Call for Proposals - Teaching Innovation Grants

The Educational Development Council (EDC), the Academic Technology Center (ATC), Undergraduate Studies, and the Morgan Teaching and Learning Center are delighted to be launching the 2024 cycle of our Teaching Innovation Grants program. These grants enrich learning experiences for students and foster a climate of teaching innovation by supporting WPI educators to seed new initiatives in undergraduate and graduate education that meet identifiable needs at WPI. 

The Call for Proposals provides an overview of the three types of internal grants within this program. You’ll also find links to detailed guidelines and application forms for each type of grant:

• Professional Learning Communities focus on thematic initiatives that cut across multiple departments and schools.
• Course & Program Projects target a particular course or set of learning experiences within an existing department or program. 
• Summer Sandbox Grants support faculty to try out new teaching approaches in E-term courses or projects.

Up to $150,000 will be available across the three types of grants, and proposals in any area are welcome. Timely topics include but are not limited to: issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the curriculum and teaching practices; fostering mental health and holistic well-being in academic contexts; AI in the curriculum; use of XR (extended reality) to address teaching and learning challenges; active, experiential, or project-based learning; innovative ways to support transfer students; interdisciplinary education initiatives; and innovative graduate education. All grant proposals will be due on February 1, 2024.

For conversations, connections, and questions, come to our FACULTY & STAFF SOCIAL on Monday, December 4 from 3:30-5:30pm in the Rubin Campus Center, Odeum A&B. 

Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) have a strong history of positive impact on teaching and learning at WPI, seeding or scaling innovative practices across a broad range of departments. Faculty and staff can propose their own groups around a theme of interest, and the Educational Development Council (EDC) can also form PLCs. In the latter case, the EDC pitches possible themes, elicits initial interest in those themes, selects one or more that elicits broad interest, and then invites any individual to apply. The committee then reviews proposals from individual applicants and selects a diverse group of PLC members. 

The EDC has discussed three possible themes for EDC-formed PLCs in the 2024 grant cycle:

• Generative AI in Teaching and Learning
• Imagining Higher Education Futures with Generative AI
• Alternative Grading

For a description of each theme and to express interest in one or more of them, please go to this brief Qualtrics form by December 6. Whether the EDC invites applications for one, two, or all three of these themes will depend on the number and quality of expressions of interest.