FAQs

SUNY Online+ Programs represent a partnership between campuses and SUNY system.  These programs are supported by signature elements and sub-elements that define quality for SUNY Online+ Programs and raise the bar of online-enabled education at SUNY.

Having your online program designated as a SUNY Online Plus Program means:

• Reaching more prospective students and growing program recognition through visibility on the SUNY Online website and search priority in the online SUNY Program Navigator.
• Having a seat at the table to shape future SUNY Online services and supports by providing input and feedback to the SUNY Online team.
• Privileged access to opportunities and resources as we pilot and launch new services and supports for SUNY Online.

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The SUNY Online Degrees at Scale Pilot was launched in response to a Request for Information that SUNY System Administration conducted in 2018 to better understand how SUNY could expand their role in the online education market. After careful consideration and input from a wide range of campus stakeholders, SUNY decided to leverage existing resources and academic programs from exemplary campuses and invest in additional marketing, staffing, and technology to build SUNY Online Degrees at Scale. The initiative was fast-paced and ambitious – the initial set of academic programs was selected toward the end of Spring 2019 and the first set of students was enrolled for Fall 2019.

NOTE: The SUNY Online Degrees at Scale pilot was initially called “SUNY Online”, but it is now called “SUNY Online Signature Programs” to differentiate this initiative from the broader “SUNY Online” functions.

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The SUNY Online Course and Program Navigator is a searchable database of SUNY-wide online course and program offerings that provides the user with course and program details, campus registration and tuition information, and more. It is a centralized search tool for students to discover courses and programs available across SUNY by subject area, institution, degree level, and more.

To add a course, create a Course Catalog File ticket with the Help Desk  and include the completed course submission template file. For more information, contact Willow Harris.

To add a program, complete the Program Add/Change Request form. For more information, contact Dan Feinberg.

The Learning Management System or LMS is the hub of any Digital Learning Environment or DLE. A coordinated integration of an LMS, related tools, and architecture comprise a DLE. With the transition to D2L’s Brightspace, SUNY saw a dynamic opportunity to unify the DLE across SUNY for all students and faculty:

• Common LMS environment;
• Central architecture with common data structures;
• Common course templates;
• Common set of online tools integrated with the LMS (right now there is so much redundancy across the System); and
• Common integration for data.

This allows SUNY to take advantage of economies of scale, better share best practices and resources across campuses and between SUNY System Administration resources and campuses, assure strong technical, instructional design and academic supports, and provide a familiar platform for students, faculty and staff moving across campuses.

SUNY’s current system-wide contract for a Learning Management System expires on December 21, 2022. This follows execution of a full three-year contract term and two one-year extensions with our current vendor, Blackboard. Given the size of this contract, SUNY was required to develop and broadly circulate a request for proposals (RFP) and was charged with selecting the “best value” vendor from proposals submitted.

The RFP development and review process was intentionally consultative and collaborative, beginning in earnest in November of 2018. Nearly 70 distance learning professionals and 838 faculty from across 57 campuses participated in the initial survey and interviews which helped to define the essential functionality needed from the LMS.  This was followed by more than 40 faculty and staff from 15 different campuses who participated in the RFP review process which included review of functional requirements, evaluation of submitted responses, and day-long presentations from the most highly rated vendors.

D2L’s Brightspace received the highest composite score across all functional, technical, security, accessibility, and pricing components, outperforming all other bidders on what was a “Best Value,” i.e., not just cost but the value-add provided, valuation.

The transition to the new LMS intentionally includes other related features (central architecture with common data structures; common course templates; a common set of online tools) to create a new digital learning environment.

Each campus will have a dedicated tenant, which would allow a campus to see only their courses and accounts and use local campus administrators to take operational actions within their tenant (while students and faculty will be able to see any courses from any campus in which they are enrolled).  Campuses will have their own URL and branding opportunities. 

Implementation Support includes:

• D2L Direct Individual Campus Support from the Implementation Specialist & Project Manager
• D2L Ongoing Multi-Campus Weekly Office Hours
• DLE System Administrators (Continue meeting weekly with each campus until campus is transitioned over.)
• Project Management / Tracking
• Other Resources / Multi-Campus Engagements
  • Campus Implementation Planning Work Group
  • Technical Implementation Work Group
  • Training Resources Sub-Work Group
  • Template Creation Sub-Work Group
• Other Support (Both Implementation and Operational) 

Operational Support includes:

• SUNY Online Service Level Agreement (SLA)
• SUNY Online HelpDesk (Tier 1)
• SUNY Online Application Services (Tier 2)
• After Hours / Weekend Support
• Vendor Coordination
• U-Wide Core Tools
• Additional SUNY Application Services Escalation Resources 

Once the transition to the Unified DLE is complete, students and faculty will see all courses they are enrolled in regardless of which SUNY school is their home campus.