ORIGINAL CALL FOR PROPOSALS
The Faculty Innovation Center invites proposals from UT Austin instructors to develop or scale innovations in undergraduate teaching. These grants are to encourage instructors at all levels to try something new in a course to be taught either Fall 2021 or Spring 2022. The grantee will be awarded a stipend of $3,000 and may apply for more funding for expenses linked to the innovation.
FOCUS: PRINCIPLES OF EFFECTIVE TEACHING
The Faculty Innovation Center’s mission is to drive innovation focusing on teaching for student success. To that end, we have curated a set of Eight Effective Teaching Principles that can be used as a framework to innovate teaching methodologies. These principles were constructed through synthesizing recent research on best practices to increase student learning and support student success and constructed with the help of the Faculty Holistic Assessment Committee. To enable instructors to have time to develop areas of their courses that they wish to innovate, the Faculty Innovation Center is offering a summer stipend to faculty who choose at least one principle from the FIC’s 8 Principles of Effective Teaching they wish to develop in an innovative way in one of their courses. Here are the eight principles with some examples of how they might be utilized to innovate your course. Innovations that can be used in other classes or by other instructors are especially welcomed.
SELECTION CRITERIA
Proposals are evaluated by a review committee that will score proposals on the following factors.
1. QUALITY OF DESIGN – GOALS, PLAN, ASSESSMENT
Proposals should state the Principle from the FIC’s Eight Principles of Effective Teaching that has been chosen, clearly explain the innovation and how student learning is enhanced by the innovation. The proposal should identify goals, describe a plan of how the goals will be met, and include measurements of success.
2. IMPACT
These grants are intended to have a positive impact on student learning and success. High-scoring proposals will include the quality of the innovation and documentation of the process that students experience throughout the course including successes and obstacles. (For example, through journals, blog posts, photographs, video, student products etc.) Include the impact of the innovation to your course that, without this grant, would otherwise not occur.
3. PLANS FOR DISSEMINATION
It will be an expectation that grantees document their student learning and submit a brief final report on their reflections and assessment of results. This can be in written or video format. After the course has been taught, awardees will develop a short presentation of the process and student experience to share with other faculty. In this section describe how your innovation will be shared/disseminated with other instructors.
HOW TO APPLY
Any UT Austin instructor, individually or in teams, may submit a proposal. Proposals must be submitted via this form and include a signature from the applicant’s Chair or Director. Questions about grants and the application process may be directed to Anne Braseby
Applications must be submitted for review by March 22, 2021.
FINANCIAL STIPULATIONS
Funds will be transferred to grantees’ departments and $3,000 is allocated for summer salary. Small amounts of other necessary funding to successfully develop the innovation will be considered, such as research assistants, materials or supplies or other necessary costs including publications, meeting costs, or conference participation consistent with relevant departmental, college, or University policy, Regents’ rules, and Texas state law.
See below for the list of 2020-2021 grantees. Join us at the FIC Showcase on Feb. 26 to hear from some of this individuals and get inspired to submit your proposals.
2020-2021 Grantees
Zhengrong Cui
Department: Pharmacy
Fostering Learning from Peers by Evidence-Based Optimization of the Structure of Small Discussion Groups
Lauren Gutterman
Department: American Studies
Austin LGBTQ Oral History Project
Thushani Herath
Department: Chemistry
Career Panel Day: Think like a practitioner in your field
Chang Liu
Department: Communication Sciences and Disorders
Improving Learning from Evidence-Based Practice with Online Tools
Jason Lustig
Department: Schusterman Center for Jewish Studies
"Fake News" and the Jews: From blood libels to holocaust denials
Linda Mayhew
Department: Liberal Arts Honors and Humanities
Historical Immersion with Reacting to the Past
Adrian Rodriguez
Department: Mechanical Engineering
Creating Opportunities for Engagement in an Engineering Lab
Gwendolyn Stovall
Department: Texas Institute for Discovery Education in Science (TIDES)
Student Leadership: Measures and artifacts
Veronica Yan
Department: Educational Psychology
Transforming Effective Strategies into Regular Habits
