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Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

Department/School Initiative in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Grant Program (2009-2010)

Call for Proposals - 2009-2010 (FY10)

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Overview

The Cross Endowed Chair in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning requests proposals for the Department/School/Program Initiative in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Grant Program. At Illinois State University, through our work (starting in 1998) with the Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (CASTL) Campus Program, we have developed the following definition of SoTL, “systematic study/reflection on teaching and learning made public.” The focus of this work is on teaching and learning at the college level. The work may be quantitative and/or qualitative in nature. All SoTL work must be made public and peer reviewed in some way via presentation, performance, juried show, and/or publication.

Department/School/Program SoTL Initiatives include work that provides the opportunity and resources for several people in a department/school or in a multidisciplinary program to be involved in one or more connected SoTL projects. The initiatives will provide information on teaching and learning at the class, course, or program level which will be applied to improve student learning in the discipline or area. These initiatives may involve 1. engaging in original SoTL research and application AND/OR 2. conducting thorough literature reviews, integration and synthesis of existing SoTL work and application of that knowledge. For example, a department heavily invested in the use of a new pedagogical strategy in several courses may propose a set of original SoTL studies on the learning outcomes of that strategy. Or a school may propose to search, read, summarize, and apply the extant SoTL work on an issue critical to student learning in their field. Or an interdisciplinary program might apply disciplinary best practices in curriculum and pedagogy based on the literature then conduct an original SoTL study(ies) to measure faculty and student perceptions of these changes or learning outcomes related to the changes. See specific criteria for selection below.

Two academic units will receive awards of up to $10,000 each for FY10. Funds may be used in any budget category or categories (e.g., printing, commodities, contractual, travel, student help, and salary). We strongly encourage departments/schools or colleges to provide some matching funds or other resources (such as travel money to present in FY11). All awards are subject to the availability of funds.

Eligibility

All ISU Academic Departments or Schools, as well as Milner Library and Mennonite College of Nursing, and academic interdisciplinary programs are eligible to submit proposals. EACH proposal MUST be from a team with broad representation in the unit. Thus, if there are fewer than 15 full-time faculty in the unit, the team must include a minimum of three faculty/academic staff members and at least one student (graduate and/or undergraduate). If there are 15 or more full-time faculty in the unit, the team must include a minimum of five faculty/academic staff members and at least two students (graduate and/or undergraduate). There may be only one application per department/school/interdisciplinary program. For this program, special consideration for one of the grants will be given to units with no or limited SoTL experience and activity.

Requirements

Award recipients (as teams) must meet five requirements.

  1. Submission of an IRB protocol form(s) for any original SoTL studies involving human subjects and receipt of IRB approval before starting the project(s);
  2. Presentation of the SoTL initiative/projects (in progress or completed) in any format (poster, paper, panel…) in an appropriate department/school/college setting and at the CTLT Teaching-Learning Symposium held in January 2010 or January 2011;
  3. Creation of a brief report or a web snapshot (brief, on-line “poster” of the initiative/projects) using the Carnegie KEEP Toolkit to be added to our repository of ISU SoTL project snapshots at http://www.sotl.ilstu.edu/examples/KEEPShots.shtml by September 2010.
  4. As appropriate to the discipline and project, submission --beyond ISU-- of at least one poster for a conference or an article(s) to a teaching newsletter, website, or journal or an application for a show or performance by December 2010 with a copy to the Cross Chair.
  5. Explicit acknowledgement of this grant in all presentations, performances, and publications related to the project.

Selection Criteria

Volunteers from different disciplines and with expertise in SoTL will review the proposals using the following criteria.

  • Initiative clearly fits SoTL related to college teaching and learning as defined above.
  • Proposal clearly states the teaching-learning issue or problem to be considered.
  • Initiative has significant potential to support SoTL in the department/school/program and to impact student learning in the discipline/area (applications).
  • Initiative is innovative and/or involves best practices for teaching and learning in higher education and/or the discipline.
  • Proposal includes a relevant literature review: theory and past research.
  • Initiative uses appropriate methodology for reflecting on/studying the teaching-learning issue or problem posed and/or for finding and applying relevant SoTL work to the problem posed.
  • Initiative is ethically appropriate in terms of the use of human subjects, if relevant.
  • Proposal lists specific, appropriate possible presentation, performance, or publication outlets.
  • Proposal contains an appropriate and detailed budget with budget justifications.

Application Materials and Procedure

Send three copies of the following to Kathleen McKinney, Box 6370 or drop off to ITDC building by 4:00 pm on April 10, 2009.

  1. A cover page with name, department and email address of all applicants, initiative/project title, and signature and email of chair/director/dean as appropriate;
  2. A narrative addressing the first 8 bullet points above under criteria (maximum of 6 double-spaced pages for the narrative);
  3. A reference page/bibliography; and
  4. A budget as described above including a detailed budget justification.

Time Frame

  • Proposals due to Cross Chair by 4:00 p.m. on Friday, April 10, 2009.
  • Notification of awards in mid-May 2009.
  • Funds available July of 2009; Funds MUST BE SPENT by June 15, 2010.