April 5, 2023

This message is distributed to Senate-Faculty and Non-Senate-Faculty. (Click here to view description of distribution groups.)

The following is being sent on behalf of Michael Miller, Interim Associate Vice Chancellor and Interim Dean of Undergraduate Education
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Dear Faculty,

I am writing to call for applications to teach a new course that will be required of all incoming first-year College of Letters & Science students. INT W 1 is a fully online, asynchronous, one-unit P/NP course recently approved by the Academic Senate to be offered in Fall 2023. New students will have until the end of Fall Quarter to complete the course, but will be encouraged to begin work and potentially complete the course following the conclusion of their Orientation session in the summer. The catalog description:

This course is designed for incoming first-year students in the College of Letters and Science. The goal of the course is to present students with an introduction to liberal arts education at UCSB and provide resources that support academic success. Course materials include readings along with videos of UCSB faculty, advisors, and students. In the three modules of this course, students complete interactive exercises and quizzes developed to help assess learning and facilitate successful academic outcomes.

Instructor Eligibility
For this call, we are seeking instructors within the following appointment categories:

  • All Senate Faculty (including L(P)SOE)
  • Unit 18 lecturers with 9/12 appointments
  • Unit 18 lecturers with 9/9 appointments who meet the conditions of their chosen compensation model (see "Compensation" below for details).


Instructor Duties
Duties expected of primary course instructors will include:

  • Manage course and student engagement on the Canvas platform
  • Meet online during Summer and Fall with the teaching cohort of approximately 14 instructors along with peer mentors to coordinate course delivery and share feedback
  • Respond to students’ questions via email and office hours in Summer and Fall
  • Assign final grades (P/NP only)

Instructors will not be required to develop any individualized material or assignments for this course. All readings, videos, assignments, and other course materials will be provided by Undergraduate Education. See “Course Content” under Additional Information below for more information.

Compensation
Two compensation models are planned, depending on instructor preference and eligibility:

Model 1 - Summer Salary plus Professional/Research Funds
Instructors who are eligible may choose to receive a fixed Summer Salary payout of $2,500 in Summer, and $500 in professional development or research funds administered via their home Department in the Fall.

Instructors are eligible for the fixed $2,500 Summer Salary payout component only if:

  • The instructor will not exceed the general Summer restriction of 3/9 earned of total salary, AND
  • The instructor is not on Short Work Break during the work period in Summer (9/9 lecturer appointments only).


Model 2 - Professional/Research Funds Only
Instructors may choose that compensation be fully disbursed as professional development or research funds ($3000), to be administered through their home Department in Fall.

Application and Appointment Process
Instructors interested in applying should fill out the following form by Friday, April 14, 11:59 PM PDT:

https://forms.gle/Hh8Ffq1ArboA6yhF7

All final appointments to participate as an instructor of INT W 1 will be accompanied by formal notification outlining agreed-upon duties and detailing the specific compensation plan for each instructor.

Additional Information
Student Enrollment Timeline
The complete incoming cohort of first-year freshman admit students in Letters & Science (roughly 4800 students) will be automatically enrolled in this one-unit Fall Quarter course following their Orientation session. To create manageable sections for each instructor, we will offer fourteen (14) sections of 300-400 students each, each with its own instructor. Twelve (12) of these sections will correspond to and draw enrollment from specific Summer Orientation sessions cohorts, while two (2) will focus on students who were not able to attend Orientation.

Although the course will only be listed on the Fall schedule, students will be encouraged at Orientation and through messaging to engage with the course’s modules in advance of the start of Fall. Work in the course can be completed at any point up to the end of Fall quarter. The course will be valued at 1.0 unit and graded Passed/Not Passed only.

Course Content
Complete course content is being developed for the course by Undergraduate Education in consultation with Teaching & Learning. As such, instructors will not be required to develop any individualized material or assignments. All readings, videos, quizzes, and other content will be developed in advance, with potential for instructors to offer feedback and revision. All content will be available to students through the Canvas online platform in a fully asynchronous fashion.

Course content will be grouped into three modules:

  • Module 1: Liberal Arts Education at a Research University
  • Module 2: Advising
  • Module 3: UCSB Divisions, Disciplines, and Majors (4 parts)
    • Part 1: Humanities & Fine Arts
    • Part 2: Social Sciences
    • Part 3: MLPS Physical Sciences
    • Part 4: MLPS Life Sciences

The Canvas platform for the course will include a discussion forum for students to ask questions about the course as well as more general logistical, resource, and transitional questions. Instructors and peer mentors will be expected to respond to these questions via email and/or virtual or in-person office hours.

Undergraduate Peer Support
Given the number of students involved, we expect significant traffic may be generated in the discussion forum around questions related to course content and questions of a more general nature. We will have experienced undergraduate peer advisors and mentors already employed within Undergraduate Education who will help monitor the forums and assist instructors in flagging questions as course related or non-course related, and referring to campus resources as appropriate, such as Academic Advising.

INT W 1 Workgroup
Because this course represents a new structure for UC Santa Barbara and the College, we plan to organize a workgroup including all instructors, peer mentors, and support staff. The workgroup will meet regularly to review student engagement and discuss feedback on the content and structure of the course.

Course Schedule
The course will be offered fully online with no required synchronous or in-person meeting times. The course will be listed on the Fall 2023 schedule of classes as “ON ASYNC."

Questions?
Please direct any questions regarding this call to Madeleine Sorapure, Associate Dean in Undergraduate Education, College of Letters & Science, at sorapure@ucsb.edu.

Thank you for reading, and we look forward to working with you in delivering this new foundational course to incoming College of Letters & Science students.

Sincerely,

Michael Miller
Interim AVC for Undergraduate Education
Interim Dean of Undergraduate Education, Letters and Sciences
University of California, Santa Barbara