CU Denver: Steps to Success

Project Summary

Transfer students entering CU Denver’s T-PREP program are making a real transition: moving from a two-year community college into a four-year university program, learning new systems and expectations, navigating financial aid — often while living and working in a rural community far from campus. CU Denver: Steps to Success was designed to meet them before day one.

It’s a short, self-paced Rise 360 course that orients incoming transfer students to the T-PREP program and its licensure options, state and federal financial aid, CU Denver’s learning platforms, and the habits that make online learning work — deliberately framed as “an opportunity to learn without the pressure of grades.” The tone is warm and low-stakes by design: the course opens on “Welcome!” and closes on “Take a deep breath. You’ve got this.”

I built the course with T-PREP’s director, Dr. Valerie Sherman, who served as the subject-matter expert. Dr. Sherman provided the content — the program information, the learning outcomes, and the knowledge checks — and I designed how to present and deliver it: building the course in Rise 360, structuring the flow and knowledge checks, and producing the branded introduction video. It was built as part of my graduate capstone with the T-PREP program.

Details

Goal: Orient incoming transfer students to T-PREP before their first semester, easing the transition from community college into the university program.
Type: Self-Paced eLearning Course (Rise 360)
Context: Graduate capstone project with the T-PREP program, CU Denver School of Education and Human Development
SME: Dr. Valerie Sherman, Director, T-PREP
Audience: Incoming transfer students entering CU Denver’s T-PREP program
Responsibilities: Instructional Design, Rise 360 Development, Video Production, Visual Design
Tools Used: Articulate Rise 360, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator