Online Internal Grant Process: An Effective Means to Infuse and Sustain

General Education Goals

University of Delaware

Martha CarothersCatherine Davies Gabriele Bauer

Session goals

Situate online internal grant process within General Education context.

Outline criteria, features, and development support for grant process.

Share example of successful interdisciplinary project. Discuss implications for your own institutional

contexts. Highlight benefits and challenges.

Overview of General Education Initiative (GEI)

1996: Faculty Senate Ad Hoc Committee on GEI 1998: Ad Hoc Committee report Fall 2000: 3-year pilot to implement and assess part of

GEI (First-year experience-LIFE, Pathways courses, Capstone experience, Discovery Learning experience)

2000: Internal grants 2001: General Education Institutes Fall 2003: Report of pilot to Faculty Senate Spring 2004: Faculty Senate Resolution regarding GEI

GENERAL EDUCATION OVERARCHING GOALS

Translation

To consider general education as a total coherent experience and to organize the University of Delaware's academic resources to optimize

the learning environment

Implement and sustain via instructional grants

Grants: Institutional context

Infuse general education goals into dept. curricula. Ensure general education goals’ sustainability. Enable faculty ownership of general education

curriculum. Offer faculty incentives to participate and remain

involved. Provide formal recognition in reward structure.

Collaborative Learning Between Food Chemistry & Mathematics

MATHFOSC

Collaborative Learning

Oral and Written Communication

students

Faculty

Grant Focus (2004-05 example)

Address targeted general education goals: e.g., oral and written communication quantitative reasoning service learning Substantial transformation or enrichment of existing courses. Development of new courses embedded in curriculum. Encouragement of interdisciplinary, cross-disciplinary work

and faculty collaboration. Innovative, student-learning focused pedagogy and

assessment.

Features of Grant Process

Call for proposals (up to $20,000 per project) Faculty grant preparation sessions Pre-proposal stage Review process Invitation to final proposal Final proposal submission Grant awards (July 1 – June 30) Project implementation and follow-up (mid-year and

final report)

Timeline

Early December 03 Mid-December End of January 04 Mid-March Mid-April Early July End of January 05 End of July

Call for proposals Grant preparation session Pre-proposals due Final proposals due Awards announced Funds available Mid-term reports due Final reports due

Grant Project Areas (Proposal)

Project description -- impact on student learning -- complement current methods: active learning, PBL, technology -- impact on department, college, university goals -- utilization of existing resources Implementation -- timeline, stumbling blocks, sustainability Assessment -- student learning and project effectiveness Funds requested -- total amount, department, college contributions Support of department chair and Dean

Faculty support

General Education Institute. Grant preparation session. Feedback on pre-proposal. Consultation with content experts: -- oral and written communication -- quantitative reasoning -- service learning Consultation with instructional technology, instructional design,

assessment, media, information resource experts. Access to funded proposals and PIs. Access to online resources.

Core evaluation criteria (1-5; 1 = excellent; comments)

Advancement of general education goals Impact on student learning via active

engagement Sustainability Evaluation of student learning / project

effectiveness Budget request with justification Incorporation of feedback from pre-proposal

Summary of grants 2004-05

27 applications-- 16 oral and written communication-- 3 quantitative reasoning-- 8 service learning

16 invited to submit final proposal 10 grants awarded

-- 4 oral and written communication-- 2 quantitative reasoning-- 4 service learning

23 faculty, 8 departments, 870 students impacted (approx.) 14 courses, 1 practicum, 1 program involved

Successes

Faculty projects advance general education goals. Faculty retain ownership of department curriculum

because gen ed goals are embedded in curriculum. Promotes collaboration. Coordination of internal grant opportunities. Effectiveness and efficiency of online process. Consultation and development support.

-- preparation-- proposals-- implementation

Faculty project showcase - General Education Institute.

Challenges

Application stage -- budget template

-- assessment

-- focus faculty on one gen ed goal

Support faculty effectively in implementation. Tracking grant activity and impact once funds

expended – sustainability. Assessing long-term impact.

Online resources

Instructional grant site: www.udel.edu/present/grant/2004/ General Education Initiative: www.ugs.udel.edu/gened/ General Education Institute 2003:

www.ugs.udel.edu/gened/gei2003/ IT-User Services: www.udel.edu/present Center for Teaching Effectiveness: http://cte.udel.edu Institute for Transforming Undergraduate Education – PBL focus:

www.udel.edu/inst University of Delaware Library: www.lib.udel.edu Oral and Written Communication: www.udel.edu/it-us/woctf/ Quantitative Reasoning:

www.ugs.udel.edu/gened/gei2003/QR_pres.ppt Office of Service Learning: www.servicelearning.udel.edu/