Educational Development Grants
2011-2012 Application Guidelines for Educational Development Grants (.pdf file)
2011-2012 Application Guidelines for Educational Development Grants (.docx file)
Overview
The WPI Educational Development Council (EDC) seeks to foster high quality and innovative education by providing funding for projects that enrich learning in classrooms, laboratories, and projects. The EDC has $20,000 to support worthy initiatives in FY12 and expects to fund between two to six proposals. Potential applicants should also consider two other internal grant programs. Course Design Technology Grants, coordinated jointly by the Academic Technology Center and the EDC, will be available again this year, and in general are the most appropriate venue for initiatives involving technology. Class of ’57 Teaching Development Travel Grants are also available and are considered on a rolling basis.
Goals of the Program
The EDC is interested in promoting innovative teaching, providing seed money for pilot projects that could strengthen proposals for external funding, supporting evaluation of ongoing or proposed innovations aimed at publication, and supporting professional development or external partnerships related to teaching and learning. This program does not fund routine updating of courses, curricula or teaching methods.
Proposals in any area are welcome. Special consideration will be given to those that address identified areas of need such as active and collaborative learning in the classroom, innovative approaches to large enrollment courses, and curricular enhancements related to ethics, diversity and pluralism, global perspectives, or communication (written, oral, visual). Projects that bring external visitors to WPI (e.g., partial support for a sabbatical) are also encouraged.
EDC members will evaluate proposals for the innovativeness of ideas, educational soundness of the approach, scope of impact, and potential for dissemination and/or external funding.
Eligibility
All WPI faculty and staff are eligible to apply. Collaborative projects among groups of faculty and/or staff are especially encouraged.
Application Procedures
Prospective applicants are encouraged to discuss their ideas with a member of the EDC (Chrys Demetry, David DiBiasio, Scott Jiusto, Cindy Lin '13, Taskin Padir) prior to proposal submission.
The deadline for receipt of proposals is February 1, 2012. Awards will be announced in D-term.
Proposals must contain:
- Cover page (see file linked at top of page)
- Budget form (see file linked at top of page)
Typical allowable costs include: (a) student and technician hourly wages (not tuition); (b) fees for an assessment/evaluation consultant; (c) supplies, software, and equipment; (d) travel; and (e) faculty compensation.
This grants program does not provide funding for software and equipment that would normally come from department capital or IT budgets. Proposals requesting funds for software or equipment should explain why this program is an appropriate source of funding.
Applicants are encouraged to hire students for project activities whenever appropriate. Faculty compensation is appropriate only for activity that extends beyond normal teaching expectations; applicants are advised to address this point in their budget justification. Faculty compensation will be funded as a stipend, not as salary for a fixed period of time, and may be used either for summer support or academic year release time (pending approval of department head). Recent stipends have been in the range of $3,000. Evidence of cost-sharing-- from personal, departmental, or other funds-- would strengthen the proposal but is not essential.
- Narrative
The narrative should not exceed three single-spaced typewritten pages with 11 point or larger font. Use of headings is recommended. The narrative should discuss:
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- Need for the project: scope of the problem to be addressed, relevant background (e.g., current literature, current practices and resources);
- Approach: project objectives, methods or procedures to be used, a plan for assessing and evaluating project results;
- Outcomes: how the project will be beneficial to WPI students; expected results and/or further directions that the project might take; a plan for dissemination and/or future funding.
Incomplete proposals will be returned to the applicant without consideration by the EDC.
Proposals should be submitted electronically to morgan-center@wpi.edu as a single file containing the cover page, budget form, and narrative. If signatures are not included in that document then a cover page with signatures should also be sent to the Morgan Center by campus mail.
Reporting Requirements and Grant Conditions
Grantees are responsible for consulting with WPI’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) to determine if the project involves human subjects and constitutes exempt or non-exempt activity.
At the conclusion of the funded project, and on or before the due date agreed upon between EDC and the principal investigator, the PI must submit a written report that clearly documents the outcomes of the project and how EDC funds were expended. All award recipients will be required to present the results of their project at a faculty luncheon (or its equivalent), to be arranged by the Morgan Center upon completion of the project.
EDC will request from grantees sufficient follow-up information to allow inference of longitudinal effects, such as impacts on students, dissemination of project results, and success in acquiring outside funds.
All funds unexpended by the deadline reporting date will be returned to the EDC for redistribution the following year. Extensions must be requested in writing.
