For well over two decades, UCLA has made an explicit commitment to the development of programs and activities that enrich university instruction. The process of developing a campus plan began in 1975 when The Regents and the legislature allocated special funds for UC-wide instructional improvement. At that time, UCLA also took the opportunity to augment its own existing programs. By Spring 1976, these two efforts permitted the construction of a draft campuswide Instructional Improvement Plan. In order to review, fund, and evaluate specific initiatives, the implementing committee translated the plan's general goals into four specific funding categories: curricular development, pedagogical development, advising, and skills deficiencies.
In 1978, the Office of Undergraduate Affairs was reorganized. The newly formed Office of Instructional Development assumed primary responsibility for instructional improvement activities. The Faculty Advisory Committee on Instructional Improvement Programs (CIIP) was constituted to direct the approach taken at UCLA. In 1982, the Instructional Improvement Plan was further revised, and included "criteria to assess effectiveness" as a means of evaluating its major accomplishments. These criteria, coupled with the plan's original objectives, gave a structure that could be used to project instructional improvement planning and activities into the future.
The Office of the President conducted a systemwide review of Instructional Improvement Program activities in 1991 and concluded that they continued to be successful in generating significant contributions to undergraduate instruction at UCLA. The CIIP concurred and expressed confidence in the likely future effectiveness of Instructional Improvement Programs. Indeed, a retrospective view of instructional improvement activities bring to light a vast number of projects that have been, according to the criteria outlined in the Instructional Improvement Plan, extraordinarily successful. Many of these activities are now established outside of OID and can be found across campus. Others remain and benefit from their proximity to various OID programs and services.