UC San Diego Campus Notice

OFFICE OF THE DEAN, DIVISION OF UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION

OFFICE OF THE DEAN, DIVISION OF GRADUATE EDUCATION AND POSTDOCTORAL AFFAIRS

July 14, 2026

Geisel library at sunset

ALL ACADEMICS AT UC SAN DIEGO

Request for Proposals – Support for Online Course Development

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to offer departments and faculty support for the development of online undergraduate and graduate courses. This request for proposals promotes UC San Diego and UC Online's ongoing efforts to align with campus and systemwide commitments to educational opportunity. The development of high-quality online and hybrid courses is critical to serving students.

The support itself will be available in the form of partnership with and labor from the Digital Learning team. Each selected course will receive one quarter of course development  support from the team. Criteria for review are shared below.

Proposal Submission

You may access the proposal submission site here. For your convenience, the submission form questions are listed at the end of this message.

If you would like to consult with a member of the Digital Learning team prior to submission, please book a consultation.

As part of a proposal, you (and your team) will be asked about your availability to meet with an assigned instructional designer from the Digital Learning team. We highly recommend that you align this course design phase with the quarter you plan to teach the course.

Proposal Deadlines and Review Periods

Proposals will be reviewed quarterly by members of the Senate Administration Committee on Distance Education (CODE).

  • Fall 2026
    • Submission deadline: Monday, August 24
    • Notification date:  Friday, September 11
  • Winter 2027
    • Submission deadline:  Monday, November 2
    • Notification date: Monday, November 30
  • Spring 2027
    • Submission deadline:  Monday, February 1
    • Notification date: Friday, February 26
  • Summer 2027
    • Submission deadline:  Monday, May 3
    • Notification date: Friday, May 28

Note: Proposals submitted early will be reviewed as time allows.  E.g., a proposal for support in winter 2027 that is submitted by Monday, August 24 will be reviewed during the fall review window as time permits, and proposers will be notified either of the outcome, or that their proposal will be reviewed with the winter proposals by September 11.

Proposals will be evaluated on the following criteria:

  • Rationale for delivering the course in an online or hybrid modality   
  • Qualifications of the course developer/development team
  • Academic level: courses that serve undergraduates will have priority, though graduate courses will be considered
  • R-Course approval: courses that are R-Course approved or have already been submitted for R-Course approval will have priority.

Once awards are made, a member of the Digital Learning team will reach out to assess your course needs and create a design plan to execute within that quarter.

This proposal process will remain open throughout the 2026-27 academic year. Please do not hesitate to contact Jen Schwedler (jschwedler@ucsd.edu), executive director of online learning, if you have questions.

Sincerely,

Stacey Brydges
Interim Dean, Division of Undergraduate Education

Judy Kim
Dean, Division of Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs

 

Proposal Questions

  1. Name, email and department for all course development team members 
  2. Course Title and Number as they appear in the schedule of classes  
  3. Approximately how many students take this course in an academic year? 
  4. Is this course required or elective?  
  5. What is the pedagogical rationale for offering this course in an online or hybrid format?  
  6. What are the qualifications of the individual or team that will be working to develop the course? (e.g. how many times have they taught the course, previous course development experience, etc.).  
  7. How will students be assessed (formative and summative)?  
  8. Describe your engagement strategy or strategies. i.e., describe the ways in which you will create student-instructor and student-student engagement online. 
  9. What kind of support are you interested in for your course? (Choose as many as three).
    1. Course Planning: Designing learning outcomes, course mapping, and laying out course material in the LMS.
    2. Assessment Strategy Design: Create assessments that leverage what’s uniquely effective about teaching online, address academic integrity concerns, and integrate EdTech in a sustainable way.
    3. Creating and Curating Materials: Create course content through targeted media, finding and curating open educational resources (OER), and ensuring that materials are accessible and protected under fair use guidelines.
    4. Facilitation Planning and Engagement Strategy: Ensure online courses are engaging for students and allow meaningful interaction in asynchronous or synchronous modalities.
    5. Finding, Vetting, and Implementing Educational Technology: Discover tools that can be meaningfully applied to learning outcomes, assessment, and engagement.
    6. Accessibility and Title II Compliance: Review, remediate, and optimize course materials so that they are compliant to support students with disabilities and specific learning challenges.
  10. What quarter will you be available to work on this course with a member of the Digital Learning team?
  11. Confirmation of Support: Have you discussed this proposal with your department's leadership, and do you have their support?

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