A project is eligible for funding if it meets the following five criteria:

1. It must entail the development and pilot implementation by a full- or part-time faculty member of either a new course or substantial changes to the content of or instructional approaches used in an existing course. In either case, a substantial portion of the students projected to enroll in the course must be undergraduates in Arts, Sciences & Engineering (AS&E). Thus, projects involving courses offered by schools other than AS&E are eligible, as are projects involving AS&E graduate courses, as long as a substantial portion of enrollees in those courses will be AS&E undergraduates.
2. The funds requested must be for the purpose of supporting high-impact practices, such as experiential, problem-based, project-based, peer-led or community-engaged learning, or course-based undergraduate research or scholarship. A non-exhaustive list of practices we would consider high-impact can be found on AACU’s high-impact practices page.
3. The project must include (and request funds to support) pilot implementation and assessment of the new course or new instructional approaches during two successive offerings of the course. These two offerings need not occur during back-to-back semesters. For instance, many courses are offered during alternate academic years, and in such a case the two semesters during which the course will be piloted and assessed will be separated by a full academic year.
4. The innovations the project plans develop and implement must require resources greater than those already available for development and implementation of new courses within the budget of the academic department offering the course. Thus, development and implementation of the proposed innovations should require more funding than is typically allotted by a department to new or existing courses.
5. The activities and expenses for which the project requests support must not be eligible for funding through other AS&E programs that support educational activities and innovations—such as the Discover Grant or the Community-Engaged Learning Course Operations Grants.

These grants are available to fund expenses required for the development, deployment, and assessment of new courses. This includes funds for:

• Purchasing any required equipment or course materials
• Compensating for teaching assistants or other student employees to assist with all aspects of course development, implementation, and assessment
• Offsetting faculty time devoted to course development or implementation that would otherwise be used for teaching other courses
• Defraying any costs to students of participation in the course (e.g. travel expenses for courses that involve activities abroad)

TIG awards may not be used for supplemental salary or summer salary for faculty.

Proposals must include a proposed budget that reflects the needs of developing the course and then implementing and assessing it during two successive course offerings. Awards are available of up to $5,000 to support the first of the two successive offerings, and up to $2,500 to support the second offering. In no case will the program fund expenses associated with the implementation of a project after its two-semester pilot implementation. The program is intended to support only the development, pilot implementation, and assessment of innovations.

In the event of an award, funds to support the first of the two course offerings do not become available until July 1 during the summer immediately following the academic year in which the award decision is made. For instance, for a proposal submitted and approved during the 22-23 academic year, funds to support the first pilot offering would be available starting July 1, 2023

The 2023 deadline falls on November 30.  A proposal should include:

• The name of at least one full- or part-time member of the faculty who will serve as project leader—taking primary responsibility for implementing the project
• A description of the new course or new instructional approach to be developed and deployed, including a description of the high-impact or resource-intensive practices to be developed and implemented
• A description of the activities to be undertaken to develop the course and implement the pilot offerings of the course
• A timeline that specifies when development activities will occur, and specifies the two semesters during which the innovations developed will be piloted
• A budget that specifies the total amount requested and estimates the amounts to be spent on each eligible expense
• A plan for how the innovations will be sustained after the two course offerings funded by the grant, including the projected annual costs of sustaining the course in semesters beyond the two-semester pilot implementation, and a plan for securing any funds needed to cover those costs
• Letters of support from the chairs or directors of the academic departments or programs that will offer the course, and from the chairs or directors of academic departments where any faculty involved in the project have their primary appointments

Proposals should be submitted via the AS&E Course Development Funding Portal. Applicants should note that the Teaching Innovation Grant is one of four course development grants offered by AS&E, all of which have a common deadline and accept applications through the AS&E Course Development Funding Portal. Applicants can see the AS&E course development grant page to learn about other course development grants.

In addition to following through with project plans as described in the proposal and spending disbursed funds according to the terms of the award, all project leaders must:

• Work with AS&E’s director of educational effectiveness to plan and implement an assessment of the TIG project
• Participate in a cohort-based course development workshop, facilitated by the Teaching Center’s instructional development staff, which will typically take place during the spring and summer after the award is made

For questions about the Teaching Innovation Grant, contact Rachel Remmel at rachel.remmel@rochester.edu.