Call for Proposals — Fall 2021 Online & Hybrid Courses
The campus seeks proposals from faculty to develop on a voluntary basis asynchronous online and hybrid courses to be offered in Fall 2021 to ensure instructional capacity and quality as we transition back to in-person instruction. Hybrid courses are defined as formats of teaching and learning that include multiple modalities in one course, such as asynchronous and in-person, synchronous and in-person, asynchronous and synchronous.
For asynchronous online course proposals, priority will be given to courses that address degree completion, have high enrollment, or are for types of courses (e.g., labs, studios) that have presented greater challenges in being offered remotely. Online courses are required to be available to students in an asynchronous format, although they should include options for synchronous engagement via office hours, Google Doc collaborations, study groups, and other interaction.
For hybrid course proposals, priority will be given to courses that utilize the hybrid format to implement active learning techniques such as flipped classrooms, or that seek to provide in-person options for larger courses that otherwise could not be offered in person.
Faculty whose proposals are approved will be provided $4,000 in summer compensation(1), and pedagogical and technical support throughout the course design and development process. All instructional faculty are eligible to apply.
A committee will review all course proposals, and instructors with selected proposals for asynchronous online courses will be expected to submit a request for new or online course approval to the Senate Committee on Courses of Instruction (CCI). The CCI deadlines follow: July 2 (cohort 1); August 13 (cohort 2). For hybrid courses, CCI approval is required only for new courses.
Faculty whose proposals are awarded agree to share any materials developed through this program upon request from another UCSC instructor who is appointed to teach the same course or one that covers similar material, through the end of 2023. Faculty retain intellectual property rights of their developed course materials.
Courses will be developed in cohorts of roughly ten faculty led by an instructional designer, supporting staff, and a faculty fellow. Each cohort will work together for six weeks. The first three weeks will be focused on course design, framed by a UCSC course on designing and developing online and hybrid courses. The cohort will meet twice weekly in what we expect will be a meaningful learning community. The second three-week period will be used for starting course production. Loaner equipment will be made available to awardees for recording lecture videos at home, or they will have limited access to filming in studios on campus (subject to availability and county/campus health guidelines and vaccine distribution). The first cohort will meet June 14–July 23, and the second cohort will meet July 26–September 3.
We are deeply appreciative of your ingenuity and effort during pandemic-era remote instruction, and we hope you will take advantage of this opportunity to participate in a structured process that will result in creating courses that further engage our students and support learning outcomes.
Proposal Guidelines — Asynchronous Online Courses
In no more than two pages, provide responses to the following prompts:
Describe your course, including pertinent information such as its sequence in the curriculum, frequency of offerings, enrollment, typical assessments (e.g., papers, exams, quizzes, projects), and any challenges with offering it remotely.
Explain how a fully online version of your course would positively impact degree completion, have high enrollment, or would help transition a challenging type of course to a fully online format.
Discuss how an online version of your course may present an opportunity to improve student learning outcomes.
If you have a serious conflict with one of the cohort dates (June 14–July 23 or July 26–September 3), please give a brief explanation.
Proposal Guidelines — Hybrid Courses
In no more than two pages, provide responses to the following prompts:
Describe your course, including pertinent information such as its sequence in the curriculum, frequency of offerings, enrollment, and typical assessments (e.g., papers, exams, quizzes, projects).
Explain how a hybrid version of your course would positively impact degree completion or enable optimal utilization of classroom space.
Discuss how a hybrid version of your course may present an opportunity to improve student learning outcomes.
Describe the formats (combination of in-person, asynchronous, synchronous) that you would use in your hybrid course, and a tentative schedule for one week of the course.
If you have a serious conflict with one of the cohort dates (June 14–July 23 or July 26–September 3), please give a brief explanation.
Proposals are due by the end of day on Monday, April 19. Please be clear whether you are submitting a proposal for an asynchronous online course or for a hybrid course. As department chairs are responsible for curriculum planning, faculty submitting proposals are expected to have consulted with their department or program chair, or college provost, prior to submitting proposals. Submit proposals to vpaa@ucsc.edu, copying your department or program chair, or college provost. For awarded proposals, chairs will be required to confirm that courses will be offered.
Questions? — contact Online Education at online@ucsc.edu.
(1) Summer compensation is subject to a three-month limit from all sources during the summer.