Online Incentives Program

Eligibility

• While fully online courses incur online course fees and are eligible for these stipends, the Online Fee Committee nonetheless recognizes that hybrid courses still have significant online course development, technology, and training needs, and leaves it to the discretion of department chairs to approve the use of online fee funds to support those courses.
• All tenure-track and instructor-track faculty members are eligible for these incentives. Lecturers must have taught at least five courses within the College of Letters, Arts & Sciences, and furthermore must meet approval of the department chair and the dean.

1. Incentives for development/improvement of online courses
   1. Training for online courses
      1. The Faculty Resource Center’s Teaching Online Program (TOP) consists of four badges, each of which pays a $2000 stipend upon completion:
         1. Online Course Design
         2. Design with Accessibility in Mind
         3. Online Facilitation
         4. Design for Quality Assurance
      2. Note: Three of the badges—Design, Accessibility, and Facilitation—can be taken only once. The FRC highly recommends choosing one course to design and develop for upcoming online instruction as you pursue these three badges. The fourth badge—Quality Assurance—replaces QM certification and may be completed for multiple courses. The Quality Assurance badge is reserved for courses that have either been taught online at UCCS at least once or developed as part of the FRC Teaching Online Program. Quality Assurance course reviews are limited to one per academic year per faculty member except at a department chair's discretion.
      3. Another note: Badge completion must be verified by submitting proof to Lily Cosgrave. Refer to this tutorial on how to save your badge as a PDF file.
      4. Training stipends must be tied to the teaching of an online course by the instructor requesting the funds. The request can be made up to a full year before the course is taught.
2. Technology
   1. Departments may cover the cost of specific kinds of technology purchases, not to exceed $3000, to ensure student and faculty access to online courses, from computers and hardware (e.g., headsets, etc.) to course-specific software.
   2. The purchase must be tied to the teaching of an online course by the instructor requesting the funds. The request can be made a full year before the course is taught and within a full year after the course is taught. The request can be made more than once as warranted. The chair of the department has discretion to decide whether the request is warranted.
   3. In order for online funds to be used for technology, items must be purchased through UCCS. Requesters should consult with the OIT Help Desk to configure their system before submitting the request for approval.
   4. All technology purchased with online funds is the property of the University and must be returned to the department upon termination.
   5. Please note that exceptions to the $3000 maximum or requests for equipment beyond basic hardware and software shall be considered on a case-by-case basis in consultation with department chair and the LAS Online Fee Committee, and require approval by the dean.
3. Teaching Assistants for online courses
   1. Departments may provide a grader or teaching assistant for online courses that allow eight or more waitlisted students into the course over the enrollment cap at the discretion of the department chair. Pay shall be at standard and typical college rates up to a $2000 maximum and can be paid in one lump sum or hourly, at the chair's discretion.
4. Travel
   1. A maximum of $1500 per fiscal year (July 1 – June 30) for travel to an academic conference in which the applicant must attend one or more sessions of significant length that specifically address online pedagogy in an extensive way. Written justification must be included in the request as to how this session(s) would help the applicant improve the quality of an online course(s). Required in the justification is the length of the session, the session description as given in the conference program, and the type of session it will be (panel, lecture, roundtable, etc.). To be eligible for reimbursement, the dean must approve the travel stipend before the conference.
   2. Please note that the faculty member must either currently be teaching an online course or be scheduled to teach an online course in the next calendar year immediately following the conference.
   3. Exceptions to the $1500 maximum shall be considered on a case-by-case basis in consultation with the department chair and the LAS Online Fee Committee, and require approval by the dean.
5. On-campus workshops
   1. Upon approval by the dean, departments may offer a $500 stipend for faculty members who facilitate an on-campus, college-wide or department-specific workshop to enhance online teaching.
   2. If you are receiving funding for the workshop from another source you are not eligible for funding from the online fees incentives.
6. Other
   1. Requests for online fee funds to be used for other items, not addressed above, shall be considered on a case-by-case basis in consultation with the department chair and the LAS Online Fee Committee, and require approval by the dean. Written justification must be included in the request as to how this is an associated instructional cost for online course delivery.

For questions regarding these LAS Online Incentives, please email David Anderson, chair of the LAS Online Fee Committee.

Instructions for Submitting Requests

• For Teaching Online Program requests, download this form, fill it out, save it, and email it to Lily Cosgrave.
• For all other requests, go to the LAS Incentive Request Forms page, log in with your UCCS credentials, and click Select Form. You may then select which stipend you are requesting. Fill out the form completely and click Submit.
• Once submitted, your request will go through the appropriate approval process (which may include your chair, the Fee Committee chair, the dean, et al.) You will receive an email when the approval process is complete.

For questions regarding the submission of requests, please email Lily Cosgrave.

Last updated March 8, 2023