Teaching Innovation Grants - Call for Proposals - Deadline Feb 15

The Morgan Teaching and Learning Center, Educational Development Council (EDC), the Academic Technology Center (ATC), and Undergraduate Studies are delighted to announce expanded internal grant opportunities for 2021 aimed at supporting innovation in undergraduate and graduate education. Up to $125,000 will be distributed across three programs: Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs), Independent Projects, and Summer Sandbox grants. These grants have a strong history of seeding work that grows into high impact projects; equitable teamwork, use of AR and VR, and studio physics are just a few examples. The Call for Proposals provides full details and application procedures for all types of grants, and all (brief!) proposals are due by February 15. Here’s a bit about each grant type:

• Faculty Learning Community (FLC) Grants support small groups of faculty (and staff, as appropriate) from multiple disciplines engaging in inquiry and action around a central theme. Each participant in a FLC plans, implements, and assesses their own project, with regular peer review, feedback, and support from the group. Applications are encouraged from self-identified groups of 4-10 people with a common interest. At a virtual mixer in December, ideas were floated around ungrading and other ways of radically reimagining learning structures; global and intercultural competency; digital tools and learning resources; universal design for learning; and fostering more effective learning in teams. Looking to connect with others? You can see the mixer outcomes and share ideas and interests on a discussion board on the Morgan Center Canvas site. 
• Independent Project Grants support bold new initiatives that enrich learning in classrooms, laboratories, and projects. This grant mechanism is intended for applicants whose project does not fit with a FLC theme and for those who cannot or do not wish to commit to the regular interaction of a FLC. 
• Summer Sandbox Grants will support faculty who will design and test new approaches to teaching and advising in an undergraduate summer course or project.  This is an opportunity to use summer as a learning laboratory for the academic year. Support is available for faculty who wish to develop online and hybrid teaching skills, groups of faculty in a department or program who are developing new approaches for core and large-enrollment courses, and for any faculty exploring fundamentally new approaches to teaching and learning.   

Details about expectations and funding, along with application procedures and criteria for selection for both types of grants and for FLC facilitators, can be found in the Call for Proposals and Program Guidelines. Application forms are found on the same webpage.

Prospective applicants may address questions to, and discuss their ideas with, Chrys Demetry and Kimberly LeChasseur in the Morgan Center, Kate Beverage and Mary Beth Harrity in the ATC, and Debra Boucher in Undergraduate Studies. We look forward to your ideas and proposals!