Request for Proposals: The Development of Hybrid Courses

The campus seeks proposals from faculty for hybrid courses that leverage the use of technology and active or experiential learning, balancing the best elements of online education with the hands-on classroom experience. A primary goal of this call is to increase classroom capacity by moving some course material online and reducing the amount of time a classroom is needed.

Funded courses will be offered in one of three ways:

• 1. In pairs or triplets with the same classroom and timeslot. One course will meet in person on Tuesday and one on Thursday; or, a triplet of three courses would share the same classroom with meetings on Monday, Wednesday or Friday.

  2. By distributing enrollments in a single course into two or three cohorts of students. One cohort would meet in person Tuesday and one on Thursday; or, in the case of three cohorts, they would meet on Monday, Wednesday or Friday, thus allowing a smaller classroom to be used to maintain the same course enrollment. Preference will be given to courses with current enrollment of 100 or above.

  3. By increasing enrollment capacity for the course (e.g., 75 to 150) by splitting the course into two cohorts with one meeting on Tuesday and the other on Thursday (or three cohorts on M/W/F), with each cohort the size of the current enrollment. Preference will be given to courses with current enrollment of 60 or above.

Up to four courses will be funded through this call. Departmental, interdepartmental or divisional collaborations on proposals are encouraged.

Faculty whose proposals are accepted will receive one course release and staff support to design and develop the course. Courses will be developed in 2020-21 with the expectation that they have their initial offering no later than Fall 2021.

Samples from a few online courses or projects are available here, as well as a virtual tour of the campus studios used for creating digital materials.

Proposal Guidelines

In no more than two pages, provide responses to the following items:

• 1. Explain how a hybrid version of the course would utilize the format to leverage the use of technology and active or experiential learning to further the ultimate goal of improving student learning outcomes.

  2. Provide a brief overview of the course, including enrollment demand based on past offerings, as well as the frequency of offering (e.g, twice per year; Fall & Spring). If the course has a history of having high waitlists, include that data as well.

  3. Discuss any experience or qualifications you have — such as using active learning techniques or technology to enhance the classroom experience — relevant to developing or teaching a hybrid course. Prior experience or specific qualifications are preferred but not required.

Include a brief letter of support from your department chair addressing the potential of a hybrid version of the course to support departmental goals broadly related to student success, classroom usage, or departmental resources.

For accepted proposals, part of the course design process will require addressing aspects of the course that may require all students to share the same timeslot, such as midterm or final examinations. This might be addressed through the use of multiple exams, project-based assignments, online proctoring, an additional classroom during finals, the use of alternative timeslots (e.g., Friday of finals weeks), etc. For undergraduate courses, final examinations are required unless CEP/CCI waived this requirement when the course was created.

Update: Given recent campus events in response to COVID-19, the deadline for proposals has been extended to Monday, March 23, 2020. Send completed proposals to online@ucsc.edu.

Questions? — Contact Michael Tassio at mtassio@ucsc.edu or 831-459-1346.