CUNY is building a model in accessible learning that is dedicated to the development of high-quality online programs, and innovation in online education. We empower colleges to create and sustain successful digital learning environments by providing funding, resources, and expert guidance to expand and enhance the online asynchronous program offerings across CUNY colleges.
Developed in partnership with CUNY Online, our growing slate of online programs are delivered and managed through the individual colleges, ensuring a tailored approach to each institution’s unique needs. CUNY online programs reside in the Brightspace Learning Management System (college campuses will complete the migration from Blackboard to Brightspace by 2025). Technology at CUNY is integrated into software tools made available for use by faculty and students across the university system.
Find numerous resources across CUNY colleges and institutions to advance innovations in online education.
CUNY Online Services
Discover resources across CUNY colleges and institutions designed to drive innovation in online education.
To apply for funding to develop a new, fully asynchronous, online program, please read the Online Program Development Seed Money Proposal Guidelines and submit your proposal to cunyonlineproposal@cuny.edu.
- Proposal submissions are accepted on a rolling basis.
- If accepted, a partnership between the College and CUNY Central will be outlined in the Letter of Understanding.
Focusing on the learner experience throughout the course, instructional designers partner with faculty to develop the course design including how the student will navigate through the course, their online interactions, types of student engagement, alignment of goals and assessments, and accessibility.
Instructional designers ensure that all courses meet industry standards in accordance with the OSCQR scorecard (more information about the OSCQR rubric can be found on the Open SUNY Course Quality Review) or an industry standard rubric used at the College with whom we partner.
For more information about instructional design, contact cunyonline@cuny.edu.
CUNY Online Marketing helps colleges create awareness of their online programs to increase enrollment in the following ways:
- CUNY Online website
- Brand awareness marketing campaigns
- CUNY Online works with the Central Marketing team to run digital ad campaigns for all online programs
- Marketing strategy consultations
- Provide guidance program marketing
For information about marketing online programs, contact Andrea Fagon, MBA, Director of Marketing and Communications, CUNY Online.
Colleges Own and Administer Their Online Program
In partnership with the Colleges, CUNY is investing in the development of asynchronous online programs.
- It supports the College’s faculty by providing instructional design resources to develop the online courses and requires the colleges to commit to sustaining the online programs after development is complete.
- At all times, each College retains ownership of and administers the online program and its courses, and makes all academic decisions regarding the courses and program.
- Each partnership with CUNY Online is unique. At CUNY Online, we work with your specific needs to propose a collaboration timeline and structure that works for everyone involved.
Colleges Sustain and Support Online Program Management
Each college is responsible for course copying from the online course development sites and can enlist the support of their campus LMS administrator to better understand the established process. All student support services are provided by the College for fully online students.
Colleges Review and Update Their Online Programs
The online program is owned and administered by the College. Therefore, the review and refresh process would be incorporated into the existing program assessment approach. Quality of the program should be sustained through regular assessments informed by industry standards (i.e., OSCQR Scorecard). CUNY Online can provide additional guidance on operationalizing online program updates and refreshes.
CUNY Online offers expertise and guidance to help college leadership frame infrastructure and processes to sustain online programs and ensure effective online student support.
CUNY Online offers expertise and guidance on issues related to:
- Program development of fully asynchronous online programs
- Support services for online students to promote student success
- Marketing online programs
For information about program development and support services, contact cunyonline@cuny.edu.
All CUNY online courses reside in the University learning management system. CUNY’s colleges are migrating from Blackboard to Brightspace.
Faculty Resources
Spring Registration
April 3 @ 3:00 pm
Peer Power Up! Using Collaborative Reviews & Peer Mentoring
Learn how to create powerful peer review processes that ignite collaboration and propel student learning in your online courses.
May 1 @ 3:00 pm
Conquer Online Course Chaos: Craft Clear Pathways for Student Success!
Your roadmap to transforming your online courses into clear, accessible havens where students thrive.
Recordings from Fall 2024 Webinars
- Innovative Alternatives to Traditional Assessments in STEM Courses (February 5, 2025)
- Engaging Your Students in Online Courses (September 26, 2024)
- Maximize Student Growth: Effective Feedback Strategies for Online Courses (October 22, 2024)
- Creating Impactful Short Videos for Online Courses (November 21, 2024)
The Effective Online Teaching Workshop is available for colleges to offer faculty and can be found in Blackboard and Brightspace in two formats, a full version to be facilitated by an instructor on each campus, or a stand-alone, self-paced workshop.
All college LMS Administrators are enrolled in both versions of the workshop, for every campus to access and to copy for use on their campus.
- CUNY Effective Online Teaching 112023 (full-version)
Faculty earn a certificate upon submission and successful completion of all assignments. Campus workshop facilitator(s) may be faculty peer facilitators, Online Education staff, Center for Teaching and Learning staff, etc. Please direct the facilitator to review the Course Guide that can be found in the left navigation panel for instructions prior to scheduling the workshop. - CUNY Effective Online Teaching Self-Paced 112023 (self-paced)
Topics for both workshops include:
- Introduction to Online Teaching – the online environment and the online learner
- Course Design and Content
- Communication and Interaction
- Assessment and Feedback
- Exploring Active Learning
- Inclusivity and Diversity in Online Teaching
- Time Management and Self-Care (Optional)
For more information about the workshops, email cunyonline@cuny.edu.
The creators of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), CAST, have created a graphic organizer to help educators implement the UDL guidelines.
Faculty can reference the CAST website to:
- Review the About the Graphic Organizer section of the CAST website.
- Download and fill out the Graphic Organizer to help you brainstorm specific ideas about making your learning design more universal.
CAST is a nonprofit education research and development organization that created the Universal Design for Learning framework and UDL Guidelines, now used the world over to make learning more inclusive.
Note: The acronym “CAST” derives from the original name of the organization, Center for Applied Special Technology.
UPCEA
The Online and Professional Education Association.
UPCEA leads and supports members through cutting edge research, professional development, networking and mentorship, conferences and seminars, and stakeholder advocacy. The collaborative, entrepreneurial community brings together decision makers and influencers in education, industry, research, and policy interested in improving educational access and outcomes.
Online Learning Consortium (OLC)
The Online Learning Consortium™ (OLC) is a collaborative community of higher education leaders and innovators, dedicated to advancing quality digital teaching and learning experiences.
Academic Technology Trainings
From Online Teaching to Inclusive Teaching Practices, ACUE offers quick resources, including an online toolkit, to help educators at any stage of their career give their pedagogical practice a boost.
Senior administrator representatives from all CUNY colleges meet monthly to discuss online education issues pertinent to offering and managing online programs. See COLO / CAO / Liaison’s list below:
Baruch College
Jenny Quarles
jenny.provoquarles@baruch.cuny.edu
Borough of Manhattan Community College
Thomas Harbison
tharbison@bmcc.cuny.edu
Bronx Community College
Jordi Getman-Eraso
jordi.getman@bcc.cuny.edu
Brooklyn College
April Bedford
abedford@brooklyn.cuny.edu
City College of New York
Tony Liss
tliss@ccny.cuny.edu
New York City College of Technology
Pamela Brown
pbrown@citytech.cuny.edu
College of Staten Island
Patricia Kahn
Patricia.Kahn@csi.cuny.edu
Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism
Jeremy Caplan
jeremy.caplan@journalism.cuny.edu
CUNY Graduate Center
Steve Everett
severett@gc.cuny.edu
CUNY Graduate School of Public Health & Health Policy
Sergio Costa
sergio.costa@sph.cuny.edu
CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies
Gladys Palma de Schrynemakers
Gladys.Schrynemakers@slu.cuny.edu
CUNY School of Law
Fareed Hayat
Fareed.Hayat@law.cuny.edu
CUNY School of Professional Studies
Ruru Rusmin
Ruru.rusmin@cuny.edu
Guttman Community College
Patricia Jones
patricia.jones@guttman.cuny.edu
Hostos Community College
Babette Audant
baudant@hostos.cuny.edu
Hunter College
Shiao-Chuan Kung
skung@hunter.cuny.edu
John Jay College
Andrew Sidman
asidman@jjay.cuny.edu
Kingsborough Community College
Loretta Taras
Loretta.Taras@kbcc.cuny.edu
LaGuardia Community College
Bille Gastic Rosado
bgasticrosado@lagcc.cuny.edu
Dionne Miller
dmiller@lagcc.cuny.edu
Lehman College
Dermot Foley
DERMOT.FOLEY@lehman.cuny.edu
Dana Fenton
DANA.FENTON@lehman.cuny.edu
Medgar Evers College
Antoinette Coleman
AColeman@mec.cuny.edu
Cristina Migliaccio
CMigliaccio@mec.cuny.edu
Queens College
Troy Hahn
thahn@qc.cuny.edu
Queensborough Community College
Arthur Corradetti
acorradetti@qcc.cuny.edu
York College
George White
gwhite@york.cuny.edu
The Online Passport ensures that undergraduate students in fully online programs have adequate access to the Pathways General Education classes needed to complete their degrees. Participating campuses will make online asynchronous Pathways classes available to students enrolled in online undergraduate programs at any CUNY campus.
You can read more about the “Online Passport” program here.
Academic Technologies at CUNY
There are numerous software tools supported by CUNY for use across the university.
Applications and services widely used at CUNY by faculty, students, and staff.
Third-party tools such as Building Blocks and Learning Tool Interoperability (LTI) are used to connect external learning tools into the Learning Management System in order to add or give faculty, students, and administrators access to supplemental information or functionality to complete coursework.
Student Orientation
CUNY provides campuses with an Online Student Orientation workshop through Brightspace. This orientation can be used in its entirety or customized by selecting specific modules to integrate into existing onboarding processes. Each campus also has the option to add college-specific information tailored to their students.
The orientation covers key topics such as getting started in Brightspace, online safety, student success in online learning, academics, student engagement, available resources, and financial aid options.
Student Services departments across CUNY colleges are represented in the advisory group to share successful initiatives supporting fully online students, discuss challenges, and use the forum to communicate needs to CUNY central administration.
Baruch College
Jenny Provo Quarles
Assistant Vice President, Digital Learning Hub
jenny.provoquarles@baruch.cuny.edu
Borough of Manhattan Community College
Michael Hutmaker
Dean for Student Affairs
mhutmaker@bmcc.cuny.edu
Bronx Community College
Manny Lopez
Assoc. Dean for Student Development
manny.lopez@bcc.cuny.edu
Brooklyn College
Lillian O’Reilly
VP for Enrollment Management
loreilly@brooklyn.cuny.edu
Central Office
Judith Cahn
Interim Unv. Exec. Dir., Programs and Student Support
Judith.Cahn@cuny.edu
College of Staten Island
Danielle Dimitrov
Dean of Students
danielle.dimitrov@csi.cuny.edu
CUNY Graduate School of Public Health & Health Policy
James Warren
Student Life Coordinator
james.warren@sph.cuny.edu
Lynn Roberts
Assoc. Dean for Student Affairs and Alumni Relations
Lynn.roberts@sph.cuny.edu
CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies
Michael Rymer
Director, SLU Learning Hub
michael.rymer@slu.cuny.edu
CUNY School of Professional Studies
Zeita-Marion Lobley
Director, Student Services
z.lobley@mail.cuny.edu
Guttman Community College
Patricia Jones
Professor, Health Information Technology
patricia.jones@guttman.cuny.edu
Hostos Community College
Silvia Reyes
Director, Special Projects, Student Engagement and CLIP
sreyes@hostos.cuny.edu
Hunter College
Shiao-Chuan Kung
Director, Center for Online Learning
skung@hunter.cuny.edu
John Jay College
Ritu Boswell
Student Success Manager
rboswell@jjay.cuny.edu
Kingsborough Community College
Yelena Bondar
Dean for Student Success Programs
yelena.bondar@kbcc.cuny.edu
LaGuardia Community College
Benjamin Rohdin
VP for Enrollment Management
brohdin@lagcc.cuny.edu
Rhonda Mouton
Director, LaGuardia Cares (Division of Student Affairs)
rmouton@lagcc.cuny.edu
Lehman Community College
Olena Zhadko
Director, Online Education
olena.zhadko@lehman.cuny.edu
Dermot Foley
Assoc. Director, Online Education
dermot.foley@lehman.cuny.edu
Medgar Evers College
Dr. Deborah Greenblatt
Professor, Education
dgreenblatt@mec.cuny.edu
New York City College of Technology
Jose Diaz
Director, iTECH
Jose.Diaz944@citytech.cuny.edu
Queens College
Sean Pierce
Interim Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs
sean.pierce@qc.cuny.edu
Queensborough Community College
Stefan Spezio
Director of the Center for Tutoring and Academic Support
SSpezio@qcc.cuny.edu