The Center for Teaching Innovation (CTI) is excited to partner with you and your department to create effective, engaging, high-quality online and hybrid courses. The OTL office will work with the Department Chair and/or Program Director at the beginning of the development process, provide progress updates, and finalize payment for the developed course upon completion. The instructor or Subject Matter Expert (SME) will work with an Instructional Designer (ID) as partners.

Partnership Parameters

The SME's main contact with the CTI office will be the Instructional Designer(s) (IDs) assigned to the project. However, they will meet with other members of the CTI office as needed throughout the project. The course will be built in Canvas, SUU's Learning Management System (LMS).

 A compensated course development is seen as a priority by the department chair and dean. As such, course developments should be a high priority project for the SME(s).

Working collaboratively, the SME and ID will:

• Agree to a timeline to ensure completion of the course prior to its debut;
  
  • Course developments will be completed within 16 weeks of the kickoff meeting
  • Emails stating the status of the course will be shared with the SME(s), department chair, and dean, as well as the CTI Senior Director and Assistant Provost overseeing CTI.
  • Course developments that fall significantly behind schedule may result in being canceled or a loss of stipend.
• Determine the division of labor between the SME and ID at the beginning of development (i.e. who will be building in Canvas, creating new activities, providing subject matter content, etc.);
• Stay in regular contact, defined at the onset of the project; this includes responding to emails, attending scheduled meetings, and revising content as needed.
• Complete a Course Map and Module Organizers utilizing a template provided by CTI;
  
  • CTI’s IDs will conduct a workload calculator as part of the course map development; however, they will defer to the SME regarding workload and rigor
• Apply DesignPLUS templates from Cidi Lab in all course elements and pages;
• Provide proctoring, tutoring, and other vendor options to students, if necessary;
• Ensure that the course complies with relevant accessibility and copyright laws;
• Ensure that the course aligns with CTI’s quality assurance criteria, currently Quality Matters Rubric for Higher Education

If the course development does not meet the above criteria, the course may be paused, canceled, or reassigned based on a conversation with the Program Director, Department Chair, Dean, and/or Assistant Provost. As noted above, a course that falls significantly behind schedule may result in the loss of the course development stipend.

Types of Eligible Courses for Online Course Development Funding

New Online: A new, fully online, asynchronous course that has never been developed at SUU within the past three years. Exceptions can be made based on significant changes (80 - 100% of the content is changing) in content. For example, significant changes to specific content such as tax laws discussed in the course are changed at the government level resulting in significant changes to course content.

Courses which have been designed or redesigned within the past three years will need justification for redesign, as well as approval from the Program Director, Department Chair or Dean, and the Assistant Provost for Academic Affairs or designated representative prior to work being started on the course. Additionally, the course developments cannot require an on-campus presence or synchronous component to the course.

 

Redevelopment: An online course previously developed but in need of significant changes with significant changes may qualify for redevelopment.Courses which have been designed or redesigned within the past three years will need justification for redesign, as well as approval from the Program Director, Department Chair or Dean, and the Assistant Provost for Academic Affairs or designated representative.

Regardless of the incentive amount entered above, courses that are 1 or 2 credits are prorated based on the current CTI base stipend for a 3-credit course. Unless otherwise approved by the Provost’s Office, compensation will be $1000 per credit hour.

Note: Payments may not cross between fiscal years. Therefore, course developments that are completed in May and June may not be able to be paid out in multiple payments due to where the compensation funds come from. As a result, if an SME requests four payments but finishes the development at the beginning of June, the stipend will be split into two payments. The list below indicates when multiple payments will not be available:

• May 1: Last day for splitting compensation into four payments
• May 18: Last day for splitting compensation into three payments
• June 1: Last day for splitting compensation into two payments
• Any courses completed after June 2 will only be compensated in one payment.

To receive compensation: After the SME and ID complete a course, the course will undergo a review by a member of the Center for Teaching Innovation Instructional Design team that has not worked on the course, and a copy of the rubric will be provided to the SME at the beginning of the process. Once the review meets an 85% threshold, the Department Chair or Program Director will be notified, and payment for the SME will be processed.

Terms of Agreement

This agreement sets the parameters upon which the successful development of a high-quality online course at Southern Utah University will be compensated by the CTI.Online courses are to meet the same academic standards as face-to-face courses, as determined by the academic college or department. The course will be structured to allow any content-qualified instructor to teach the course. The SME agrees that the developed course is at all times the property of SUU.

An online course will not require students to have any physical presence on SUU's campus or to attend a required synchronous component (e.g. virtual meeting at a specific time).
While third party vendors and resources may be used for supplemental content and activities, the primary portion of the course must be within SUU’s Learning Management System (i.e. Canvas). Courses with significant content provided by a third party (e.g. publisher content such as McGraw-Hill’s Connect) will not be compensated.

As stated above, the Department Chair, Subject Matter Expert, Instructional Designer, and the CTI agree to the proposed course being built within the SUU Learning Management System and ready for review within sixteen (16) weeks of the submission of this agreement. If the parameters of the agreement are not met, the agreement will be considered void.

The Department Chair or Program Director agrees the course will be offered within at least three semesters from the date the course is completed.
The signatures below serve as an acknowledgment that you have reviewed and agree to the terms of the Online Course Development Agreement set by the Center for Teaching Innovation.

SME: Please leave the below fields empty and press submit. Your department chair will receive an email with instructions to sign the agreement.

Department Chair: Please leave the below fields empty and press submit. The instructional designer will receive an email with instructions to sign the agreement.

Instructional Designer: Please leave the below fields empty and press submit. The CTI Director will receive an email with instructions to sign the agreement.

After the CTI Director has signed the form, the SME, the department chair, the instructional designer, and CTI Director will each receive a PDF copy of this agreement for your records.