Call for Proposals — Summer 2023/2024 Online Courses

UPDATE: Extended deadline — calls for proposals will be accepted until November 18 at 12pm.

Summer Session and Online Education seek proposals from all interested faculty to develop online courses that will be offered during Summer Session 2023, 2024, and beyond.* The call for proposals is open to all senate faculty and lecturers, and experienced Graduate Student Instructors (with departmental approval and the mentorship of a faculty mentor). The deadline is November 15, 2022.

This call for proposals is focused on developing online courses that will help significant numbers of UC Santa Cruz students make progress toward their degree. This can include online versions of major requirements or bottleneck courses, pairs or clusters of courses, high enrollment or impacted courses, or courses that are key for degree progress for incoming first-year or transfer students (e.g., prerequisites, major and declaration requirements, or classes not articulated at CCCs). Online courses can be asynchronous or include asynchronous and synchronous instruction. Summer courses can run in 5-, 8-, or 10-week sessions. Multiple proposals from faculty in the same department will be considered.

Courses will be developed in small cohorts of faculty led by facilitators from Online Education. The cohorts will work together in three weekly sessions (i.e., once a week for three weeks) in a meaningful learning community during spring or fall 2023. Each participant will also meet individually with an assigned instructional designer every week throughout the quarter and as needed during the first offering of the course. On-campus studios, loaner equipment, and editing services will be available for video production. Participating in the cohort sessions is a requirement of the program.

Faculty awardees will receive one course release (tenure track faculty) or course equivalency (lecturers).** Graduate student awardees will receive one quarter as a Graduate Student Instructor during spring or fall 2023 (the cohort period). All awardees will receive abundant staff support to develop and implement the course.

All awardees retain intellectual property rights of their developed course materials as defined in the UC policy addressing the Ownership of Course Materials. Faculty and graduate student participation in this opportunity is voluntary and a condition of the program is that the awarded instructor agrees to make their course available to be offered for five consecutive summers. The awarded instructor has the first right of refusal to teach the course. If they refuse, the department chair can select an alternative instructor. While uncommon, if this happens, the course materials will be made available to the alternative instructor for the offering term only. The original version of the course will be retained by the awarded instructor and left unaltered.

Awardees will be required to submit a request for online course approval to the Senate Committee on Courses of Instruction (CCI) by January 5, 2023, per the course approval calendar. Courses may not be taught online without CCI approval.

The deadline for proposals is Tuesday, November 15, 2022 (end of day). Extended to November 18 at 12pm.

Proposal Guidelines

Using this form, provide responses to the questions below. You will also be asked to append the current course syllabus to your proposal, to indicate when the course will first be offered and which faculty cohort you will participate in, and to confirm that you have discussed both the departmental need for your proposed course and the offering commitment with your department chair or college provost. Summer Session and Online Education will seek chair/provost confirmation prior to notifying awardees. Here, again, is the form.

1. Provide a brief overview of the course, including learning activities that students engage in.

2. Provide an estimate for enrollment in the course.

3. Indicate whether the course is any of the following:

   • 1. 1. 1. 1. • A major requirement

                 • Key for degree progress for incoming first-year or transfer students

                 • A bottleneck course

                 • High-enrollment or impacted

                 • Part of a pair or cluster of courses

4. Explain why this course would be superior in an online format during summer. Are there student learning outcomes that are better met online? Are there learning activities that are better facilitated online?

Contact Online Education at online@ucsc.edu with any questions.

* For faculty unable to take course release in 2022-23, release can be deferred until 2023-24 with the initial offering in Summer 2024.

** Total compensation for the academic year is subject to a limit of 100% effort.