2016-17 Provost’s General Education Course Enhancement Grant Competition
Teach what excites you! Connect your discipline and expertise with General Education!
The General Education Course Enhancement Grant Competition is designed to promote the ongoing enhancement of UConn’s General Education curriculum, through the development of new courses or course revisions. In an effort to improve course availability in several areas of the curriculum, this Fall’s competition especially encourages the submission of proposals that address one or more of the following areas of need listed below. Please note, however, that proposals for any General Education course development will be considered, and priority will not be given to proposals in any specific area. All proposals are judged on their academic merit and their overall potential for expanding and improving General Education at UConn.
Current Areas of Need:
Courses in Content Area 1 Arts and Humanities, particularly those in the Arts or Philosophy/Ethical Analysis
Courses in Content Area 3 Science and Technology
Quantitative Competency (Q) courses
Innovative W courses in any discipline
New or revised Sophomore-level General Education courses in all areas
Approvals: All proposals require department head or program director approval. Note that receiving a Provost’s General Education Course Enhancement Grant does not guarantee approval of the course proposal by GEOC or other curriculum committees; all General Education course action requests must still be submitted and approved by one or more departments, schools or colleges, GEOC, the Senate Curricula and Courses Committee, and the University Senate.
Awards: Awards are for two years and may vary from $1,000 to $15,000 ($7,500 maximum per year) per proposal. The award may be applied to summer salary, course related expenses, or to a faculty member’s ledger 2 research account. This amount is inclusive of fringe benefits and a budget form is required to justify proposed expenses.
Proposal Deadline: November 7, 2016
Who May Apply: Regular tenured, tenure-track, and non-tenure-track faculty from any University of Connecticut campus may apply. This program is open to faculty in all disciplines. An application may be submitted by one or more individuals, but must have the written commitment of support, including teaching assistantships if required, of a sponsoring program or department. The department(s) must agree to offer the course every year or every other year for at least five years at one or more of the UConn campuses.
Evaluation Criteria: The proposal may focus on significantly enhancing the content or pedagogy of an existing course or developing a new course (see above). It should very clearly explain how the course meets UConn’s broad goals of general education as well as the specific criteria for the given content area(s) (Arts/Humanities; Social Sciences; Sciences; Diversity and Multiculturalism) and/or competencies (W, Q) as described in UConn’s General Education Guidelines http://geoc.uconn.edu/geoc-guidelines/ . Student learning outcomes and ways of assessing them must be outlined. Successful proposals will serve as a model for future efforts in strengthening UConn’s General Education curriculum. Other criteria that will be viewed favorably in judging proposals are availability on regional campuses, open to non-majors, and large classes. Lists of winners and examples of successful proposals from previous competitions can be found at http://geoc.uconn.edu/course-development-grant-competition/.
Faculty planning to redesign a large-enrollment General Education course should consider submitting a proposal to the Provost’s Large Course Redesign Grant Initiative (announcement pending at cetl.uconn.edu).
Proposal Format and Submission: Please follow the suggested proposal format, which can also be found at http://geoc.uconn.edu/course-development-grant-competition/. The text of the proposal should be no more than three (3) pages (at least 10 point font, 1 inch margins) and include:
A clear statement of the project’s relation to General Education requirements (broad and specific)
Course objectives (including student learning outcomes)
A plan for the assessment of student learning (how will it be measured?) once the course is offered.
Each proposal should include 1) the completed application, 2) a budget form that gives a reasonably detailed explanation of how funds will be used, and 3) a statement of support from the appropriate program director(s) or department head(s) [an email is fine]. An electronic copy of the proposal should be sent to GEOC@uconn.edu with the Subject Line “Provost’s General Education Course Enhancement Grant.”
Evaluation Committee: Proposals will be reviewed by a committee of faculty and representatives from:
Applicable GEOC subcommittees
The Instructional Design and Development Group in the Institute of Teaching and Learning
A pool of previous competition winners
Requirements for Awarded Proposals:
Faculty who receive funding for their proposal will be required to do the following:
Attend the awards reception for current winners
Submit a Curriculum Action Request (CAR) form and full syllabus for the course approval process
Submit a year-one progress report by the specified deadline
Attend the year-one proposal workshop
Submit a final report by the specified deadline at the end of the second year
Project Timetable:
Nov. 7, 2016 Proposal Deadline
Dec. 2016 Awards announced
Sept. 2017 Curricular Action Request forms submitted to GEOC for inclusion in the new general education curriculum in time for the 2015/2016 catalog. The project need not be completed at this time.
Dec. 2017 First year progress report due
Dec. 2017 First year workshop
Spring 2018 Course taught
Dec. 2018 Final report due
Contact: For further information, contact Eric Schultz (Chair, General Education Oversight Committee) at eric.schultz@uconn.edu (860) 486-4692
For more information, contact: Eric Schultz at eric.schultz@uconn.edu