CU Online History
CU Online began offering its first four courses through the Extended Studies Division of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) at the University of Colorado Denver in the Fall of 1996. The initiative, in part funded by the CU System's Academic Technology Office, was the brainchild of Marvin D. Loflin, Dean of CLAS, who founded the company Real Education which later became eCollege and currently is part of Pearson Education.
With support from CU President John Buechner, CU's Vice President of Academic Affairs, Richard Byyny, and managed by CU Online's first Program Director, Terri Taylor Straut, the private-public/system-campus partnership they established laid the groundwork for one of the first online programs in Colorado and the country.
By 1999 interest in CU Online was extending beyond the CLAS Extended Studies Division. An external program review recommended that a central support unit be created that served online courses and programs from all CU Denver's schools and colleges. In March 2000, Bob Tolsma was hired from the University of Minnesota to implement this campus-wide mission.
By 2001 the first hybrid/blended courses were offered and online enrollment reached 3,929 students. In 2007 the 10,000 annual enrollment milestone was surpassed. By academic year 2010 CU Online, with the combination of online and hybrid courses, crossed the 20,000 enrollment milestone.
NCL formerly NVTI History
The National Learning Center was formed in 1986 and is a center administered by the University of Colorado. NLC has distinguished itself as a premier training provider, focusing on participant-based training products created to expressly meet customer needs. The National Learning Center is the umbrella organization for the National Veterans' Training Institute (NVTI). NVTI is funded by the U.S. Department of Labor's Veterans' Employment and Training Service.
CITT History
CITT started in 1998 as a grant-funded group named the Technology and Learning Team (TLT). Scott Grabinger, Director of TLT and CITT from 1998 - 2004, coordinated the group that helped University of Colorado Denver (UCD) faculty learn to integrate technology in their instruction. The TLT group conducted workshops, consulted with faculty and departments, managed a faculty technology studio, and created web- and other technology-based applications. Somewhere in this time frame, TLT changed its name to Center for Innovations in Training Technology (CITT).
In 2004, CITT shifted from a grant-funded model to become a fee-for-service cost center for UCD under the department of Academic Technology & Extended Learning (ATEL). Marty Tessmer served as the Director of CITT from 2004 to 2009. Under Marty’s leadership, CITT developed over 54 online courses for the University of Colorado System, 24 websites, and 6 web applications.
From January 2010 through April 2011, Glenda Crawford managed CITT as Project Manager.
Starting in April 2011, Jeremy Warren is the new Manager of CITT. CITT continues to design and develop innovative and user-friendly web sites, custom web applications, and online courses for UCD clients and external university clients.
University Web Services History
In July of 2006 initiative funds were granted to replace the Downtown Denver Campus website with Microsoft CMS 2001. The Marketing group of CU Online was assigned the responsibility for the Downtown web presence and became the ATEL University Web Services Group.
Academic Information Systems and Development History
The Academic Information systems and Development group (AIS&D) was formed in the fall of 2008 as a result of the University consolidation and reorganization. With the consolidation and reorganization website server support was transferred to ATEL with AIS&D handling that responsibility as well as the backend coding for the web applications. Three personnel were transferred to ATEL from ITS to carry out these activities.
CU's eCommunications (eComm) Program
Launched in 2010 by the University of Colorado’s Office of the President, CU’s eCommunications (eComm) Program offers a single unified platform for delivering electronic communications to CU constituents, such as alumni, donors and friends of the university.
The University of Colorado's eComm program is a system-wide unified platform and comprehensive suite of web-based electronic communications tools designed specifically for CU schools, colleges, departments, institutes and centers to reach CU constituents around the world. System tools include: email marketing, event management, online community engagement, tracking and reporting.
The integrated eComm system works in conjunction with CU's master database of faculty, staff, alumni, donors, and friends of the university. The system will be enhanced in 2013-2014 to include students and parents.