CU Online represents the University of Colorado’s fully-online bachelor’s, master’s, doctorate, and certificate programs. Originally launched by the University of Colorado Denver in 1996, it is one of the first fully-accredited online higher education platforms. Today, CU Online offers degree programs from all four University of Colorado campuses – CU Boulder, CU Colorado Springs, CU Denver, and CU Anschutz Medical Campus. Through CU Online, the pedagogy of the University of Colorado faculty is extended globally, allowing local, national, international students the opportunity to partake in the same education as their on-campus counterparts. CU Online initially launched with three online courses. In 2020 CU Online has expanded its catalog to over 50 degree and certificate programs that can be completed entirely online. CU Online programs offer the same curriculum, credit structure, and are taught by the same on-campus professors. The student-faculty ratio also remains the same for both on-campus and online courses (roughly 17:1). Program Structure Most CU Online degree programs run on a traditional semester schedule, where they start and stop at the same time as the on-campus classes (Fall, Spring, Summer). As such, the online courses are not "self-paced", but rather are "asynchronous", which means students can log in any time of day or night. The amount of time students are expected to be logged in is dependent upon the professor and degree program. Each online course is developed to convey and teach the same content and material as its on-campus counterpart, but in a way that’s conducive to the web-based modality. Each student is assigned a homepage in order to: Access courses Participate in class discussions (threaded discussions and ‘chat’ with peers) Find assignments, lectures, and exams CU Online employs Canvas by Instructure. Canvas is Cloud based, and CU Denver uses it for its completely online courses as well a supplement for the on campus courses in the form of blended learning, which means it doesn’t distinguish between supplemental course use and blended/hybrid courses. With Canvas, professors can record audio and video messages, utilize IOS and Android, RSS support and web conferencing. Assignments The online courses that compose CU Online’s degree and certificate programs are typically divided into units of class discussions (ongoing posts of classmate queries and comments), downloadable assignments, and quizzes. What students are actually graded on is based on the course and the professor, however, class participation is usually required in the form of threaded