UCSB Online Course Development

UCSB Online and Hybrid Course Grants

The Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor (EVC) for Teaching and Learning is pleased to announce the 2023-24 UCSB Online and Hybrid Course Development Grants! 

These grant opportunities are intended for developing online and hybrid courses taught in the Fall, Winter and Spring quarters. 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 within 18 months of funding. Departments may also submit proposals for single courses taught by multiple instructors. Proposal review is managed by the Office of the Academic Vice Chancellor for Teaching and Learning.

We anticipate offering the grant multiple times per year, so please contact us about current and future possibilities.

Winter 2024 Call for Proposals 
Deadline: April 1, 2024 

Online education has changed dramatically in scope and form throughout the last decade. 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)

Funding Priorities

Courses will be selected for funding based on campus priorities. For proposals submitted during the 2023-24 school year, we are especially interested in courses that:

• Align with departmental priorities (e.g. to relieve bottleneck courses or to offer online versions of courses for which additional qualified instructors might be useful).
• 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.
• Are central to a department or major’s equity plans or PLO assessment research

Please review the full Call for Proposals and Application Instructions in the buttons below. We advise using the template below and consulting with an Instructional Consultant as you draft a proposal. NOTE: You MUST be logged into Google Docs with your UCSB NetID and password to access the links and download the proposal template.

Call for Online Course Proposals (PDF)

Template for Online Course Proposal (Google Doc with instructions)