Online program scaling process
This process outlines steps by which new, on-ground and existing online programs may be nominated for scaled growth procedures within the Office of eLearning suite of services and investment. The program nomination and scaling process takes place in three phases: nomination submission, collaboration review and implementation.
New program
Phase 1 – Nomination submission:
The eLearning Oversight Committee will have a standing call for the nomination for consideration of existing fully online programs, existing on-ground programs, or new programs to scale; nominations may be submitted on a rolling basis.
Nominations can be made by the following entities:
- eLearning Academic Council (eAC)
- eLearning Oversight Committee (eOC)
- Administrators (e.g., provosts, vice provosts, deans, department chairs) at the home institution of the program
Nominators should begin the nomination process by preparing a Statement of Interest document signed by the Chair and Dean, then upload into qualtrics when completing this intent to nominate form: https://missouri.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eGa6AHMjhm81rx3
When the Intent to Nominate form (including Statement of Interest) is received, eLearning will notify you and assign a liaison to assist the nominators in preparing the nomination documents and throughout the entire scaling process.
Once a liaison is assigned, if the program is new, the academic unit (AU) should work with eLearning to submit the following in order to be considered for scaling:
- Identification of similar programs at other institutions within the UM System (AU names, degree program names, chair contact information); eLearning will assist in preparing this
- (OPTIONAL) Letter of support or interest in collaboration from similar programs at other institutions within the UM System
- Statement of program level outcomes
- Curriculum map
- Courses in program and faculty expected to develop/teach course
- Estimated target enrollment goals for years 1-5
- Proposed timeline to:
- Train all faculty as needed
- Develop all courses for the online modality
- Certify all courses through the Quality Course Review process
- AU Contact Person for all discussions
- Complete a market research request form
- Department teaching faculty
The OeL will prepare a readiness self-assessment document that includes:
- Number of faculty already trained to design/teach online courses
- Number of faculty to be trained to design/teach online courses
- Number of existing online courses
- Number of existing online courses designed in conjunction with an Instructional Designer
- Number of courses to be brought online
- Number of courses that have gone through a previous quality review process
- Names of courses in the program
- Names of faculty members who will design/teach each course
- Current number of students in program
Phase 2 – Collaboration review:
It is feasible for multiple campuses to collaborate on a program that already exists in a fully online format or exists in an on-ground format.
Note that collaboration is not a prerequisite for scaling within the system-level platform.
- To determine the collaboration potential for a given program, the Office of eLearning will deliver a Call for Collaboration to Chairs and Deans in relevant programs across the University of Missouri System.
- If no responses to the call are received within 1 month of the call, the nomination packet will be sent as is to the eLearning Oversight Committee (eOC) for a scaling decision.
- If collaboration is possible under the existing program structure, then the participating campuses will need to agree on a structure for collaboration outlined in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). We note that this should occur within 1 month of an expression of interest to ensure that the review of the nomination request proceeds in a timely fashion.
- Note: this scenario is most likely to occur in instances where a campus with an existing fully online program continues to offer that program, but supplements course offerings with existing fully online courses from other campuses.
- The MOU between the campuses in this scenario should align on the following components:
- Lead campus designation or agreement on how degrees are granted
- High level revenue share agreement
- Agreement from non-initial launching campuses on the program purpose and operating model of the existing fully online program (e.g., target audience, program goals, curricular framework, admissions requirements, etc.)
- If discussions between campuses stagnate (i.e., it takes more than 1 month to delineate MOU), collaboration will be tabled for future review. During the program refresh period, there will be an opportunity to negotiate collaboration again.
- All nominated programs will then be reviewed and grouped by the eLearning Oversight Committee (eOC).
- The eOC will consider nominated programs 2 times per year.
- The eOC will group programs to be scaled based on the market assessment findings, as well as conversations with the home institution of the program regarding readiness to scale (e.g., does the AU at the home institution have the interest and capacity to grow the program to scale)
- The outcomes of the eOC review will be one of the following paths:
- Market demand and internal capacity to support the existing eLearning program suggests that the program should be scaled in the next academic year
- Market demand and internal capacity to support the existing eLearning program suggests that the program should be scaled within the next 3 academic years
- Market demand and internal capacity to support the existing eLearning program suggests that the program should be scaled within the next 5 academic years
- Market demand and internal capacity to support the existing eLearning program suggests that the program should not be scaled at this time, but can be re-nominated at least one calendar year from the current review period
Phase 3 – Program scaling implementation:
- The Office of eLearning will:
- Perform a full scaling assessment, based on the AU’s scaling goals and the market assessment.
- Analyze the marketing strategy to meet the scaling goals.
- Analyze the Enhanced Service Requirements needed to meet the scaling goals.
- In conjunction with the AU, the Office of eLearning will develop an Implementation Plan, which should include the following items.
- Timeline of activities to ensure the successful launch/ scaling of the program within the System eLearning platform
- Enrollment projections to help inform staffing and resource requirements
- Development of marketing strategy, including website update
- 2- and 4-year plan for which courses will be offered and the instructional faculty that will teach them
- Hiring recommendations for the campus (e.g., instructional faculty, admissions staff)
- Hiring recommendations for the eLearning/third party vendor activities (e.g., enrollment counseling staff, student success coaching)
- In conjunction with the AU, eLearning will establish a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) at least 6 months prior to scaling the program (i.e., prior to any marketing and enrollment activities). The MOU will outline responsibilities of the campus and eLearning as it relates to program quality, program delivery, and support services, and will cover the key topic areas outlined below.
- Campus responsibilities:
- Ensure program and individual courses meet the quality guidelines set forth by the eAC.
- Ensure admissions, financial aid, and other processes managed at the campus-level meet a threshold service level established by the Chief eLearning Officer.
- Ensure faculty have the proper compensation and that there is sufficient faculty capacity to meet the projected enrollments of the program once it is scaled.
- Ensure that on-ground courses being converted to an online format are developed in accordance with the course quality guidelines set forth by the eAC.
- Office of eLearning responsibilities:
- Provide marketing investment to scale program enrollment to meet market demand (e.g., until incremental marketing investment yields diminishing returns).
- Provide student support services (e.g., enrollment counseling, student success coaching) that meet service levels established by the Chief eLearning Officer.
- Campus responsibilities:
- In conjunction with the AU, the Office of eLearning will deploy the Implementation Plan.
- All courses must meet quality guidelines by the time the course goes live.
- The eLearning Instructional Design team assigned the program development must provide an update 1 month prior to the scaling of the program (prior to marketing and enrollment activities) to ensure that the course quality updates are on-track
- If the status has not changed, then the eOC may recommend that the program be re-considered for scaling within the next 3 academic years
- When a program exists in an on-ground format, the campus will develop the courses within the agreed upon timeline, and in accordance with the course development guidelines set forth by the eAC.
- All courses must meet quality guidelines by the time the course goes live.
Timeline:
| Submit Intent to Nominate to Office of eLearning* | Submit all nomination materials to Office of eLearning | eLearning Oversight Committee Review of Scaling Nomination Packet Materials Occurs in: | First cohort resulting from enhanced services: |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 1, 2021 or earlier | Aug. 1, 2021 or earlier | Oct. 2021 | Fall (August) 2022 or later start term |
| Sept. 1, 2021 or earlier | Dec. 1, 2021 or earlier | Feb. 2021 | Spring (January) 2023 or later start term |
*Intent to nominate notifications can be submitted at any time. Timeline is intended to illustrate the time it typically takes for the department to complete all the nomination materials and for the eLearning Academic Council to review the packet and make recommendations for the Oversight Committee to consider.
On-ground program
Phase 1 – Nomination submission:
The eLearning Oversight Committee will have a standing call for the nomination for consideration of existing fully online programs, existing on-ground programs, or new programs to scale; nominations may be submitted on a rolling basis.
Nominations can be made by the following entities:
- eLearning Academic Council (eAC)
- eLearning Oversight Committee (eOC)
- Administrators (e.g., provosts, vice provosts, deans, department chairs) at the home institution of the program
Nominators should begin the nomination process by preparing a Statement of Interest document signed by the Chair and Dean, then upload into qualtrics when completing this intent to nominate form: https://missouri.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eGa6AHMjhm81rx3
When the Intent to Nominate form, including Statement of Interest, is received, eLearning will assign a liaison to assist the nominators in preparing the nomination documents and throughout the entire scaling process.
Once a liaison is assigned, if the program currently exists on-ground, the academic unit (AU) should work with eLearning to submit the following in order to be considered for scaling:
- Identification of similar programs at other institutions within the UM System (AU names, degree program names, chair contact information) eLearning will assist in preparing this
- (OPTIONAL) Letter of support or interest in collaboration from similar programs at other institutions within the UM System
- Statement of program level outcomes
- Curriculum map
- Courses in program and faculty expected to develop/teach course
- Evidence of modality change approval from the program’s accrediting body
- Proposed timeline to:
- Train all faculty as needed
- Develop all courses for the online modality
- Certify all courses through the Quality Course Review process
- AU Contact Person for all discussions
- Complete a market research request form
- Department teaching faculty
The OeL will prepare a readiness self-assessment document that includes:
- Number of faculty already trained to design/teach online courses
- Number of faculty to be trained to design/teach online courses
- Number of existing online courses
- Number of existing online courses designed in conjunction with an Instructional Designer (ID)
- Number of courses to be brought online
- Number of courses that have gone through a previous quality review process
- Names of courses in the program
- Names of faculty members who will design/teach each course
- Current number of students in program
Phase 2 – Collaboration review:
It is feasible for multiple campuses to collaborate on a program that already exists in a fully online format or exists in an on-ground format.
Note that collaboration is not a prerequisite for scaling within the system-level platform.
- To determine the collaboration potential for a given program, the Office of eLearning will deliver a Call for Collaboration to Chairs and Deans in relevant programs across the University of Missouri System.
- If no responses to the call are received within 1 month of the call, the nomination packet will be sent as is to the eLearning Oversight Committee (eOC) for a scaling decision.
- If collaboration is possible under the existing program structure, then the participating campuses will need to agree on a structure for collaboration outlined in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). We note that this should occur within 1 month of an expression of interest to ensure that the review of the nomination request proceeds in a timely fashion.
- Note: this scenario is most likely to occur in instances where a campus with an existing fully online program continues to offer that program, but supplements course offerings with existing fully online courses from other campuses.
- The MOU between the campuses in this scenario should align on the following components:
- Lead campus designation or agreement on how degrees are granted
- High level revenue share agreement
- Agreement from non-initial launching campuses on the program purpose and operating model of the existing fully online program (e.g., target audience, program goals, curricular framework, admissions requirements, etc.)
- If discussions between campuses stagnate (i.e., it takes more than 1 month to delineate MOU), collaboration will be tabled for future review. During the program refresh period, there will be an opportunity to negotiate collaboration again.
- All nominated programs will then be reviewed and grouped by the eLearning Oversight Committee (eOC).
- The eOC will consider nominated programs 2 times per year.
- The eOC will group programs to be scaled based on the market assessment findings, as well as conversations with the home institution of the program regarding readiness to scale (e.g., does the AU at the home institution have the interest and capacity to grow the program to scale)
- The outcomes of the eOC review will be one of the following paths:
- Market demand and internal capacity to support the existing eLearning program suggests that the program should be scaled in the next academic year
- Market demand and internal capacity to support the existing eLearning program suggests that the program should be scaled within the next 3 academic years
- Market demand and internal capacity to support the existing eLearning program suggests that the program should be scaled within the next 5 academic years
- Market demand and internal capacity to support the existing eLearning program suggests that the program should not be scaled at this time, but can be re-nominated at least one calendar year from the current review period
Phase 3 – Program scaling implementation:
- The Office of eLearning will:
- Perform a full scaling assessment, based on the AU’s scaling goals and the market assessment.
- Analyze the marketing strategy to meet the scaling goals.
- Analyze the Enhanced Service Requirements needed to meet the scaling goals.
- In conjunction with the AU, the Office of eLearning will develop an Implementation Plan, which should include the following items.
- Timeline of activities to ensure the successful launch/ scaling of the program within the System eLearning platform
- Enrollment projections to help inform staffing and resource requirements
- Development of marketing strategy, including website update
- 2- and 4-year plan for which courses will be offered and the instructional faculty that will teach them
- Hiring recommendations for the campus (e.g., instructional faculty, admissions staff)
- Hiring recommendations for the eLearning/third party vendor activities (e.g., enrollment counseling staff, student success coaching)
- In conjunction with the AU, eLearning will establish a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) at least 6 months prior to scaling the program (i.e., prior to any marketing and enrollment activities). The MOU will outline responsibilities of the campus and eLearning as it relates to program quality, program delivery, and support services, and will cover the key topic areas outlined below.
- Campus responsibilities:
- Ensure program and individual courses meet the quality guidelines set forth by the eAC.
- Ensure admissions, financial aid, and other processes managed at the campus-level meet a threshold service level established by the Chief eLearning Officer.
- Ensure faculty have the proper compensation and that there is sufficient faculty capacity to meet the projected enrollments of the program once it is scaled.
- Ensure that on-ground courses being converted to an online format are developed in accordance with the course quality guidelines set forth by the eAC.
- Office of eLearning responsibilities:
- Provide marketing investment to scale program enrollment to meet market demand (e.g., until incremental marketing investment yields diminishing returns).
- Provide student support services (e.g., enrollment counseling, student success coaching) that meet service levels established by the Chief eLearning Officer.
- In conjunction with the AU, the Office of eLearning will deploy the Implementation Plan.
- All courses must meet quality guidelines by the time the course goes live.
- The eLearning Instructional Design team assigned the program development must provide an update 1 month prior to the scaling of the program (prior to marketing and enrollment activities) to ensure that the course quality updates are on-track
- If the status has not changed, then the eOC may recommend that the program be re-considered for scaling within the next 3 academic years
- When a program exists in an on-ground format, the campus will develop the courses within the agreed upon timeline, and in accordance with the course development guidelines set forth by the eAC.
- All courses must meet quality guidelines by the time the course goes live.
Timeline:
| Submit Intent to Nominate to Office of eLearning* | Submit all nomination materials to Office of eLearning | eLearning Oversight Committee Review of Scaling Nomination Packet Materials Occurs in: | First cohort resulting from enhanced services: |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 1, 2021 or earlier | Aug. 1, 2021 or earlier | Oct. 2021 | Fall (August) 2022 or later start term |
| Sept. 1, 2021 or earlier | Dec. 1, 2021 or earlier | Feb. 2021 | Spring (January) 2023 or later start term |
*Intent to nominate notifications can be submitted at any time. Timeline is intended to illustrate the time it typically takes for the department to complete all the nomination materials and for the eLearning Academic Council to review the packet and make recommendations for the Oversight Committee to consider.
Existing online program
Phase 1 – Nomination submission:
The eLearning Oversight Committee will have a standing call for the nomination for consideration of existing fully online programs, existing on-ground programs, or new programs to scale; nominations may be submitted on a rolling basis.
Nominations can be made by the following entities:
- eLearning Academic Council (eAC)
- eLearning Oversight Committee (eOC)
- Administrators (e.g., provosts, vice provosts, deans, department chairs) at the home institution of the program
Nominators should begin the nomination process by preparing a Statement of Interest document signed by the Chair and Dean, then upload into qualtrics when completing this intent to nominate form: https://missouri.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eGa6AHMjhm81rx3
When the Intent to Nominate form, including Statement of Interest, is received, eLearning will assign a liaison to assist the nominators in preparing the nomination documents and throughout the entire scaling process.
Once a liaison is assigned, if the program already exists in a fully online format, the academic unit (AU) should work with eLearning to submit the following in order to be considered for scaling:
- Identification of similar programs at other institutions within the UM System (AU names, degree program names, chair contact information) eLearning will assist in preparing this
- (OPTIONAL) Letter of support or interest in collaboration from similar programs at other institutions within the UM System
- Statement of program level outcomes
- Curriculum map
- Courses in program and faculty expected to develop/teach course
- AU Contact Person for all discussions
- Complete a market research request form
- Department teaching faculty
The OeL will prepare a readiness self-assessment document that includes:
- Number of faculty already trained to design/teach online courses
- Number of faculty to be trained to design/teach online courses
- Number of existing online courses
- Number of existing online courses designed in conjunction with an Instructional Designer
- Number of courses to be brought online
- Number of courses that have gone through a previous quality review process
- Names of courses in the program
- Names of faculty members who will design/teach each course
- Current number of students in program
Phase 2 – Collaboration review:
It is feasible for multiple campuses to collaborate on a program that already exists in a fully online format or exists in an on-ground format.
Note that collaboration is not a prerequisite for scaling within the system-level platform.
- To determine the collaboration potential for a given program, the Office of eLearning will deliver a Call for Collaboration to Chairs and Deans in relevant programs across the University of Missouri System.
- If no responses to the call are received within 1 month of the call, the nomination packet will be sent as is to the eLearning Oversight Committee (eOC) for a scaling decision.
- If collaboration is possible under the existing program structure, then the participating campuses will need to agree on a structure for collaboration outlined in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). We note that this should occur within 1 month of an expression of interest to ensure that the review of the nomination request proceeds in a timely fashion.
- Note: this scenario is most likely to occur in instances where a campus with an existing fully online program continues to offer that program, but supplements course offerings with existing fully online courses from other campuses.
- The MOU between the campuses in this scenario should align on the following components:
- Lead campus designation or agreement on how degrees are granted
- High level revenue share agreement
- Agreement from non-initial launching campuses on the program purpose and operating model of the existing fully online program (e.g., target audience, program goals, curricular framework, admissions requirements, etc.)
- If discussions between campuses stagnate (i.e., it takes more than 1 month to delineate MOU), collaboration will be tabled for future review. During the program refresh period, there will be an opportunity to negotiate collaboration again.
- All nominated programs will then be reviewed and grouped by the eLearning Oversight Committee (eOC).
- The eOC will consider nominated programs 2 times per year.
- The eOC will group programs to be scaled based on the market assessment findings, as well as conversations with the home institution of the program regarding readiness to scale (e.g., does the AU at the home institution have the interest and capacity to grow the program to scale)
- The outcomes of the eOC review will be one of the following paths:
- Market demand and internal capacity to support the existing eLearning program suggests that the program should be scaled in the next academic year
- Market demand and internal capacity to support the existing eLearning program suggests that the program should be scaled within the next 3 academic years
- Market demand and internal capacity to support the existing eLearning program suggests that the program should be scaled within the next 5 academic years
- Market demand and internal capacity to support the existing eLearning program suggests that the program should not be scaled at this time, but can be re-nominated at least one calendar year from the current review period
Phase 3 – Program scaling implementation:
- The Office of eLearning will:
- Perform a full scaling assessment, based on the AU’s scaling goals and the market assessment.
- Analyze the marketing strategy to meet the scaling goals.
- Analyze the Enhanced Service Requirements needed to meet the scaling goals.
- In conjunction with the AU, the Office of eLearning will develop an Implementation Plan, which should include the following items.
- Timeline of activities to ensure the successful launch/ scaling of the program within the System eLearning platform
- Enrollment projections to help inform staffing and resource requirements
- Development of marketing strategy, including website update
- 2- and 4-year plan for which courses will be offered and the instructional faculty that will teach them
- Hiring recommendations for the campus (e.g., instructional faculty, admissions staff)
- Hiring recommendations for the eLearning/third party vendor activities (e.g., enrollment counseling staff, student success coaching)
- In conjunction with the AU, eLearning will establish a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) at least 6 months prior to scaling the program (i.e., prior to any marketing and enrollment activities). The MOU will outline responsibilities of the campus and eLearning as it relates to program quality, program delivery, and support services, and will cover the key topic areas outlined below.
- Campus responsibilities:
- Ensure program and individual courses meet the quality guidelines set forth by the eAC.
- Ensure admissions, financial aid, and other processes managed at the campus-level meet a threshold service level established by the Chief eLearning Officer.
- Ensure faculty have the proper compensation and that there is sufficient faculty capacity to meet the projected enrollments of the program once it is scaled.
- Ensure that on-ground courses being converted to an online format are developed in accordance with the course quality guidelines set forth by the eAC.
- Office of eLearning responsibilities:
- Provide marketing investment to scale program enrollment to meet market demand (e.g., until incremental marketing investment yields diminishing returns).
- Provide student support services (e.g., enrollment counseling, student success coaching) that meet service levels established by the Chief eLearning Officer.
- Campus responsibilities:
- In conjunction with the AU, the Office of eLearning will deploy the Implementation Plan.
- All courses must meet quality guidelines by the time the course goes live.
- The eLearning Instructional Design team assigned the program development must provide an update 1 month prior to the scaling of the program (prior to marketing and enrollment activities) to ensure that the course quality updates are on-track
- If the status has not changed, then the eOC may recommend that the program be re-considered for scaling within the next 3 academic years
- When a program exists in an on-ground format, the campus will develop the courses within the agreed upon timeline, and in accordance with the course development guidelines set forth by the eAC.
- All courses must meet quality guidelines by the time the course goes live.
Timeline:
| Submit Intent to Nominate to Office of eLearning* | Submit all nomination materials to Office of eLearning | eLearning Oversight Committee Review of Scaling Nomination Packet Materials Occurs in: | First cohort resulting from enhanced services: |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 1, 2021 or earlier | Aug. 1, 2021 or earlier | Oct. 2021 | Fall (August) 2022 or later start term |
| Sept. 1, 2021 or earlier | Dec. 1, 2021 or earlier | Feb. 2021 | Spring (January) 2023 or later start term |
*Intent to nominate notifications can be submitted at any time. Timeline is intended to illustrate the time it typically takes for the department to complete all the nomination materials and for the eLearning Academic Council to review the packet and make recommendations for the Oversight Committee to consider.
Enrollment growth tiers and definitions
The Office of eLearning defines four prospective enrollment growth tiers for online programs. Programs are then paired with the appropriate tier based on the enrollment goals set by the faculty responsible for a specific online program.
Tier 1: Sustained Rapid Growth (SRG)
The program aims to grow by an additional 100 or more students per year for at least the next 5 years.
Tier 2: Sustained Moderate Growth (SMG)
The program aims to grow by an additional 50-99 students per year for at least the next 5 years.
Tier 3: Sustained Slow Growth (SSG)
The program aims to grow by an additional 20-49 students per year for at least the next 5 years.
Tier 4: Stable Enrollment (SE)
The program aims to maintain current enrollment levels or increase by less than 20 new students in any year.
Reviewed 2021-02-05