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Reimagine Your Course in an Online Modality

Welcome to Reimaging Your Course in an Online Modality, a workshop for UCM ladder-rank faculty to explore the transformation of an undergraduate face-to-face course to a fully online course.

Below is the announcement requesting proposals for your project as well as the links to complete the course outline and submit the proposal.

Request for Proposals 

Proposal Application DUE: September 26th, 2025 

In this announcement, UC Merced invites ladder-rank research and teaching faculty to submit proposals as Principal Investigators (PIs) to explore the transformation of a face-to-face undergraduate course to a fully online course to be offered either during summer session or during the academic year and developed specifically for the UC Merced campus student community. While there is flexibility on when this course can be delivered, when this online course is taught all grantees will be required to share course success data with CETL and Teaching Commons staff researching online course efficacy at UC Merced. Instructors who receive UCO-UCM Awards are required to attend and participate in a facilitated workshop series during late Fall 2025. Each participant who successfully completes this exploration will receive a $5,000 honorarium inclusive of benefits. This honoraria will be paid out in January 2026. 

Funding Information:

  • This opportunity is sponsored by UC Online who provided the campus with an AY 25-26 award in support of online courses.
  • Funding for this fall workshop will be available for the exploration, and development of course and module outcomes for fully online courses only. 
  • Proposals selected for funding will be limited to exploring: a) a face-to-face course to an online version; b) a new online course; or c) revising an existing online course.  
  • Note: A preliminary course outline and department approval document will be required to be submitted with the proposal submission.

Instructors who receive final approved for UCO-UCM Awards are required to attend and participate in a facilitated workshop series during late Fall 2025. Each participant who successfully completes this exploration will receive a $5,000 honorarium inclusive of benefits. This honoraria will be paid out in January 2026.

Applicant Eligibility:  

Proposals can be submitted by the following UC Merced academic appointees as the Principal Investigator (PI): UC Merced ladder-rank Research and Teaching faculty. PIs may submit as an individual or a team, a department chair, or a department’s undergraduate curriculum chair. Proposals representing collaboration among PIs and departments and intended to serve students in multiple departments are strongly encouraged and will be given special consideration.  

Important Dates and Deadlines: 

The timeline below shows the important dates for the Fall 2025, Online Course exploration RFP.  

  • Submission Window Opens: Monday September 8th, 2025  
  • Submission Window Closes: Monday, September 29th, 2025 
  • Notification of Awards: no later than Friday, October 10th, 2025 

Proposal Submission & Review Process: 

Proposal Submissions:

  • Proposals for this RFP must include completion of the submission form (linked below) and signature of approvaly by your department chair using the Signatures Document (linked below).  
    • Required Signatures Document (download here)
    • Fall 2025 Proposal Submission Form

    • As this workshop is built around re-imagining your course in an online format, the submission proposal form requires you to answer to the following. The approval committee requests that you not simply add your current course syllabus but take time to consider how this course will be different when delivered in a fully online format. 

  1. Primary course learning objectives (3-4)
  2. Course descriptive summary, including high level topics covered
  3. Initial thoughts on how you anticipate this course delivery modality to be different than in-person (physical classroom) delivery.

If you experience any issues with the proposal submission or signature form, please email Joan Holmquist at jholmquist@ucmerced.edu.

Proposal Review Process

  • Proposals will be reviewed by a committee of UC Merced faculty, administrators, and staff. The committee will make recommendations to the UC Merced Vice Provost and Dean for Undergraduate Education for awards.  

Reimagining Your Course - Fall 2025 Workshop: Preliminary Agenda

  • Session 1 - Reimagine your course in an online format
  • Session 2 - Basics of Backward Design and start developing course outcomes
  • Session 3 - Low stakes assessment ideas
  • Session 4 - Disecting and Chunking a topic and assignment
  • Session 5 - Share what you’ve done with peers and submit finalized course objectives and assignment redesign

Note: Participating in all sessions and submitting your finalized course objectives and assignment redesign are required for completion and award payment

More Information  

Eligible UC Merced campus members interested in learning more exploring the concept of transforming a face-to-face course to an online offering are encouraged to discuss their proposals with Dr. James Zimmerman, Senior Associate Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning (jzimmerman6@ucmerced.edu) or Joan Holmquist, Sr. Instructional Designer (jholmquist@ucmerced.edu).