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

1. Online Internal Grant Process: An Effective Means to Infuse and Sustain General Education Goals University of Delaware Martha Carothers Catherine Davies Gabriele Bauer

2. 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.

3. 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

4. GENERAL EDUCATION OVERARCHING GOALS To consider general education as a total coherent experience and to organize the University of Delaware's academic resources to optimize the learning environment Translation Implement and sustain viainstructional grants

5. 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.

6. Faculty students MATH Collaborative Learning FOSC Oral and Written Communication Collaborative Learning Between Food Chemistry & Mathematics

7. 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.

8. 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)

9. 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 Timeline

10. 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

11. 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.

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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.

15. 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.

16. 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/