Online Programs Newsletter Archive

As on-campus courses resume following spring break, 2nd minimester online classes will open for the first time on March 18. If you’re preparing to open an all-new class this March, read some helpful tips.

• If you’re teaching from a Canvas shell you have not previously utilized, take some time before the semester begins to familiarize yourself with the structure of the course and the material covered. Make sure all of the assignment deadlines and important dates are updated and listed accurately. Consider recording a welcome video to post to the class or write a personalized message that introduces you to the students and lets them know how to best communicate with you.
  
   
• Online students crave timely and substantive feedback on their work. Please do not hesitate to engage with them on message boards or through your grading. Advisors frequently field questions from online students on how to best connect with faculty and instructors. Many may be hesitant to reach out for fear of taking up too much of your time, but still value your expertise and willingness to share your thoughts on their work.
  
   
• Online classes are to be open on the first day of class, March 18, at 12 p.m. Due to the accelerated nature of short course deadlines, having the course open on the first day of class is incredibly important. It is at your discretion to open the class earlier. Students who decide to drop a 2nd minimester course can only receive a full refund if the class is dropped on or before March 20.
  
   
• If you receive a request from a student interested in enrolling in your online class, please forward that request to thecollegeonline@ku.edu. We will do our best to help them enroll if there are open seats available. If the class is full, we do not allow more students to add the class unless we receive permission from you, the instructor. If you would like a specific student to enroll beyond the enrollment cap, please let us know and we can help you accommodate that student. Keep in mind that after the second day of a short class, enrollment is restricted and students will need to submit a Request to Enroll After the Deadline to Add Online form. Depending on how much work the student has missed in the class, submitting such a form may not be in their best interest.

Each semester the College awards $10,000 in scholarships to students enrolled in one of our fully online degree programs.

Nathan Kelley is one of six scholarship recipients this spring semester. As a 42-year-old Marine, Nathan believes the benefits of this scholarship stretch beyond helping to meet financial needs. The scholarship also provides "the validation I needed that concretes my existence in the intellectual world. I may be a 'Jarhead,' but just maybe my 'jar' is not empty.”

After completing his degree, Nathan believes "Having the necessary credentials from KU will provide the network, references, connections, publicity, and even funding for the non-profit Veterans Therapy Ranch my wife and I will be starting." When asked why he would like to start his ranch, Nathan shares that "Veteran suicide is the number one problem among Veterans that continues to be dismissed by society. If we can save one Veteran's life, everything will have been worth it."

If you know an outstanding student enrolled in a fully online undergraduate degree program, please encourage them to apply through this link. The application for the fall 2024 semester will open on April 15, 2024.

As the University prepares for the launch of new general education requirements under the new Core 34, the College will be responsible for making sure pathways through well-built online courses exist for each Core 34 requirement. The tremendous, previous work of many academic units has already created a robust portfolio of online classes that will allow online students opportunities to complete every Core 34 requirement. New or revitalized online versions of classes already approved to count toward the Natural & Physical Sciences, Social Sciences, or Arts & Humanities categories would allow an expanded array of choices for our online students.

If your academic unit would like to develop or redevelop an online class that fits in any of these categories please reach out to Jared Nietfeld (nietfeld@ku.edu), Assistant Dean for Online Education, to discuss such a possibility and the financial incentives available to support the work.

Core 34 classes should continue to be offered in-person, regularly. If your unit can support consistent offerings of the same class online, Jared would very much like to hear from you.