Compensation Models for Faculty Teaching Online Courses

This paper will investigate several models of compensation and reward systems that have been utilized to foster increased productivity in online activity. The following issues will be discussed in the paper: Compensation based on a per student basis vs on a course basis The course as part of a faculty member's full-time load or as part of an overload Use of course remissions as an incentive to develop online courses Use of professional instructional course technologists vs lone ranger models Issues of tenure track implications vs time devoted to research activity Use of graduate assistants for ongoing support for online courses The rise of the exclusive online faculty person. The aforementioned factors must be addressed on an institution-by-institution basis. Discussions at recent IACIS meetings have highlighted the vast differences among various institutions in how they deal with each of these issues. This paper probes each factor and discusses the implications of each one for both the short-term as well as for the long-term for both the individual faculty person and the university.