The Online Student Experience at KU

KU Connect: Our Desktop and Mobile App

For students on campus, the resources they need for their course work may be stored across many settings, making organization a key factor in each student’s success. Your textbook may be in the library across campus, the reading from your professor in your home, and the feedback on a graded assignment on a digital interface—but you’re at work with free time on your hands and no way to chase these items down now.

Online students, however, never have to worry about this happening.

As an online student, everything you need is conveniently kept in one easily accessible digital space, so whatever you need is available wherever you may be and whenever you may need it. And that’s just what KU Connect, our program’s desktop learning interface and mobile app, is designed for.

Through KU Connect, you can:

• Access the digital classroom and course content on the go
• Complete and submit your course work
• Participate in engaging case-study-based discussions with your classmates
• Receive feedback, grades and announcements from your instructors
• Track upcoming due dates across multiple courses, keeping your schedule organized
• Stay aware of important university happenings and events
• Get in touch with your individual Student Success Coordinator for continued support

For a better sense of the distinct advantages KU Connect brings to you, check out the digital classroom at KU.

The Online Learning Environment and Module System

Whether you access KU Connect on your computer or cellphone, each course’s online classroom becomes your go-to space for class participation and the day-to-day activities of your courses.

Through intuitive navigation, robust tools for collaboration and integrated multimedia course materials, the online learning environment at KU was designed specifically to keep our online students engaged in their course work and connected to the greater KU community—all seamlessly from afar and on the go.

In the same effort to streamline your educational experience, we’ve designed our online classroom into modules. These modules thematically build upon one another, helping to split your studies into more easily digestible parts, and are built for each class.

Although each class has its own course work, every class starts with what’s called “Module Zero,” to help you plan your schedule ahead of time and maintain your work/life balance while in school.

Module Zero: Plan Ahead to Maintain a Work/Life Balance

What proves particularly helpful to our online students is the foresight and planning our module system provides. Right before your courses are scheduled to begin, Module Zero opens in the online classroom and gives you access to your upcoming class, including important due dates, vital readings and key topics that will be covered throughout the course, so you can introduce yourself to your classmates and prepare for your classes and your work schedule as much as possible before the term begins.

Not only is the online classroom on KU Connect convenient, it’s full of useful ways to stay on top of your studies and maximize your ability to take away key insights, connections and skills—and we haven’t even introduced you to Jayhawkville yet.

Direct Experience in a Virtual Environment

When it comes to studying online, our students tend to want a way of applying what they learn in the field, practicing what they’ve studied in a risk-free setting before utilizing it in a real-world environment.

As a defining element of experiential learning in our online Master’s in Sport Management* program, Jayhawkville represents a virtual, gamified community that brings your education to life.

By navigating Jayhawkville, students can apply their learnings in a fun, unique and risk-free environment that, in turn, creates a shared experience for all participants in the program. Our Jayhawkville community hosts a variety of locations, scenarios and activities that encourage collaboration and interaction, including:

• A media outlet
• A golf course and country club
• A youth or community center
• A Division III private college
• A large Division I university
• A tennis club
• A professional soccer team and miscellaneous high-school teams

Jayhawkville allows students to apply what they learn in a simulated environment that brings the curriculum to life. With the in-depth dive into the world of sport management that Jayhawkville offers, alongside rigorous case studies, real-world examples and your unique internship experience, our program helps prepare you for the world of sport like no other.