10 Ways FIU Online Shapes the Learning Experience

Hand holding a booklet with FIU Online logo; cover reads Your Guide to Success with FIU Online

With 24 years of experience in online learning and more than 13,000 graduates who completed fully online degree programs, Florida International University consistently creates opportunities for its students through FIU Online, the university’s virtual modality. From rankings and quality, affordability to skills gaps, as well as partnerships and accessibility, FIU Online shapes the learning experience for online students. Many of these students may never step foot on campus.

FIU Online Shapes the Learning Experience

Understanding this, the FIU Online mission with degrees is to provide online learners with the greatest return on investment (ROI), applicability, transferability and support. Here are 10 ways FIU Online is fulfilling this purpose.

1. Rankings

FlU Online bachelor’s and master’s degrees consistently achieve top placement among ranking organizations. Many of the university’s online programs rank within the top 50 on U.S. News and World Report’s listings. Additionally, several programs are listed among the top 10 for affordability and veterans. These rankings are a testament to FIU’s enduring commitment to quality and underscore the university’s dedication to excellence in online learning.

2. Quality Matters

Committed to academic excellence, FIU Online is No. 1 in the world for Quality Matters (QM) certified courses. QM is a faculty-centered, peer-reviewed process designed to assess, improve and certify online courses. The process leverages best-practices and considers benchmarking rubrics. Currently, over 650 courses are Quality Matters certified, which ensures their value for students.

3. Affordability Counts

FIU Online initiated the Affordability Counts program as a natural digital leap for the university’s online courses. The program, adopted statewide for all public universities, is faculty-driven as professors self-identify and select digital textbooks and materials for their courses that cost $60 or less. To date, 450 FIU courses have been added to the growing list of courses awarded an Affordability Counts medallion. Thousands of students have collectively saved well over $1.6 million on course materials to help ease tuition costs. This equates to a cost saving of about 89 percent per course.

4. Career Engage

FIU Online created the Career Engage professional readiness path in 2019 to help the university’s fully online engineering management students close the skills gap, hone communication abilities, and harness the hard and soft skills they need for their respective industries. Since its inception, Career Engage has expanded to include fully online students in hospitality and tourism management degree programs as well as those earning degrees in public health. Currently, Career Engage has mentored more than 2,100 students.

5. Success coaches

A unique feature to FIU, all fully online undergraduates are assigned a Success Coach. Success Coaches help FIU students succeed, from their first day as a fully online student until they graduate. Some of the topics success coaches review with students each term include time management, tutoring, study habits, organizational skills, professional development and course-related struggles.

6. Ally

FIU continually looks for ways to improve accessibility and inclusion in online courses for students who are differently abled. Ally is integrated within the Canvas learning platform. It automatically alerts faculty to issues and provides detailed insight and guidance to instructors on how to improve accessibility in course design, content and materials. With more than 5,000 online courses, FIU Online reaffirmed its commitment to making FIU accessible for all students with its adoption of Ally software.

7. Partnerships

As part of the effort to increase access to online education for all students as well as strengthening the future workforce, FIU maintains several public-private partnerships with organizations such as Royal Caribbean and Florida Power & Light. These partnerships prepare students with the hands-on knowledge required to succeed in their field as professionals. FIU also holds partnerships with communities to work toward building up support systems and resources, such as transportation and social equity.

8. FIU Online LIVE

As FIU strives to expand the horizons of online education, a new mode of learning has been implemented. Online LIVE is a modality that combines the authenticity of class meetings with the accessibility of a fully online course. In this advanced format, students are able to interact with their peers and instructors through state-of-the-art technology. Foundational knowledge is digitally distributed through Canvas. Also, synchronous meetings serve the purpose of course discussion and enriching communication between students and instructors.

9. Our grads, their careers

Every semester, more than half of the university’s student body, of more than 56,000 learners, takes at least one online course. FIU is among the top 10 largest universities in the nation. It has collectively graduated more than 200,000 alumni—greater than 10,000 of these alumni were fully online students. More than 115,000 alumni live and work in South Florida. This is a testament to the reputation of the institution and the quality of our graduates, which is highlighted in the FIU Online “Our Grads. Their Careers.” campaign.

10. Panther Den

The FIU Online Panther Den, an online hub, offers direct access to some of the most useful resources at the university in the online format, while recognizing that the degree of contact, communication, and inclusivity needed in the online interface correlates with student success. Through Panther Den, students may find and subscribe to tutoring resources, exercise videos and podcasts. Additionally, Panther Den features information on FIU’s online success coaches, counseling and psychological services, as well as safety.

By Jennifer Jaquet, FIU Online Jr. Copywriter


Contact the recruitment team for more information about FIU’s fully online degree programs. Reach the team via email (onlineprograms@fiu.edu) or phone 305-348-3125.

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