Winter Session provides an opportunity for students to earn credit toward their degree during聽winter聽break with a three-week,聽online聽intensive learning experience. The Division of Continuing Education works in partnership with faculty and departments to deliver a mix of course offerings to meet the needs of a variety of students and community members. We are particularly interested in offering聽our learning community聽a unique online experience that provides elements of experiential learning聽and promotes peer engagement聽among students.
Winter Session is聽treated as聽an accelerated term within the spring semester. Courses run from December 19, 2024聽to January 9, 2025.
Winter Session Policies & Procedures
罢丑别听Winter Session Faculty Handbook聽has the most up-to-date information regarding聽course proposal and course development procedures, program policies聽and teaching compensation. Faculty interested in proposing and teaching聽winter courses should become familiar with the handbook鈥�产别蹿辞谤别听proposing a course.
Course Development聽
The online course design聽process聽begins in early September.聽We anticipate all new course development聽will be聽completed by聽November聽25, 2024.聽See below for a聽tentative schedule.
Timeline
Proposals Due
July 8
Course Development Begins
September 16
Course Drafts Complete
November 25
Course Finalized & Published
December 16
Classes Begin
December 19
For more details on CE鈥檚 approach to quality course design, please see the聽Course Development section聽of the Faculty聽Handbook.聽For resources, ideas, and guidance聽related to online聽course聽design and聽development,聽visit聽the聽Learning Design Group聽resources聽page听补苍诲听迟丑别听CTL Remote and Online Teaching聽page.
Experiential and Interactive Activities聽
Instructors are encouraged to integrate experiential activities into their courses as a way of engaging students more fully in the online learning environment. For example, courses can integrate project-based, experiential learning activities where students interview experts, engage in community activities, and/or work on multimedia projects. Winter Session聽instructors聽might also leverage the fact that many students are home for the holidays, so students might be asked to collect oral histories聽around a particular theme聽from family and friends,聽or to research local places of interest relevant to the course topic (architecture, museums, historical points of interest, etc.). Instructors might consider integrating interactions among students that combine both social and educational elements, including: 鈥渟ocial hour鈥� group projects; student-led, synchronous discussions in small groups; group course-related scavenger hunts, etc.
Call for Proposals
The Division of Continuing Education invites CU faculty to submit a course proposal for Winter Session 2024-2025. Faculty interested in submitting a proposal should draw from their department鈥檚 existing inventory of 1-, 2 -, or 3-credit courses that lend themselves to an accelerated 3-week schedule, delivered online.聽We are particularly interested in courses that are typically oversubscribed, upper division core and elective courses, and 鈥渢opics鈥� courses. Courses that incorporate elements of student-to-student engagement and experiential learning are highly encouraged.
Faculty ready to propose a Winter Session course should submit聽the聽.
Completed proposals are due by聽July 8, 2024.
Campus Holidays
Please note that the university is officially closed for Winter Break from December 25, 2024聽through January 1, 2025. As a result, you may experience delays of a day or so when you request support during these dates. For assistance during this time, instructors are directed to email聽WinterSession@colorado.edu.