. 

Approval
Besides departmental and school/college approval processes, departments are required to obtain Provost’s Office approval.  Ideally, the department will submit a pre-authorization Memo of Intent. This memo will put the Provost’s Office and a collaborative online launch team on notice so they can start planning to ensure the best possible experience for both faculty and students.  The department can expect a return memo and outreach from units that have questions about the proposed program.  When the department submits the  full proposal, the Provost’s office provides a final review. Upon approval, the  launch team works to create an individualized launch plan for the department and schedules a kick off meeting for the program director, key faculty to meet with the team, and together plan for a successful launch. 

For questions and to request an exploratory meeting, contact the Online Program Launch Team: [email protected].

Download the Eight Things to Consider When Deciding to Launch an Online Program [PDF]