Who Should Apply: Tenure system, clinical, and in-residence faculty, and adjunct professors on multi-year contracts
Deadline: March 20, 2023
Contact for Inquiries: Evelyn Tribble, Associate Dean for Humanities and Undergraduate Affairs
The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences welcomes applications for grants designed to enhance student success in courses being taught within units in the College. Grants will be awarded for pedagogical innovations and major revisions to existing courses. Development of new courses will not be considered for this competition, nor will routine updates to already existing courses. A letter of support from the department head is required.
Successful applications should target the implementation of course improvements or innovations in areas including, but not limited to, new forms of specific course assessments (formative or summative) or assessment structures (e.g., ungrading, specs grading, peer-grading); new approaches and classroom activities to increase student engagement and participation; improvements to course design (e.g., universal design for learning, flipped classroom model, experiential learning). A strong application will also connect the proposed implementation with expected improvements to student learning outcomes, reflecting on how success of the project will be measured, both in the short term and longer term.
Preference will be given to proposals that have relevance to ongoing College and University initiatives, including promoting active student engagement (CLAS Strategic Plan, Goal 3: Teaching, Learning, and Student Success); life transformative education; diversity, equity, and inclusion: universal design for learning; development of assessment and learning outcomes. Improvements that may be adaptable to other courses and/or disciplines would be highly desirable. Course improvements likely to have a long-term impact will be preferred. For general education courses, preference will be given to courses that will be adapted to the new common curriculum.
Eligibility
Full-time faculty (tenured, tenure track, and clinical and in-residence) and adjuncts on multi-year appointments.
Funding Level
Grants will be awarded up to $7,500, but the amount requested should be commensurate with the scope of the project as outlined in the budget description. Funds can be used for summer salary and fringe benefits for faculty and for research assistance, and/or for teaching materials and resources. This grant is not intended to be used to for equipment purchases.
Award recipients will be required to participate in introductory meetings, and to present their project in a CLAS Teaching Conversation in fall 2023 or spring 2024.
Funds must be used by June 30, 2023. An interim report on progress will be due Sept. 1, 2023, and a final report on outcomes by May 30, 2024.
Application Process
Applications should be submitted by March 20, 2023, through the CLAS proposal submission portal.
A CLAS Teaching Conversation will be held on Feb. 2 at 4 p.m. to answer questions about the grant process, to provide tips for writing effective proposals, and to hear from faculty who were awarded teaching improvement grants in 2022.
Applications should be no more than two pages long, not including syllabi or any other supporting material. All applications should address the following points:
1. Background and Rationale
Please provide some context for your course, including such matters as the student population enrolled, its place in the department or unit curriculum. (E.g., Does it fulfill a requirement? Is it a pre-requisite for other courses? Is it taught by other instructors?) Please note that you should have discussed your plans for course revision with the department or unit head. Department heads are asked to provide a letter of support. If your course is a general education course, please indicate whether you will be converting it to the new common curriculum.
2. Problem statement/research question
Why are seeking to change your course? What issues are you seeking to address?
3. Method/Approach
What approach are you taking to the problem/research question? Please include some context for your approach (for instance, departmental or college strategic priorities, research into the scholarship of teaching and learning, similar initiatives at other universities).
4. Assessment/Outcomes
How will you determine whether your initiative has been successful? Possible mechanisms might include qualitative feedback from students with targeted questions on SETs; HuskyCT tracking of student engagement; increased participation; mid-semester evaluation and feedback; and longer-term measures such as increased enrolment, improvement in DFW rates, retention, improved scores on exams, etc. Please discuss potential academic benefits and expected long term impact of your initiative, if successful.
5. Wider applicability
Please indicate whether and how your teaching innovation might be useful/applicable to other courses in the college. We will ask grant recipients to present their findings at future teaching conversations.
6. Budget
Please include a budget justification with a description of how the funds will be used.
7. Syllabus and supporting materials
Please attached a copy of your current syllabus. Links to other supporting material may also be provided but are not required.