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Change Leadership 

Academic Innovation 

Academic Innovation represents several important initiatives from a shared, international database of classroom technology builds through FLEXspace that was designed and developed right here in DIAS to the SUNY partnership with Coursera where hundreds of thousands of learning have been introduces to SUNY to the deep collaboration of faculty, instructional support professionals, and administrative leaders from across SUNY to lead conversations and exploration in the teaching and technology space. These are all examples of DIAS leading through change. 

FLEXspace 

FLEXspace (Flexible Learning Environments eXchange) continues to serve as a global platform for educators, designers, technologists, and campus planners dedicated to improving learning environments through the integration of pedagogy, space, and technology. Originally launched as a SUNY FACT2 Task Group in 2011, FLEXspace has grown into an international consortium and remains a key initiative supported by SUNY DIAS. The platform supports a global community of over 6,000 members from 1,400 institutions across 76 countries. 

In 2024, SUNY executed a formal agreement to transition stewardship of FLEXspace to the Higher Education Technology Managers Alliance (HETMA), a mission-aligned professional association with a strong sponsor network. But SUNY continues to play a foundational role in the development and sustainability of FLEXspace. Through the Office of Digital Innovation and Academic Services (DIAS), SUNY provides: 

  • Annual financial support of $25,000 for platform hosting, upgrades, and outreach 
  • In-kind staff contributions including participation in advisory committees, strategic planning, and platform development guidance 

SUNY campuses actively contribute to the FLEXspace community by sharing exemplary learning spaces and participating in collaborative initiatives.  

Coursera 

Coursera continues to be a platform for reaching new learners around the world. By developing Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) on Coursera, SUNY faculty have reached millions of learners and generated significant revenue. This unique partnership allows national and international learners to take online courses developed by award-winning SUNY faculty and staff.  

3 new courses in addition to 66 courses since 2015: 

  • Student Success: Foundations of Self-Management, Broome CC 
  • Food and Wine Pairing, Viticulture Program and Finger Lakes CC 
  • Multi- Event Facility Enterprises and Management, UB 

Coursera courses have seen 244,246 enrollments this year in addition to 2,786,435 enrollments and 485,470 course completions to date (09/17/2025). There have been 2,075,050 unique learners since 2015 with the majority of learners of SUNY content from Asia 45% against 37% from Asia for all Coursera content. 

Participating SUNY Campuses received $1.67 million the past year with over $10 million since 2015.

SUNY Online+ 

The SUNY Online+ designation recognizes degrees and certificates across the system that exemplify the best of what SUNY has to offer in online education including student support, faculty support, and program support.  The SUNY Online+ Signature Elements affirm that SUNY Online+ programs represent a comprehensive commitment to student success, faculty support and program integrity. 

At the end of the 2024 – 2025 year, there were 182 programs on 26 campuses with the SUNY Online+ designation 

In 2024 – 2025, Finger Lakes Community College and Buffalo State University completed the SUNY Online+ recertification process. 

“With all of our online programs receiving the SUNY Online+ designation, our faculty are recognized for their quality program design and the institutional commitment to supporting those programs is celebrated.   Alfred State values the opportunity to partner with SUNY Online to continue to grow and celebrate our high-quality online programs.”

SUNY Faculty Advisory Council on Teaching and Technology 

For more than two decades the Faculty Advisory Council on Teaching and Technology (FACT2) established of the SUNY Office of the Provost has sought representation by faculty, instructional designers, and instructional technology professionals from across SUNY to advise the provost and provide tangible resources to SUNY campus leaders regarding teaching and technology. This past academic year FACT2 has initiated and guided two task groups: AI in Action, and Experiential Learning Curriculum to Career, to produce reports and guides that were distributed across SUNY. The support for FACT2 is provided by DIAS. 

The Office of the Provost conferred the tenth annual FACT2 Excellence Awards and helped guide the organization for the SUNY-wide Conference in Instruction and Technology (CIT) hosted each year at a SUNY campus. 

2025 FACT2 Excellence Awards Recipients 

  • Excellence in Instruction 
  • Community Colleges – Dr. Babette Faehmel, SUNY Schenectady  
  • State-Operated and Statutory Colleges – Dr. Gina Solano, SUNY Oneonta 
  • Excellence in Instructional Support 
  • Community Colleges – Laura Parmenter, Jamestown Community College 
  • State-Operated and Statutory Colleges – Simulations Operations Team, Erin Graham, Shannon Summers, Katherine (Kate) Miller, and Ambrosia (Bella) Lupia, Upstate Medical 

Innovative Technologies 

Lumi Pro is a suite of AI tools for instructors using Brightspace that allows them to enhance teaching and learning with intelligent assistance within Brightspace. SUNY System Administration has funded professional development through the Lumi vendor, D2L to train campus DLE Admins and related campus staff, instructional designers and instructional support professionals through the SUNY Center for Professional Development and coordinated by the SUNY Online Professional Development Program Manager. 

  • Campus System Administrators – $31,350 ($150 per registrant per D2L course) 
  • Faculty & Content Creators – $42,900 ($150 per registrant per D2L course) 
  • Campus System Administrators – 209 
  • Faculty & Content Creators – 286 registrants 

SUNY Online Dashboards  

SUNY Online provided interactive dashboards are continually updated with data about online learning in SUNY from the impact of the services we provide, such as campus-requested tools in the DLE and our Help Desk statistics, to online student enrollments and online faculty trends across SUNY, based on self-reporting from campuses. These EIT accessible dashboards can be accessed using your campus login credentials after clicking on the SUNY Federated Login button. 

Supporting Change Leadership at SUNY Campuses 

Change Leadership Community of Practice  

The SUNY Change Leadership Community of Practice brings together professionals with diverse roles throughout SUNY to work together to support their effectiveness in Change Leadership.  

The Community of Practice seeks to: 

  • Enable campus leaders to engage and collaborate with peers around change leadership, 
  • Create opportunities for members to learn more about resources to support change leadership, 
  • Bring in outside expertise to add to campus perspectives, and 
  • Recognize and celebrate successes. 

This group is open to SUNY Professionals in diverse roles and levels who have an interest in honing their skills in Change Leadership. To join the Change Leadership Community of Practice, contact Andrea Wade at Andrea.Wade@suny.edu.  

Accessibility 

SUNY System Administration leads an initiative for System-wide compliance activities by campuses for meeting Electronic Information Technology Accessibility (EITA) compliance. EITA activities and compliance affect every SUNY campus. Each of the 64 campuses has at least one EITA officer. This person (or group) is responsible for driving accessibility efforts across campus. This includes students, faculty, and staff.  

The AAA Faculty Fellows – the Accessibility Advocates and Allies Faculty Fellows are charged with reviewing relevant practices, initiatives, resources, and supports that currently exist within SUNY, driving conversations at all levels, and bringing forth new ideas and plans to improve both accessibility and communications around EITA. The inaugural 2024-2025 cohort is made up of 11 members, representing state-operated schools and community colleges. In addition to the Fellowship deliverables, several Fellows have presented as a panel to the University Faculty Senate and the Faculty Council of Community Colleges. A second cohort will begin work in January 2026. 

System-wide Reach and Impact 

  • EITA efforts are supported in part by $10 million in grant funding secured and managed by the Office of Resources for Students with Disabilities under the auspices of Student Success 
  • All 64 SUNY campuses have EIT Officers 
  • All 64 SUNY campuses are expected to deliver annual reports on EIT accessibility on their campuses 
  • More than 950 SUNY faculty and staff participated in EIT Accessibility training in the form of webinars focusing on EIT Accessibility Guidance issued by the Office of General Counsel 
  • 407 participants in the OTTER professional development accessibility editions