SJSU Online
The mission of SJSU Online is to expand higher education access and degree attainment for the adult learner community with particular emphasis on Californians with some college experience but no degree and to reconnect with students who left SJSU and have been unable to finish their degree. The importance of this mission was highlighted by a recent report from California Competes (February, 2021) that noted as many as 2.5 million Californians have completed at least one year of college, but are not progressing toward their degree. Moreover, without their college degree we know that these potential graduates:
- earn 54% less than those with college degrees,
- are half as likely to hold jobs in higher-paying managerial positions, and
- are more likely to be unemployed than college graduates across race, ethnicity, and gender.
The special session degree completion programs offered through SJSU Online will meet these potential graduates where they are, offering flexible 100% online pathways for degree attainment focused on the needs of the working learner, including multiple admission cycles, 8-week academic terms, and a per-unit tuition structure that is cost effective for the part time learner. The inaugural SJSU Online programs opening this spring 2023 are Anthropology, Economics, Interdisciplinary Engineering, and Interdisciplinary Studies with concentrations in Educational and Community Leadership. Information Science and Data Analytics will also join SJSU Online in spring, although they will continue to offer their courses using the more traditional semester model.
Faculty from these programs are provided course development stipends and work collaboratively with our newly established SJSU Online instructional design team in eCampus and the Center for Faculty Development to employ evidence-based instructional design as they create effective learning environments for the online learner. This partnership will continue throughout the offering of these courses as the need for small refinements are identified, but will begin again in earnest every three years during the scheduled course refresh opportunity.
Please contact Vice Provost Ron Rogers for more information to develop SJSU Online programs.
