Course Grants

The Academic Affairs Instructional Design team is excited to announce two new funding opportunities for faculty. These initiatives offer grants for:

1. New courses and major redesigns of courses in the undergraduate core curriculum, or
2. Minor redesigns to integrate professional and durable skills (communication, collaboration, leadership, etc.) into graduate-level courses offered early or mid-curriculum.

For details on each of these opportunities, please see the respective RFP announcement below. Proposal submissions will be accepted until Friday, November 6th.

Thank you for the time, energy, and expertise you bring to our university, and to the educational journey of our amazing students. We look forward to receiving your proposal and partnering with you in the design or redesign of these critically important courses!

University Core Course Redesign Grants: Request for Proposals

Grant Overview

The Office of Academic Affairs will fund 10 full redesigns or new courses (funded at $1350/credit hour, or $4050 for a 3 credit course) and 15 major redesigns ($1050/credit hour, or $3150 for a 3 credit course).

Courses in the university core often have many sections of the same course. The university will fund development of one version of a core course submitted to this grant opportunity, with the expectation that course materials will be shared with others who teach sections of the course as well. This is to ensure that we are stewarding the funds well, and so that more faculty and students can benefit from the intentionally resigned course. 

Grant funds may be allocated to a single lead faculty member for the course, or if desired, split between two (2) faculty who participate in the design process together. We encourage applicants to coordinate with their program director/department chair before submitting an application.

Awarded grants will support a collaborative course design process in which the identified faculty member(s) meets regularly with an instructional designer from Academic Affairs to design or redesign a core course over the course of ~1-2 months. After the initial design collaboration is complete, grantees will have a course map that they will use to develop the remainder of the course. After course materials are created and before the updated course is taught for the first time, instructors will also need to have a closing consultation with their instructional designer. 

Grant Categories

New Course Design: Fully new course to be designed and developed or an existing course to be completely redesigned and developed from scratch. Create new course outcomes and description; instructor guide (when relevant); instructional materials (syllabus, learning materials, online content, presentation/facilitation materials, assignments and exemplars, multimedia)

Major Course Redesign: 60-80% of an existing course will be redesigned and developed. Includes redesigns for which there is a change in modality (e.g. in-person to online) or format (e.g. accelerated course). Redesigns that start completely from scratch would be considered a new course design. Create new course outcomes and description; instructor guide (when relevant); instructional materials (syllabus, learning materials, online content, presentation/facilitation materials, assignments and exemplars, multimedia)

Grants are open to faculty of all ranks and roles, including Instructional, Research, and Clinical (IRC) faculty, and are available for all courses regardless of modality.

Proposal Criteria

The proposal form will request the course number, title, description, modality, and duration (traditional or accelerated) of the course, as well as the planned first offering (semester/year) of the redesigned course, and average/expected class size per section. You’ll be asked to share why your course is a good candidate for this grant, and what your goals are for your course (re)design. You will also need to indicate which of the categories (new course design or major course redesign) is best suited to your proposed course. 

Applicants will also be asked to provide a brief letter of support from a program director, department chair, or associate dean that addresses a commitment to continued support for the faculty’s time and work spent designing the course as well as support for implementing the new course design upon completion.

If awarded the grant, we ask each school/college and grant participant to commit to the following: 

• Designing the core course in a collaborative design process with an instructional designer in Academic Affairs and, when relevant, faculty colleagues who also teach the core course. Instructional designers working within a collaborative course design process aim to help faculty articulate their vision and design learning experiences with intention. Instructional designers will not evaluate courses, nor will they impose any requirements in terms of content or types of engagement. 
• Sharing the course map and course materials from the newly developed course with the home department and all other instructors teaching sections of the course.

To submit your proposal, complete this form.

Proposal Review Process

The Academic Affairs Instructional Design Team will review proposals using the following criteria: 

• Identified course is a part of the undergraduate core curriculum
• Course proposal alignment with one of the two grant category types (New Redesign or Major Redesign)
• How well stated goals for design are served by the collaborative course design process
• Indicated commitment to grant expectations, including engaging in a collaborative design process with an instructional designer

Proposal Deadlines and Contact Information

For questions or more information, please reach out to Jason Drysdale, Director of Program Development for the Office of Academic Affairs: [email protected]

Submissions for Core Course Redesign Grants will be open until Friday, November 6th. 

Professional and Durable Skills Graduate Course Grants: Request for Proposals

The Academic Affairs Instructional Design team is excited to share this request for proposals for redesign work for select graduate courses. This initiative provides funding for the minor redesign of graduate courses focused on the overt integration of professional and durable skills (e.g. communication, collaboration, leadership, etc.) in early and middle curriculum courses. 

While capstone and internship courses equip learners with career-ready skills, it is critical to introduce these skills much earlier in the curriculum as well. Earlier introduction provides structured progression, longitudinal assessment opportunities, and learning that is immediately relevant, particularly for graduate students who are already active in the workforce.

Grant Overview

Academic Affairs will fund 10 Professional and Durable Skills Graduate Course Grants; each grant will fund a minor redesign, or 30-50% of the course, to integrate professional and durable skills (e.g. communication, collaboration, leadership, etc.) into a course that is offered early or mid curriculum. The redesign may include updates to existing course outcomes, resources, assignments, assessments, media, and other instructional materials within the course.The stipend for each awarded grant will be funded at $675/credit hour ($2025 for a 3-credit course). These funds may be allocated to a single lead faculty member for the course, or if desired, split between two faculty who participate in the design.

Instructional designers working within a collaborative course design process aim to help faculty articulate their vision and design learning experiences with intention. Instructional designers can advise on changes to learning outcomes, assignments, pedagogy, scaffolding and sequencing of your course, student workload, and related areas of design. Instructional designers will not evaluate courses, nor will they impose any requirements in terms of content or types of engagement. 

Grants are open to faculty of all ranks and roles, including Instructional, Research, and Clinical (IRC) faculty, and are available for all courses regardless of modality.

Proposal Criteria

The proposal form will request the course number, title, description, modality, and duration (traditional or accelerated), as well as planned first offering for the redesigned course, and average/expected class size per section. You’ll also be asked to discuss why your course is a good candidate for this grant, and what your goals are for your course redesign. 

Please note that this grant is designed to support one redesign per course. If multiple faculty submit for the same course, the applicants will be notified and will be asked to either 1) collaborate on a joint submission, working together on the course design process and sharing the grant award, or 2) decide who will serve as the designated applicant for the course.

If awarded the grant, we ask grant participants to commit to the following:

• Redesign the course in a collaborative design process with an Instructional Designer in Academic affairs and, when relevant, faculty colleagues who also teach the course
  
• Leverage the new course map as the foundation for developing the course in all modalities, with adjustments made to accommodate differences in modality and teaching style if needed
  
• Update the course and resources by the next offering of the course
  
• Collaborate/consult with other faculty who teach sections of the same course to ensure alignment, sharing work with colleagues so all students can benefit
  
• Share reflections and results from the update after teaching, in a format of your preference (e.g. debrief with the ID team)

To submit your proposal, complete this form.

Proposal Review Process

Proposals will be reviewed by the Academic Affairs Instructional Design Team using the following criteria:

• Existing course is offered in early or middle curriculum
  
• Proposal includes adequate description of the professional and/or durable skills (e.g. communication, collaboration, leadership, etc.) that will be integrated into the course design
  
• Proposal indicates commitment to grant expectations, including engaging in a collaborative design process with an Instructional Designer
  

Proposal Deadlines and Contact Information

For questions or more information, please reach out to Jason Drysdale, Director of Program Development for Academic Affairs: [email protected]

Submissions for Professional and Durable Skills Graduate Course Grants will be open until Friday, November 6th.