Teaching & Learning Grants 2022 - Experiential Learning

Attend a workshop about the 2022 Teaching and Learning Grants!

• Grant Expectations: These sessions gave an overview of the 2022 Teaching and Learning Grant proposal process. We discussed the scope, options, scoring, and expectations for funded proposals. They took place in early May, but you can watch a recording here. 
• Ideation Workshop: This was an in-person working session to develop and refine your idea. The session ran in partnership with the Academy of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. It was held in mid-May, but you can access the ideation process asynchronously here. 

In the 2022 Teaching & Learning Grant initiative, funding will be awarded to educational projects focused on expanding active and experiential learning, broadly conceived. We seek proposals from all disciplines and encourage participants to collaborate internally and externally to maximize our teaching impact and create innovative and meaningful learning experiences. Academic and programmatic units may submit proposals in two different categories:

• Course Level - Proposals in this category should be focused on the redesign of a specific course or course section(s). Proposals in this category are required to include a letter of support from the unit leader. Awards in this category will be up to $20,000 per proposal. We expect to award a maximum of 100 projects campus-wide.
• Program Level - Proposals in this category should include a cluster of courses and/or educational activities. Awards in this category will be up to $70,000 per proposal. Proposals in this category are required to include a letter of support from the unit leader committing to a 1:1 matching fund that includes cash and in-kind resources to support the continuity of the proposed work. We expect to award a maximum of 10 projects campus-wide.

2022 Teaching and Learning Grant FAQ

Before applying, for a course-level grant we recommend you look over this course proposal checklist (below) to ensure you have gathered all the necessary information: 

Before applying, for a program-level grant we recommend you look over this program proposal checklist (below) to ensure you have gathered all the necessary information: 

• Submission Deadline has been extended: Sunday, June 12, 2022 before 11:59 pm
• Proposers will be notified: Before July 29, 2022
• Implementation Period: Fall 2022, Winter or Spring 2023 Semester
• Final Reports Due: July 1, 2023. 

Projects with a well-reasoned justification for implementing in Summer 2023 may request an extension for the Final Report to September 30, 2023.

Units may choose to implement internal deadlines to provide a letter of support or a unit-level review process prior to the submission deadline (June 10). Please contact your unit head to learn more about the internal routing and approval processes.

• BSOS internal review guidelines and deadlines

Proposals must include one or more of the following active and experiential learning activities:

• activities in the classroom that apply academic content to real-world experiences from the community, and/or workplace; 
• research or project-based learning; 
• interdisciplinary and problem-based learning;
• community-based or service-learning; 
• internships and practica; 
• corporate or community partnerships; 
• non-credit offerings (micro-credentialing);
• co-curricular and extracurricular learning activities.

Priority for funding will be given to the following:

• Courses with a history of high enrollment;
• Courses required by one or more degree programs;
• Courses and programs with a history of high rates of withdrawals and grades of D or F;
• Courses and programs that fulfill UMD’s General Education (Gen Ed) requirements, including developing or revising courses for the newly approved diversity Gen Ed categories;
• Courses and programs moving to a common and sustainable syllabus across all instructors/semesters;
• Proposals that leverage the use of technology to enhance the learning experience;
• Courses or curricula that contribute to the diversity, equity, and inclusion components within an undergraduate degree program;
• Proposals that include a systematic educational research approach in which the work product can result in a scholarly presentation or publication;
• Projects that involve undergraduate and graduate students as collaborators.

Special consideration will be given to proposals that explore the grand challenges of our times, build a stronger sense of community and civic engagement, or innovate pedagogical practices by leveraging the use of modern instructional technologies. Exceptional proposals for courses with smaller enrollment may also be selected for funding, such as those proposals that promote innovative use of technology (e.g., simulations, gamification, and visualizations of complex systems).

Eligibility

All members of the UMD community may participate in this initiative. Tenured faculty, tenure-track faculty, professional track faculty, and instructional staff are all eligible to apply as principal investigators (PI). Part-time instructors, postdocs, staff, and students (undergraduate and graduate) with teaching-related responsibilities as well as members of the greater community of College Park and beyond are encouraged to participate as team members. UMD members may participate in up to three grants, but may only receive funding from one project. 

A committee including representatives from the UMD community will review the proposals for merit and make recommendations for funding. The review process will follow these criteria:

• Goals / Feasibility - The proposal indicates a commitment to the design and development of experiential learning opportunities (see examples of Funding Priorities section above). Any proposals that rely on partnerships with external organizations should include a brief plan that indicates how this partnership will be sourced and thoughtfully managed.
• DEI - Proposals that incorporate innovative and inclusive approaches to teaching and learning considering diversity, equity, and belonging.
• Transferability/Scalability - The proposal describes how the proposed experiential learning strategies might serve as a model for other courses or sections of the same course. How could the activity or content be modified to impact other disciplines, programs, or target audiences?
• Outcomes/ Assessment - The proposal clearly defines the long-term goals and specific aims of the project. The proposal indicates that course and/or program learning outcomes are being met and demonstrates how these outcomes will be assessed and shared with the campus. How will the effectiveness of the proposed course or program be assessed? Will comparison across multiple offerings, or pre-and post-proposal analysis, be possible? The proposal clearly articulates artifacts and measures that fully capture and communicate the project’s impact.
• Innovation - The proposal identifies a challenging area of pedagogical content knowledge that will be addressed in a creative/innovative way. Proposed course or program redesign leverages innovative learning strategies and/or provides additional enhancements to meet course and/or program learning outcomes. 
• Impact - The proposal indicates potential impact for a significant number of UMD students or creatively supports a group of students or external community members with specific needs. Any proposals that rely on external partnerships should indicate a plan for fair and just practices concerning external partners.

Eligible expenses include faculty stipends, teaching assistantships or student hourly wages (undergraduate and/or graduate), consulting service agreements (e.g., video editor, ASL interpreter services, software development, etc.), laboratory equipment, or discipline-specific software. More detailed information on budget guidelines can be found here. 

• Contact the business manager in your unit to get advice and assistance with your budget plan.
• Personnel payment may vary depending on the amount of work involved for each person involved. Instructional-related work is capped at $5,000 and can be paid as a stipend or overload per the guidance of the business managers in the unit.
• Pro-rated fringe benefits must be included in the proposed budget for any stipends, overloads, or other payments to UMD collaborators.
• Student wages must be calculated according to the unit’s or program’s guidelines.
• No indirect costs should be included in the budget.
• Budgeted items should be at or below the total amount of funds available per proposal. If it includes requests to fund new technologies with recurring charges, proposers must include a long-term plan that clearly describes the fund sources to maintain the funding.
• Proposals must include information about the roles and duties of each team member (including students if appropriate) and how they will collaborate to advance the work proposed.
• The funds will be dispersed through the home unit of the “PI” and placed in a unique KFS account. The home unit will manage payments to team members, payments for other expenses, and record keeping.
• Unspent funds, if any, will be returned to the provost’s office at the end of the project.

The following expenses are not eligible: stipends for external community member collaborators, travel expenses, per diem, food, and office supplies. 

Proposals that plan on integrating new technology into ELMS-Canvas (currently unavailable in the DIT service catalog) should first schedule a pre-consultation with DIT (itsupport@umd.edu) to assess the feasibility of such integration and the need for a review/approval for security, FERPA, and accessibility compliance.

We highly recommend reading the Funding and Budget Planning Guidelines to assist with budget planning.

Proposal submission will be open until June 12, 2022 by 11:59pm. The submission process will require the PI to answer a set of standardized questions, and upload a PDF that includes a letter of support from the unit head and a 3-pages proposal narrative.

Before applying, we strongly suggest using these checklists to ensure that you have all the information needed to fill out the form. Course proposal checklist | Program proposal checklist. 

The narrative must include the following:

• Brief introduction clarifying the problem that you are addressing and clear, specific aims to use experiential learning strategies at UMD.
• Information about the course and/or program and enrollment details for the past two years, if applicable.
• A strategy that will be used to address the identified problem and which semester the project will be implemented.
• Assessment plan that will measure the extent to which the project is successful.
• Implementation plan with a timeline and milestones.
• An itemized and briefly justified budget.

Principle Investigators, once awarded are responsible for the following:

• Participate in a TLTC post-award orientation hosted in August, or September of 2022.
• Engage in a Learning Community hosted by the TLTC in the fall of ‘22, or the spring of ‘23, in which participants will share best practices and lessons learned.

Read about the Learning Communities available for fall of 2022.

• Provide interviews and respond to institution or media inquiries as they arise during the implementation period.
• Submit a mid-term reflection or progress report in January 2023, and a final report by July 1, 2023. (Proposers will be prompted by email and reports will be submitted by online form.) 
• Distribute and encourage the students involved in the project to answer a survey on their experiences and learning outcomes.
• Program-level PIs will be required to share/present the work product and lessons learned at the 2023 UMD Innovations in Teaching and Learning Conference. Selected course-level projects will be invited/encouraged to present at the same event.

The staff from the Teaching and Learning Transformation Center, DIT Academic Technology and Innovation, Academy of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and the University Libraries will be available to offer a variety of training, workshops, instructional design, and technology support services to help you plan, design, and implement your innovation. You may also leverage college and department contacts for assistance. If feasible, we will assign dedicated support (instructional designers, technologists, and librarians) to projects that include multiple courses and sections and will impact a large number of students.