This document provides background information on SUNY's online education initiatives and plans to expand online enrollment. It summarizes that SUNY currently has around 26,000 students enrolled fully online, but aims to increase that number by 80,000 within 5 years. This expansion would generate an additional $1.05 billion in annual revenue for SUNY. The document discusses SUNY's existing online successes, opportunities to partner with companies and increase access to programs in high demand fields. It proposes an "Online SUNY" operated within the system to enhance services, facilitate new cross-campus partnerships, and engage industry to identify workforce needs. The principles of this expansion include increasing access, affordability, and responding to New York state industry needs through

1. Online InitiativeMarch 2019
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2. 1994: SUNY
Learning
Network
Launched (Sloan $$)
1995: First multi‐
campus Learning
Management System
2012: 5K+ faculty;
12K+ courses
2011: 85K
students taking
online courses
2014 ‐ 2017: 7 national
awards: models, quality
assurance, practice
2017‐218: 183K+ students,
6K+ faculty, 22K+ courses,
382K registrations
1996: System‐wide
online faculty
development/
course design
processes
2014: Launch
of Open SUNY
& Institutional
Readiness
Assessments

3. Online Education: Background
• “Open SUNY” created in 2014 as a system‐level strategy for leveraging existing online
learning to increase enrollments and improve completion
• SUNY offers 800+ online‐enabled degree and certificate programs with approximately
22,000 course sections
• Despite these successes, our impact has been limited by a lack of scale
- In 2017/18, SUNY enrolled approximately 183,000 (42% of its students)
in one or more online classes
- Only about 26,000 students (6%) are fully online learners
• A true individualized learning agenda must aggressively address the small number
of learners fully engaging us in the flexible manner online provides
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4. Letterman’s Top Ten Myths
• This initiative will be mandated. [This is an opt-in initiative.]
• System Administration is taking over campus-offered online
programs. [Not true! This initiative is additive to existing
programs.]
• This won’t benefit my campus. [All SUNY programs will
benefit.]
• Faculty will be forced to participate. [This is an opt-in initiative.]
• Production costs are more expensive. [When talking about
scale, production costs per capita drop drastically.]
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5. Letterman’s Top Ten Myths(con’t)
• Students won’t benefit. [Student access to degree programs will
increase.]
• Online education isn’t as good as face-2-face. [An entire field of
research has emerged in this topic.]
• Online education is a smokescreen for job cuts. [Not true! This
initiative is additive to existing programs.]
• The initiative will try to remove faculty control of the curriculum
and modify academic standards. [Absolutely not.]
• Compromise the quality of a SUNY education. [Not on our
watch.]
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6. Is online as good as face-to-face learning?
This question has been asked for decades, but delivery modality is
not the biggest factor in the effectiveness of online course
delivery. Good instructional design and interaction / engagement
are much more important than modality of delivery.
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7. Delivery Modality
“[W]hen the course materials and teaching methodology were
held constant, there were no significant differences (NSD)
between student outcomes in a distance delivery course as
compared to a face to face course.” Thomas L Russell, director emeritus of
the Office of Instructional Telecommunications at North Carolina State University, author of
The No Significant Difference Phenomenon
In other words, student outcomes in distance delivery courses
were neither worse nor better than those in face-to-face courses.
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8. SUNY Student Assembly
• "The Student Assembly of the State University of New York (SUNYSA) has
long supported programs which make earning a degree more accessible.
For many of our students, the ability to engage in a traditional, on campus
education is hindered by responsibilities outside of the classroom. 100%
online learning programs provide increased flexibility for these students
and an opportunity to pursue a degree which may be otherwise out-of-
reach. Taking advantage of our large and diverse system, online learning
will benefit SUNY retention and completion rates across our campuses
and will ensure that our institutions remain innovative and responsive to
the changing landscape of higher education. Implementation of these
online programs are a great way to progress the goal of an inclusive and
accessible SUNY."
Michael M. Wuest, Director of Academic Affairs, Student Assembly of
the State University of New York

9. Student Testimony
“As an international transfer student who has taken more than
10+ MOOCs and 2 online courses in SUNYs, I support
expanding the programs that are available 100% online.
Depending on the program interface, it is possible to create very
engaging team projects and discussions online. In fact, I have
taken 2 courses that were very interactive and engaging which
made me feel that I learned more than I would have learned in
physical classrooms. I also think that it would be helpful to enable
students to take courses from other SUNY campuses as each
has its unique strength and weaknesses.” Daiki Yoshioka,
Binghamton University senior

10. Online Education RFI and Review Process
• Established a working group with constituents across SUNY in Fall 2018
• Released an RFI: 25 vendor responses; 13 brought in for briefings
• All day working group workshop Dec 7 had three major themes:
- Look at some benchmark data (summarized next)
- Shared experiences from online across the system
- Evaluation of three organizational approaches arising from vendor engagement:
 Outsource the entire operation to an Online Project Manager (OPM)
 Run the new online through one campus
 Operate this expansion through SUNY Administration
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11. Other Online Education Examples
• Southern New Hampshire University enrolls 6,405 students on‐campus. It enrolls
100,000+ exclusively online students generating over $1 billion annually
• California Community College system received $100 million to create an entirely
online community college, with an additional $20 million planned annually for 7 years
• University of Massachusetts system made $104 million in 2017 from approximately
30,000 exclusively online students  projects revenue growing to $400 million, with
most of the growth coming from out‐of‐state students
• Arizona State University enrolls <30,000 students online. ASU business plan presented
to the Arizona Board of Regents shows online revenue reaching $230 million in 2018
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12. ‐
50,000
100,000
150,000
200,000
250,000
300,000
350,000
CA
AZ
TX
FL
MN
UT
VA
IL
NH
NC
NY
CO
PA
OH
MD
GA
IA
AL
MO
IN
WV
MI
KY
KS
MA
ID
WA
TN
WI
NJ
SC
OR
OK
NE
LA
NM
AR
MS
DC
CT
NV
ND
ME
SD
HI
DE
VT
AK
MT
WY
RI
Fall 2017 Headcount Enrollment in Exclusively Distance Learning Courses
Top 10 =
1,632,146 /
52.3% of All
SUNY’s Share = 26,244 (#33)
Largest Single SUNY Institution Enrollment = 5,531
NY state is ranked #11 in the nation
Ranking of States by Exclusively Online Students
Source: IPEDS Data Center Note: National data excludes protectorates. SUNY data excludes statutory colleges.
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13. SUNY’s Top 25 Programs
Campus Name Award Name Academic Program Name Fall 2015 Fall 2016 Fall 2017
1 Empire State B.S. Business, Management & Economics 1187 1159 1083
2 Delhi* B.S.Nurs. Nursing RN 750 671 666
3 Empire State B.S.Nurs. Nursing 660 556 500
4 Empire State B.S. Community & Human Services 560 491 451
5 Monroe A.S. Liberal Arts & Sciences‐‐General Studies 335 289 300
6 Stony Brook Adv Cert Educational Leadership 193 254 221
7 Empire State B.S. Human Development 183 200 212
8 Cayuga County A.A. Liberal Arts & Sciences: Humanities & Social Science 194 195 182
9 Monroe A.S. Business: Business Administration 167 165 177
10 Stony Brook M.S. Human Resource Management 138 135 171
11 Albany M.S. Curriculum Development&Instruction Tech 116 135 162
12 Stony Brook M.S. Adult‐Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner 109 175 158
13 Stony Brook M.A. Higher Education Administration 166 162 149
14 Stony Brook B.S. Nursing 119 143 147
15 Broome A.S. Individual Studies 68 90 126
16 Stony Brook M.A. Liberal Studies 154 136 120
17 Oswego M.B.A. Business Administration 102 119 118
18 Stony Brook M.S. Pediatric Primary Care Nurse Practitioner 83 91 117
19 Hudson Valley A.S. Individual Studies 154 120 115
20 SUNY Poly M.B.A. Technology Management 124 110 114
21 Delhi* B.S. Criminal Justice 37 80 113
22 Plattsburgh B.S. Nursing 171 121 111
23 Buffalo Univ M.S. Information & Library Science 39 104 105
24 Empire State B.A. Human Development 88 98 90
25 Alfred State A.A.S. Health Information Technology 122 89 78
Grand Total 6019 5888 5786

14. Opportunities for SUNY Online
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• Increase the number of 100% online learners;
• Target non‐traditional students, potentially out of
state and international;
• Work with partners to respond efficiently as a
system to market opportunities
• Bring back the 40,000 NY residents who are going to
non‐NY online institutions

15. SUNY Increases Online Enrollment by 80,000 Students in Five Years
Current 100% Online Enrollment = Approx. 26,000
… only 6% of total SUNY Enrollment.
Five‐Year Growth of 80,000 Additional 100% Online
Students (106,000 Total) and a Market‐Informed Balance
of Degree Offerings.
Enrollment Revenue
Base Change Old Base New Base
State‐operated 14,289 +34,846 $82.8M +$571.2M
Community Colleges 11,955 +29,154 30.9M +478.8M
Total 26,244 +64,000 $113.7M +$1,050M
SUNY Generates Approximately $1.05 BILLION annually
in Revenue from the New 100% Online Students.

16. Opportunities for Reaching Scale
• Corporate partners
• NYS Fortune 500
• Military partnerships
• Employee training
• International markets
• Cross‐campus
programming
• More fully online
programs in high
demand areas
• Pathways from
associate to advanced
degrees
• Micro‐credentials
stackable to degrees
• New investment
• Targeted outreach
demand areas
• Strategies to capture
market share
Strategic
Program
Development
Enhanced
Marketing &
Recruitment
Partnerships
Retention
Student &
Faculty Supports
• Cross‐campus support
with on‐demand
courses
• Instructional design
support for faculty
• Student supports and
access to wraparound
services
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17. "The constant change of methods
and objectives of business will
require a flexible and adaptable
workforce in terms of skillset, which
can only be provided for by creating
a culture and setting up mechanisms
of lifelong learning and upskilling.“
WEF Towards a Reskilling Revolution
January 2019
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18. 19
“Employers across the region are
facing critical labor shortages as
the demand for workers outstrips
the local supply. In one
estimate, economic developers in
the region say there are 4,000
open potions in the region, with
a shortage in both blue and
white‐collar positions.”

19. Online Education: Status and Next Steps
• Cross‐System Working Group completed its analysis in December 2018
- Current thinking is for an “Online SUNY,” operated within System, that would
 Provide enhanced platform services and marketing portals in a shared‐service model
 Facilitate centrally new graduate degrees and cross‐campus partnerships;
 Work with industry to identify gaps in offering to serve workforce development
 Engage consultancies as needed
• Current and very near future activities:
- Budget development, corresponding timeline, financial modeling
- Focus groups: faculty council/senate, students, student service units
- Working with ESD to identify partnerships
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20. SUNY Online: Principles Driving Development
• Accessible
• Inclusive
• Affordable
• Agile
• Engaged
• Connected
• Student focused
• Responsive to NYS industry needs
• Committed to excellence
• Innovative and entrepreneurial
• Individualized education
• Collaborative
• Digital and physical integration
• Platform independent
• Frictionless student experience
• Seamless digital environment
• Proactive
• Sustainable
• Optimized resource utilization
• Self‐initiated learning
• Secure
• Collaborative
• Transparent
• Dynamic
• Global
• Sustainable
• Interactive
• Communicative
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21. 22
Supporting Governor Cuomo’s
vision to leverage technology to
make government work smarter
for citizens and to spur economic
growth, the New York Business
Express (NYBE) project was
established to make it easier to
open and run businesses in New
York State.
New York is Open for Business
https://www.businessexpress.ny.gov/

22. Former Process to Open a Business
23
Department
of Tax &
Finance
(DTF)
Department
of Labor
(DOL)
Workers
Comp
Board
(WCB)
Department of
State (DOS)
Agriculture
& Markets
(DAM)
State Liquor
Authority
(SLA)
Gaming
Department
of Motor
Vehicles
(DMV)
Citizen

23. Simplified User Experience
24
New York
Business
Express
Department
of Tax &
Finance
(DTF)
Department
of Labor
(DOL)
Workers
Comp Board
(WCB)
Department
of State
(DOS)
Department
of Motor
Vehicles
(DMV)
State
Liquor
Authority
(SLA)
Agriculture
& Markets
(DAM)
FUTURE
AGENCIES
Citizen
FUTURE
AGENCIES
FUTURE
AGENCIES

24. Questions?
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