by Steve Kolowich, Inside Higher Ed
Kentucky might be known for being a major exporter of baseball bats. But in Lexington, 75 miles east of the Louisville Slugger factory, the University of Kentucky has decided that blunt objects are not the best way to get professors to create and teach online courses. Instead, the university is offering to share tuition revenues from online students with colleges and departments that accommodate them. In the College of Arts and Sciences, professors — who are not generally given bonuses for developing new courses — are offered $5,000 to adapt a course to the online medium. In other words: no mandates, just incentives. Colleges get to keep 60 percent of what the university makes in tuition revenue from the online students enrolled in the summer programs for those colleges. In the College of Arts and Sciences, departments get to keep half of what the college makes from the online students enrolled in that department’s courses. The idea is to give departments control over which of their courses go online, and let them share in the rewards.
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