About University of Illinois Online
About U of I Online
Established in winter of 1997, the University of Illinois Online (U of I Online) is a system-wide initiative providing coordination and support to the three universities of the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign, Chicago, and Springfield) in the area of online education and public service. Its primary goal is to increase the number of high-quality online education programs available to all prospective students in Illinois, the U.S. and around the world.
U of I Online does not admit and register students nor does it develop and deliver online courses; rather it facilitates these activities related to online education by providing the following services to the University community and to prospective students:
- publishing an online catalog of all U of I online education and public service programs conducted largely or wholly over the Internet
- responding to inquiries about the University's online courses and programs
- helping the three universities to develop appropriate support services for off-campus students
- supporting research on the effectiveness of online instruction
- providing an outreach mechanism to identify and cultivate general and specialty markets for online education and public service
- offering consulting and training to faculty who are developing and teaching online courses
- providing oversight and ensuring University-level attention to issues of special concern to faculty, such as quality control, ownership of materials, workload, and recognition
- promoting the benefits and potential of Internet-based instruction to faculty and administrators on the three universities
- marketing the University System's online education programs