Fall 2024 Call for Proposals
Deadline: November 1, 2024
UC Online Courses and UCSB Online Courses are designed to provide high-quality education for students comparable to in-person classroom education. Online courses can fill important needs by making impacted courses more accessible and they can support pedagogical innovation. Some courses specifically designed for online education are actually more successful than traditional classroom education, especially those taught in large lecture formats. We invite departments and faculty to propose courses that enrich our current curriculum offerings and we look forward to supporting you in that process.
We invite Senate faculty, departments, and/or teams of Senate faculty and non-Senate faculty to submit proposals for high-quality online courses to be offered during the academic year. Departments may also submit proposals for single courses taught by multiple instructors. These should be proposed by the chair on behalf of the department and should include a list of instructors who will teach the course. Please note that you may also apply to UC Online or Summer Sessions to teach a course online, and you may propose two different courses.
Available funding
Instructors, groups of faculty, and departments proposing courses will receive:
- $8,000 for one faculty member designing a course
- $5,000/person for multiple faculty members (up to three) designing a course
- Up to $10,000 for course development (more may be requested for exceptionally complex courses)
Funds may be allocated as research/professional development funding or as summer salary (depending on appointment).
Note: Faculty may seek additional grant funds and support to design or redesign courses that are exceptionally complex (e.g., include high-end graphics, include simulations or games, require off-campus videography, enroll large numbers of students), courses in a sequence, or other courses that may require additional time and resources to design. Please speak with the Instructional Consultants in the Office of Teaching and Learning prior to submitting a proposal.
Funding priorities
Courses will be selected for funding based on campus priorities. For proposals submitted during the 2024-25 school year, we are especially interested in courses that:
- Align with departmental priorities (e.g. to increase availability of bottleneck courses through online versions of overenrolled courses.
- Incorporate innovative approaches to teaching and learning, incorporating new pedagogies and/or curriculum that enhance engagement and emphasize learning gains by leveraging the online learning environment.
- Provide students with different ways to access high-enrollment courses and/or courses that are especially impacted.
- Incorporate high-impact practice, especially those designed to make changes to courses with historically high rates of student struggle, or changes that support equitable and inclusive pedagogies and enrollment flexibility (e.g., may be offered in different modalities and/or at different times of day or during the academic year).
- Are central to a department or major’s equity plans or PLO assessment research.
Support for funded proposals
In addition to grant funds, approved proposals will receive:
- A dedicated pedagogical consultant/instructional designer
- Dedicated assistance with the online course approval process
- Support for media production
Approved courses will also be eligible for regular “refresh” funding of up to $3,000/course every three years, pending budgetary approval. (Funds may be requested at any point during the three-year period to update courses.)
Requirements for online courses
Online courses must:
- be proposed by a Senate faculty member (though teams may include Unit 18 lecturers).
- be designed and developed within 18 months from the time the grant is funded.
- be approved by the relevant administrative and Academic Senate committees before being taught through a supplemental Course Approval Request process.
- be taught during the subsequent two academic years after Senate approval by the faculty member(s) listed on the online course proposal or other qualified instructors identified by the department for courses proposed by departments.
Faculty are expected to be in residence while offering an online course. Exceptions to the timing of the course offering may be granted for highly complex course designs, which may be developed over two years (please include a justification and an explanation of the development timeline).
Allowable uses for Grant Funds:
- Student and/or staff assistance for development and production (e.g., undergraduate or graduate students; specialized contractors; production not available on campus).
- Supplies (although minor supplies such as photocopying, paper and printing are supplied by the academic department).
Proposals must include the signatures of the department chair as well as that of the divisional/college/school dean.
Funding for approved proposals will first be transferred to the faculty proposer’s relevant dean’s office, and then departments will be reimbursed for actual costs. That department will be responsible for processing all hires, payment to individuals associated with the project, and all other expenditures. Proposers will be required to submit an accounting of expenditures and a brief report to the EVC’s office describing their progress annually by June 20. Awardees will receive a template to complete for this reporting.
Submission Instructions
Faculty are strongly encouraged to work with the Instructional Consultants at the Office of Teaching and Learning prior to submitting a proposal.
For full consideration, please submit all materials to our secure Box Folder by November 1, 2024.
Submitters of accepted and funded proposals will be required to work with the Instructional Consultants to submit the Supplemental Materials for Online Courses into the Course Approval Request System before they can begin developing the course. We anticipate offering this grant again in Winter 2025.
Download the Proposal Template (with Instructions) here (Google Doc)