Online Course Types
USU Online helps to fullfill the University's land grant mission by providing the support and resources necessary to offer education online. We do this by providing 3 types of online courses:
Teaching assignments are made by Academic departments. If you are an instructor interested in teaching online, review the options below and consult with your department head.
Academic Credit Online Courses
Our academic, semester-based courses start and end with the rest of the USU traditional courses and follow all the semester dates, allowing students to take courses from home, but at the normal semester pace. Students are expected to log in regularly, participate in online discussions, group work, and complete all assignments within specified dates.
These courses:
- Are part of degree programs. Students in-state pay standard tuition & fees, out-of-state student pay a per-credit rate.
Depts. receive 50% of the out-of-state tuition - Use approved USU course numbers (e.g. ENGL 1010, BIOL 1010, etc.)
- Appear on student transcripts with course credits applied toward degrees
- 1 credit hour = 1 hour of class time + 2 hours of outside homework x 15 weeks semester.
- Use Canvas to meet online asynchronously (i.e. students connect at different times)
- Students login to Canvas using A#/Password.
A full list of academic course delivery methods and descriptions can be found on the Registrar's website. Learn more about Teaching an Academic Online course.
CEU Credit Online Courses
CEU online courses allow students who are not seeking degrees to get credit for proffessional education. They are intended to improve the knowledge and skills of working adults. CEUs appear on the Continuing Education level of a USU transcript.
These courses:
- Use approved USU course numbers with CEU prefixes.
- Extension courses can be offered for CEU credit under the course number CEEX 5700.
- May be term based or have variable course dates
- Cost a minimum of $30/credit + department fees
- 1 CEU credit = 10 contact hours.
- Students apply and register for CEU courses through the CEU Portal.
Learn more about offering a CEU course.
Non-Credit Online Courses
Non-Credit Online courses are available to faculty and departments who need a generic course space, available to non-USU participants. Examples include: Grant related content, workshops, online training and any other online course that does not result in academic or CEU credit.
These courses:
- Do not provide student Academic or CEU credit and can not be applied to degrees.
- Have no specific course numbers
- Do not follow the campus semester dates or specific date limitations
- Have course fees that are variable
- Are frequently offered in partnership with external sources
- May be grant funded
- Are available to non-USU participants
- Uses email address & password for authentication.