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Incentive Grants for New Learning Environments: Leveraging the Collaborative Classroom

During the summer of 2010, more than 50 general assignment classrooms and two of the three ITS Computing Centers, along with their computer classrooms, are being upgraded with new audiovisual technologies and modern furnishings. The upgrades provide instructors and students with greater flexibility to rearrange furniture, more robust support for networked mobile computing, built-in multimedia support, and classroom designs that offer greater opportunities for student collaboration and presentations.

To help USC faculty connect with each other and learn from each others' experiences, ITS Technology-Enhanced Learning (TEL) is making available incentive grants of up to $1,500 each to encourage the adoption of mobile computing technology and instructional strategies that leverage the new features of these renovated spaces. Grant recipients must be willing to explore new pedagogical techniques and incorporate technology into their teaching. They also will be asked to share their experiences with USC colleagues and the wider academic community.

Request for Proposals (RFP)

TEL incentive grants fund the development, piloting, or implementation of instructional technologies and teaching strategies that can be replicated across courses and disciplines. The grants are meant to encourage USC faculty to learn from each other's successes, while enabling TEL to collect data about the benefits of specific tools and approaches.

The submission deadline for proposals is 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, August, 25, 2010. Grant awards will be announced on Monday, August 30, 2010.

Eligibility

You must be a USC faculty member, full- or part-time, tenure-track or non-tenure-track. Graduate teaching assistants are not eligible. Faculty must be teaching during the Fall 2010 semester in one of the newly redesigned and upgraded classrooms or in one of the ITS Computing Center classrooms listed below:

Classrooms

  • GFS111, 112, 113, 114, 216, 217, 218
  • MHPB7B
  • SOSB37, B38, B41, B43, B45, B46, B47, B50, B51, B52
  • THH105, 107, 109, 111, 113, 117, 118, 207, 209, 211, 219, 221
  • VKC103, 104, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 160, 161, 204, 252, 254, 255, 256
  • WPH B36,104, 200, 204, 400, 603
  • SAL 126, 127 and 109 (formerly 128)

Evaluation Process

A panel of USC faculty and TEL technology specialists will evaluate all proposals. Not all proposals will be funded.

To provide information on the new environments and instructional technologies, TEL will provide faculty orientation tours and workshops during the weeks of August 9 and August 16. More tours and workshops will be offered, as needed. A current schedule of tours and workshops is available at the following link: http://cst.usc.edu/events/event.html All applicants are required to use the online submission form.

Objectives

Instructors will propose how they plan to achieve learning objectives specific to their courses using techniques that leverage the new features of the renovated classrooms. These techniques may include, but are not limited to, the following:
  • incorporating web-based tools and resources in face-to-face learning activities;
  • organizing team-based in-class projects, breakout discussion groups, and peer feedback to facilitate collaboration;
  • assigning in-class individual and collaborative presentations by students;
  • providing increased in-class feedback to individuals and groups;
  • exploring key course issues through instructor and student use of multimedia resources, such as images and video clips.

Grant Requirements

Grant applicants will be required to participate in the following events and activities organized by TEL's Center for Scholarly Technology (CST) and Learning Environments (LE) groups.
  • Workshop: To be eligible for the grant, faculty must participate in a TEL workshop. The workshops discuss the different ways to leverage the renovated learning spaces and upgraded technologies and provide opportunities for discussion. Participants must register for workshops in advance at the following link: http://cst.usc.edu/rsvp.
  • Presentations: Grant recipients may be asked to participate in a brief videotaped interview, demonstration, or classroom activity that will be displayed on a project website.
  • Faculty Forums: Faculty may be asked to present at the TEL Faculty Forum or at the annual Teaching with Technology conference.

We also encourage grant recipients to present on their projects at academic events and conferences outside of USC.

Grant recipients must submit a final report, including an accounting of expenditures, by Friday, January 14, 2011.

Grant Period: Grant awards will be for up to $1,500 for the period beginning August 23, 2010 and ending December 23, 2010.

Types of Expenditures

The following are the only valid types of expenditures:
  • Equipment, software, supplies, resources, or services directly related to the project.
  • Salaries for research assistants or student wages.
  • Faculty stipends of up to $1,500 may be used to support time spent re-designing lesson plans. Fringe benefits will be deducted from this amount.

To submit a grant use the online submission form.

For additional information about the grant or the application process, please contact Edward O'Neill at eoneill@usc.edu