CSUN’s online programs are more than just a set of courses. Each program is an educational whole – a comprehensive learning experience. In this context, collaboration among faculty members teaching in the program increases synergy among the courses. For example, in some programs, faculty develop case studies and assignments built over several courses to take students’ critical thinking skills and sophisticated professional abilities to higher levels. Faculty continuously update and refine their courses every semester to meet trends in their field and current student needs while maintaining rights to the materials they create. There is also a synergy between CSUN’s online program development and the enhancement of CSUN’s use of educational technologies and digital instructional strategies in the more traditional courses on the CSUN campus. CSUN faculty developing and teaching in fully online courses often take digital assignments, modules and instructional strategies back to their traditional classrooms. Because CSUN provides online technical support and program development, there is no question about faculty having ready access to materials developed and having seamless technical support for their use. Through this approach CSUN has become increasingly innovative, responsive and engaged in the evolution of educational technologies in higher education worldwide.

CSUN Services in Support of Faculty and Students in Fully Online Programs

A member of the CSUN eLearning team is assigned to work with each faculty member developing a course and teaching in a CSUN fully online program. The eLearning director and staff also participate from the start as a team of faculty and practitioners who are convened to develop a new online program. CSUN eLearning staff provide collaborative and individual consultation that focuses on best practices and options in instructional design for digital teaching and learning, effective instructional strategies online, and approaches to course facilitation. CSUN also provides faculty and students enrolling in a CSUN online program with ongoing technical training and support for the Learning Management System (LMS) used as a foundation, the synchronous and asynchronous web tools for the program in question, and emerging technologies and digital learning resources available to support faculty and students (through the CSUN library, through web resources in the field in question, through CSU resources such as Merlot, and more).

CSUN understands that the idea of a single LMS system as the foundation of online teaching and learning is rapidly becoming outdated as new web strategies and learning tools become available. CSUN’s approach to developing online programs is agile in its ability to discover and use the most effective new tools and continually link them to the learning environment. CSUN’s eLearning team looks ahead and regularly does research to identify emerging technologies. They evaluate the potential of what they discover with an understanding of CSUN programs, current and planned.