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University of Colorado Denver instructor Kristin Whitmore started a recent Mathematics for Elementary Teachers class with a prompt for her students: Have you ever performed on a stage?
Some of her students responded to the question online, dropping stories in the virtual chat about band performances. A student in Whitmore’s classroom shared a brief story about a school play. Whitmore nodded. She looked into a camera, then at students in front of her, and likened teaching to a performance.
True to her lecture, Whitmore approaches instruction in her hybrid online and in-person classroom, called HyFlex, like an entertainer.
Before each class, she checks her lighting, cameras, and microphone volume so students online can see and hear her. In class, she lays out props, including, on this recent Monday, a box with colored blocks that will demonstrate how to teach division.
Hybrid classes like Whitmore’s, once the primary mode of learning for many college students during the pandemic, have remained popular among students nationally and in Colorado. College administrators see flexible online learning as a way to attract and keep students who have complicated schedules.
CU Denver students say they like the option for a variety of reasons, including that it allows them more time for campus activities, spares them from battling Denver’s downtown traffic or helps them balance family obligations.
Online options have allowed CU Denver English major Levi Roberts, 21, flexibility at work. During her first two years at the campus, Roberts worked at least 32 hours a week, she said, leaving little time to drive to campus or even fit in an in-person class. As a junior, she works less, but she still gravitates toward the online options.
“I ended up just really liking the model,” she said.
Just over a third of college students took an online class in the years before the 2020 pandemic, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. That peaked during COVID, but online learning remained popular even as college campuses reopened for in-person classes. As of 2024, more than half of college students enrolled in at least one class online. Online enrollment trends in Colorado have mirrored that trajectory.
“The spike came from a crisis, but the plateau has come from a choice,” said Bruce Etter, research director for online education association UPCEA.
UPCEA surveyed dozens of colleges of various sizes in 2026 and found that 80% have developed online learning as part of their class offerings. It’s a business decision at a time when enrollment projections show declines in high school graduates, Etter said.
“Institutions are leaning on online to make up for what has been the historical bread and butter of so many institutions — that on-campus individual,” Etter said.
Colorado schools capitalize on students’ demand for online
The percentage of Colorado college students taking online classes varies by school, but the numbers are up. At CU Denver, 43% of undergraduates took at least one online class in 2024. At Colorado State University Fort Collins, the number was 35% in 2025. And 38% of students at Colorado’s 13 community colleges take online or hybrid courses.
Fully virtual options have also become more popular. Colorado State University Global, a state online school, enrolled 15% more new students in the first three months of this year compared to last. And CU Boulder offers online Coursera classes, which now have over 1,000 students participating, up from just 42 in 2020, the first year it was available.
This isn’t a phenomenon confined to just colleges, as many workers are now used to remote or hybrid jobs and K-12 student participation in virtual schools doubled between 2024 and the pandemic.
Karen Marrongelle, provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs at CU Denver, said online courses allow the school to be both responsive to student needs and competitive in recruiting. The pandemic showed school leaders that online options can help students, she said.
“It’s just been great to be able to support students in that flexibility so that they can continue to live their whole lives while they’re pursuing their education,” Marrongelle said.
Student Adrian Saavedra, 19, said he has more commitments with his fraternity, so he chose mostly online courses where he can tune in on his own schedule.
“It gives me the opportunity to take responsibility into my own hands,” he said. “And if I am struggling, if I need help, I’ll ask.”
Hybrid classrooms teach ‘roomers’ and ‘zoomers’
In Whitmore’s hybrid classroom, students, who she calls “roomers” and “zoomers,” can choose to learn in whichever way suits them best. It takes her far more work to adapt lessons, Whitmore said, but she’s learned how to put on a show in both mediums, toggling her attention back and forth between online and in-person students. She even greets each student who signs in online by name, the same way she does when a student walks in the door.
“Hi Victoria. Hi Elena. Hi Alyssa,” she says as students sign into Zoom.
Whitmore wants students to feel empowered, especially when so many have much more going on in their lives than just class. She’s heard all manner of reasons why a student can’t show up or is late: their dog has caused chaos, they’re on bed rest, or they cut their hand.
Korinne Ruhnke, 33, who is one of Whitmore’s students, said that sometimes she can’t find childcare. Hybrid classes allow her to stay home on days she has her son with her during class time. If she’s running late from work, she can also tune into class virtually on the drive to school.
“Then I didn’t have to catch up once I was in the actual classroom,” she said.
Graduate student Sarah Lauzon said she didn’t always understand the popularity of online options until the first time she was late. Now, she doesn’t hesitate to do what works best for her schedule, especially when she must balance work or family responsibilities.
Instructors like Whitmore, Lauzon said, give students permission to do what’s best for them.
“I’ll be flat the next couple of weeks,” Lauzon told Whitmore, signaling she’d be attending the next few classes online. Whitmore smiled and told Lauzon she would miss seeing her face in class.
Jason Gonzales is a reporter covering higher education and the Colorado legislature. Chalkbeat Colorado partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage. Contact Jason at jgonzales@chalkbeat.org.