The Office of the Provost and the University Center for Teaching and Learning have created an Open Online Short Course Development Grant to encourage full- and part-time faculty members to develop non-credit, stand-alone, asynchronous courses designed to serve large enrollments for the Coursera platform.
It is intended that these courses would serve as a gateway to form degree programs, either in-person or online, at the University. The Coursera platform reaches more than 100 million learners around the world. Pitt’s partnership with Coursera provides faculty, schools and the University opportunities to create innovative learning experiences at scale and reach students who may otherwise not engage with Pitt.
Grant recipients will receive a $10,000 stipend and support from Pitt Online services to design and launch their courses. Proposals are due by April 16. Proposals must be discussed with and approved by the faculty member’s department chair or dean prior to submission.
Senate President Robin Kear told the Budget Policies committee that she sat in on one of the orientation sessions for this grant program and learned that the profit that comes from a course would go half to the Center of Teaching and Learning and half to the faculty member’s school. She also asked about the intellectual property rights and was told it would not be owned by Coursera, but it would be owned in accordance with Pitt’s intellectual property policy. Kear has asked the Educational Policies committee to look into this new online course proposal.
Steve Wisniewski, vice provost for budget and analytics, told the committee that the Coursera courses are non-credit bearing and are often used for continuing education or as gateway courses. Those taking the Coursera courses may be interested in a specific topic, then if they get motivated to pursue a degree or certificate in the topic and they are already familiar with the Pitt brand and may enroll here for the full degree.
According to the grant information, courses must be focused on skills development for the professional learner, have a clearly defined target audience, and fit one of the two following criteria:
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Align with an existing or future online graduate certificate or degree.
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Feature application of important areas of University research or initiatives.
Faculty are invited to submit proposals from all disciplines and subjects. In addition to meeting the above criteria, courses should demonstrate the following:
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Appeal to a global audience
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Be designed to be completed in four to eight weeks
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Provide opportunities to learn skills and knowledge that meet workforce needs and can be applied to professional development, upskilling or reskilling
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Provide meaningful learning opportunities to non-traditional students or students who have limited access to higher education
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Support innovative course design and materials
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Lead to the development of materials that can be leveraged in other contexts and for other learning audiences online or on-campus (residential course; professional education program; future online program)
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Enhance the visibility and reputation of the University, support Pitt’s mission and vision, and showcase what is unique about our faculty, research, and curriculum
Courses must also include an accompanying marketing plan.
Faculty will be notified if their proposal is accepted the week of May 1. Design and development can begin in summer 2023. Courses must be launched by the end of 2023.
Registration is available here and through the Teaching Center website.
— Susan Jones
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