Department/School Initiative in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Grant Program (2008-2009)

Call for Proposals

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Overview

The Cross Endowed Chair in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning requests proposals for the Department/School Initiative in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Small Grant Program. This program, for FY09, replaces the individual-team SoTL small grant program. At Illinois State University, through our work (starting in 1997) 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.” This definition allows for work in any discipline and the use of various methodologies and epistemologies.  The focus is on teaching and learning at the college level. All SoTL work must be made public and peer reviewed in some way via presentation, performance, juried show, and/or publication. The work may be quantitative and/or qualitative in nature.

Department SoTL Initiatives include work that provides the opportunity and resources for multiple people in a department/school 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. These initiatives may involve engaging in original SoTL research and application AND/OR 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 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 a department 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 departments will receive Awards of up to $10,000 each for FY09. 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 for travel to present in FY10).  All awards are subject to the availability of funds. If the University sustains budget cuts in FY09, all programs, including URG Awards, will be reviewed which may result in their reduction or elimination.

Eligibility

All ISU Academic Departments or Schools (including Milner Library and Mennonite College of Nursing) are eligible to submit proposals. EACH proposal MUST be from a team in one department/school. The team must include a MINIMUM of three faculty/academic staff members and at least two students (graduate or undergraduate). There may be only ONE application per department/school.

Requirements

Award recipients (as teams) must meet five requirements.

1. Submission of an IRB protocol form(s) for any original SoTL studies and receipt of IRB approval before starting the project(s)  (as this research will be made public);
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 2009 or January 2010;
3. Creation of 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 2009.
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 2009 with a copy to the Cross Chair.

Selection Criteria

Three volunteers from different disciplines and with expertise in SoTL will review the proposals using these 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 and to impact student learning in the discipline (applications).
• Initiative is innovative and/or involves best practices for teaching and learning in higher education and/or the discipline.
• Proposal includes a relevant but brief 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 four copies of the following to Kathleen McKinney, Campus Box 6370 by April 11, 2008.

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

Time Frame

• Proposals due to Cross Chair before 4:00 p.m. on Friday, April 11, 2008.
• Notification of awards in mid-May 2008.
• Funds available (budget permitting) July 1, 2008.
• Funds MUST BE SPENT by June 15, 2009.