Teaching and Technology Innovation Grants

This year’s grant theme, “2022-23: Continuing to Innovate,” acknowledges the investment, experimentation, and creativity of faculty in meeting the need for innovation using various modalities. The Collaborative grants encourage faculty to build on and adapt on current practices while continuing to innovate. A proposal might engage questions such as:

• How can we provide equitable learning opportunities and outcomes? For example, are decisions about pedagogy and technology informed by Universal Design for Learning to increase access and support for diverse learners?
• How can we provide meaningful or authentic assessments to promote and measure student learning? How can we augment our curriculum by intentionally drawing upon more diverse voices, perspectives, and experiences; how can we promote more inclusive learning?
• As groups of colleagues in or across departments, what joint resources or pedagogical strategies (e.g., shared course content) can we create that support a more cohesive curriculum and learning environment?
• How can digital approaches help prepare students for lifelong learning? What do we need to help students develop the skill set (e.g., time management, critical reading) to be most effective learners with online materials across professional and other contexts?

The 2022-23 Teaching and Technology Innovation grants are available to all full-time faculty (1-year and longer appointments) for improving student learning, curriculum, pedagogy, or educational impacts, or to contribute data to the scholarship concerning how students learn using various modalities. Proposals must include a description of the purpose of the project in terms of teaching, learning and technology, anticipated impact, and an assessment plan addressing how the project and its impact on learning will be evaluated.

Timing of Funding Opportunities
Grant proposals are accepted on a rolling cycle throughout the year. However, priority will be given to proposals submitted by June 1.

Submission process
Proposals must be submitted via email to facultycollaborative@scu.edu.

Evaluation process
Overall, proposals are evaluated on the quality of the project; the potential impact on student learning, curriculum, or pedagogy within a significant component of a program, major, or the Core Curriculum; and the quality of the assessment plan. Given the goal to make the best strategic use of limited resources proposals with significant cost sharing from external grants, departmental budgets, or other sources of supplemental funding are encouraged.

Special consideration will be given to proposals that explore ways of facilitating active, collaborative, interdisciplinary, engaged or integrative learning, or involve students as collaborators.

Reporting Requirements
Successful faculty teams will be asked to write up their experiences, results and assessment in a brief report and to share their experience in a CAFE - one of the Collaborative’s lunchtime conversations to share teaching practices with faculty colleagues offered throughout the academic year.

Proposal Format
In no more than 3 pages, proposals should provide the following information:

• Title of project and Names/Departments/emails of all faculty participants
• Provide a general description of the project, addressing:
1. How will this project contribute to or enhance teaching and student learning, or our understanding of student learning? How do you envision using educational technology in this project?
2. What research questions guide your project?
3. A brief summary of any relevant research or project design (e.g., similar projects from other universities).
4. How will you assess or evaluate the effectiveness of your project? Please be specific in describing your assessment approach and anticipated measures.
5. Describe the relevant experience and context the faculty team brings to the project.
6. What support will you need (e.g., from Academic Technology) to implement this project successfully?
7. What other internal or external grant requests have you submitted to support this same proposal?
• Budget:
1. Each faculty member on the team will receive $2,000 as supplemental pay. 
2. In addition--as applicable--provide a budget for other appropriate costs essential to the development of the project or sharing results of implementation at a subsequent conference. The budget may include costs associated with educational technologies and other materials. If you are proposing a project where students will need access to particular technologies, please note how many students will need those tools. For example, will students work in pairs with shared tools for the quarter? How many will be needed? Note: while faculty may retain tools (such as mobile devices), all student equipment will be provided on a “loaner basis”: students will turn the equipment in at the end of the quarter (or the completion of the project) so it can be used in subsequent projects.
3. If you have questions about whether a particular expense is appropriate for a Teaching and Technology grant proposal, please contact any of the Collaborative Co-Directors - Chris Bachen, Nancy Cutler, or Eileen Elrod.
4. Proposals to renew equipment obtained in a previous Technology Innovation grant will usually not be funded.

Funding levels and success rates
As with any competitive funding opportunity, success rates depend on the funding available, the number of proposals received, the quality of the proposal, and the relation of the projects proposed to the funding criteria.

Additional Funding Opportunities
Visit the Faculty Funding Opportunities site for teaching and scholarship grants. More information about funding students in research can be found here.