Creating the Colorado Online @ Consortium

The Colorado Community College System (CCCS) is in the process of transitioning our online courses and services to be delivered collaboratively through the Colorado Online @ Consortium. Together, we will building on the strengths of all 13 colleges, CCCOnline, and the system office.  At the core of this change is aligning the responsibility for all online instruction with the colleges, and centrally aligning all core online services that support instruction in the most scalable, sustainable, cost effective, and efficient manner across the system. Our goal is for all students, regardless of geographic location, to have access to high-quality online courses, programs and services. 

Upcoming Events

  • 4/4/2023: Summer23 Mock Split
  • 5/24/2023: Summer23 Official Split
  • 5/25/2023: Instructor Orientation
  • 5/30/2023: Summer23 classes begin

Self-Registration for The Introduction to the Healthy Course Checklist Module

The Introduction to the Healthy Course Checklist (IntroHCC) module is available as a resource for those who are involved in course materials and Interim Ready to Teach (RtT) course selection processes. Whereas the “Common Course Materials Review Rubric” was a tool provided to help facilitate discipline conversation about common course materials, the Healthy Course Checklist establishes base online course quality criteria for Colorado Online that can help guide selection of Interim RtT courses that have not gone through the Learning Design Academy and Learning Design Process. We invite self-enrollments to access the CCCS version of the IntroHCC module that focuses on distinguishing between the six broad criteria. The HCC criteria emphasized for Interim RtT courses are (1) measurable outcomes, (2) alignment, and (3) accessibility, although evidence for all six criteria is encouraged to best serve our diverse learners. Self-enrollment is available at CCCS Training Self-Registration (requires S# to log in).

Common Course Materials Q&A

Common Course Materials Info Graphic

Fall22 Academy Courses

Spring Pilot Begins!

We are excited to offer our first seven courses through the Colorado Online @ Consortium this semester!  Please see below for instructor resources.

Course Readiness Checklist

CCCS – How to Copy a Ready to Teach Course Shell

Semester Start FAQ

D2L Conference Lunch & Learn with Landon Pirius

CO@ Info Series

Now that we are implementing CO Online @, there are many questions that faculty, staff, and administrators have about the consortium.  In an effort to provide more timely information to interested folks, we will host 30-minute Zoom meetings every two weeks from October through December on Wednesday mornings from 8am – 8:30am.  Each meeting will focus on a single topic (e.g. financial model, Ready-to-Teach, etc.) with 15 minutes of presentation followed by 15 minutes of Q&A. Please click on the following links to access the session recording. Questions that weren’t answered during the session can be found in the FAQ.

03/24/2023: Library Resources. Session Recording. PowerPoint Slides COMING SOON.

03/07/2023: Communication. Session Recording. PowerPoint Slides

02/22/2023: Hiring Plan. Session Recording. PowerPoint Slides

02/01/2023: Transition Plan. Session Recording.

01/25/2023: Learning Design. Session Recording. PowerPoint Slides.

11/16/2022: Common Course Materials. Session Recording, PowerPoint Slides.

11/2/2022: Course Caps. Session Recording, PowerPoint Slides.

10/19/2022: Financial Model. Session Recording, Q&A, PowerPoint Slides

10/5/2022: Section Distribution. Session Recording, Q&A

CO@ Monthly Update

Newsletters from Landon Pirius are sent out to the CCCS community at the end of each month via email. Read the latest update here: Monthly Update.

CO@ Project Myth Busting!

By Deidre Schoolcraft, August 31, 2022
Click here to read the rest of the article!

Chancellor Garcia’s Message

By Joe Garcia, August 23, 2022

“Many colleges are exploring night, weekend, and hybrid schedules that mix online and in-person instruction. This year, we will also launch Colorado Online, a new and innovative approach to online education that will make high quality programs available to all Coloradans. We will deliver those courses and programs using college faculty, and we will emphasize college identities and connections while we make more courses available to more students through collaboration across campuses.” (1:00-1:30)

Posts

Upcoming Recommendations

  • Updates regarding Central Library
  • Updates to Student Support Services Recommendations and Business Processes
  • Updates to Learning Design Recommendations and Business Processes

Approved Recommendations

(see subcommittees for recommendation details)

  • TECHNOLOGY: A 3-tiered LMS support system for students and faculty/instructors, including 24×7 support for resetting passwords and basic student use of D2L tools.  The CCCS Academic Technology will provide next level support and triage requests to IT and college-specific teams as needed.
  • TECHNOLOGY: Extended evening and weekend support for faculty and instructor-specific needs, provided by the CCCS Academic Technology team.
  • LEARNING RESOURCES: Creation of a central CCCS Online Library to provide students at all colleges with access to a robust online research collection (databases, journals, eBooks, and streaming media). Students in certain disciplines or programs will have access to special collections (e.g., nursing).  
  • LEARNING RESOURCES: Creation of central CCCS OER Services to support and supplement college OER efforts and more effective sharing of OER materials across institutions.
  • ACADEMIC AFFAIRS: Faculty and instructor credentialing should continue with the current process, through each accredited college within the consortium.
  • LEARNING DESIGN: Common navigation bar within the new D2L Framework (See recommendation for visual demonstration).
  • LEARNING DESIGN: All courses in all modalities will share the same syllabus management tool.
  • STUDENT SUPPORT SERVICES: To provide greater consistency and streamline accessibility services across the system, the subcommittee recommended hiring a central staff person and shared technology to help coordinate guidelines, protocols, and/or processes across colleges.
  • TECHNOLOGY: ReadSpeaker will be adopted across the system to allow course accessibility.
  • TECHNOLOGY: Internal messaging will be used in the single instance of D2L to decrease the amount of disruption.
  • LEARNING DESIGN: The collaborative course design process where learning designers work with faculty to develop discipline-approved Ready-to-Teach courses. Instructors from across the system will have the confident that they address the course learning outcomes as well as accessibility and quality standards.
  • LEARNING DESIGN: The Learning Design subcommittee has developed enhanced Quality Matters standards, incorporating principles of DEI and Universal Design (QM+). They have also developed a streamlined Healthy Course Checklist based on these standards.