CETL Faculty Development Grants Program
The CETL Faculty Development Grants Program supports faculty who wish to improve their teaching and mentoring skills. The program acknowledges disciplinary differences and values a wide variety of styles in teaching and learning. All faculty members are encouraged to apply.
This year’s competition provides small grants to support implementation of proposals in two areas – Instructional Effectiveness and Undergraduate Research Mentoring. Through the process of proposal design, implementation and assessment, faculty will reflect on their own development and goals as teacher-scholars, and improve their skills in instruction and/or student mentoring. Students will benefit through increased effectiveness of instruction (Instructional Effectiveness Grants) and by improving their critical and analytical thinking skills while extending their classroom learning and contributing to the creation of new knowledge (Undergraduate Research Mentoring Grants).
Criteria for Selection
Proposals in both categories will be evaluated based on the
following criteria:
- Degree to which the project supports student learning and success
- Scope and significance (including the number of students who will benefit)
- Innovation
- Clarity and feasibility
Proposal Guidelines
- Funds may be used for the following: lab and other supplies, books, software, and hiring of student assistants. Please provide a brief but detailed budget, justifying all planned expenditures. Funds cannot be used for faculty compensation or release time.
- To apply to the grant, please select and fill out
the appropriate word document below. Save and attach as
an email and send to Catherine Haras at
CETL@calstatela.edu
Grant proposal forms:
- Grants applications are reviewed and awardees recommended by faculty members of the CETL Advisory Board.
- Faculty will be notified by email from the CETL Director, and funds made available in February, 2012. All funds must be encumbered by June 15, 2012.
- Final reports are required for all grant awards as
detailed below.
- The deadline to submit a proposal is noon on Tuesday, February 7, 2012.
Category 1: Instructional Effectiveness Grants (up to 10 grants are available at up to $500 per grant)
Purpose: This award supports the planning and implementation of noteworthy innovations in pedagogy and instructional practice, including high impact practices and course assessment. Applicants should address a specific challenge that they struggle with or pedagogical opportunity in the classroom they wish to explore. Funded proposals should have the potential to drive change in the way the discipline is taught. This grant provides funding for up to $500 in teaching-related supplies, materials, and services.
Deliverables:
- Faculty must submit a final report on their project to the CETL by December 1, 2012 reflecting on how the innovation has changed their teaching practice, including any evidence demonstrating the effectiveness of the innovation in improving student learning.
- Faculty with exceptional proposals may be invited to present to the campus as part of future CETL programming.
Category 2: Undergraduate Research Mentoring Grants (up to 15 grants are available at up to $1000 per grant)
Purpose: This award is intended to help
develop faculty mentoring skills by supporting faculty who wish to
engage undergraduate students in meaningful research, scholarship or
creative activities outside of the classroom. Undergraduates benefit
significantly from such experiences, but require a strong mentor
relationship to do so (Guterman, 2007). Faculty should provide a high
impact learning experience by working with students to introduce them to
disciplinary norms, topics, and the intrinsic creativity of a field.
Generation of new knowledge is not necessarily a primary outcome of the
project. Rather, under the guidance of faculty, students should be
allowed to experience tackling mature subjects, where they are asked to
make meaningful connections with subject matter (Schantz, 2008). This
experience typically takes the form of a “research apprenticeship” where
students serve as apprentices to a faculty project. However, other
mentoring models may also be proposed.
As part of the evaluation of project innovation, reviewers will take into account the previous research mentoring experience of the applicant, and availability of other funding to support student engagement in research. Preference will be given to proposals that name student participants. Faculty in all disciplines are encouraged to apply.
Deliverables:
- Students and faculty must complete a brief post-project electronic survey about the mentoring experience by December 1, 2012.
- Students must submit a paper reflecting on what they had learned through the project, including their acquired skills, and how they were changed by the research and mentoring process by December 1, 2012.
- Recipients should plan on submitting their project to the annual Student Symposium on Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity.
- Faculty with exceptional proposals may be invited to present to the campus as part of future CETL programming.
Recommended readings
- Guterman, Lila. (2007, August 17). What good is
undergraduate research, anyway? Chronicle of Higher
Education, 53 (50), 12.
- Schantz, M.S. (2008). Undergraduate research in the
humanities: Challenges and prospects. CUR Focus, 29 (2).
Retrieved 12/13/11 from
http://www.cur.org