Spring 2024
Application Deadline: Friday, April 19, 2024
Purpose
The Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE), with support from the Office of the Provost, invites full-time faculty to submit proposals for the development or revision of exemplary courses. The purpose of the Innovative Pedagogy Grant is to invest in faculty to design exemplary and highly-engaging student learning experiences in courses offered in a variety of delivery formats. This will be accomplished by providing funding support, instructional design assistance, pedagogical resources, and technological support to faculty.
Examples of proposals appropriate for this grant that integrate sound pedagogy and innovative strategies include but are not limited to:
- Redesigning a course for a new delivery method (e.g., in-person, blended, online)
- Incorporation of flipped learning into a new or existing course
- Integration of active learning strategies
- Incorporation of new technologies to enhance student learning and engagement
- Revision or introduction of student-centered assessments
- Integration of new perspectives on, or new cultural understandings of, knowledge and knowledge-sharing
- Implementation of strategies that support first-generation college students’ academic growth
For ideas of pedagogical best practice strategies, consult the following resources:
These resources purposely avoid suggesting prescriptive guidelines that may limit proposers’ creativity and innovations.
Eligible Faculty
- Any full-time faculty member at USC Columbia or the Schools of Medicine (Columbia and Greenville) is eligible to apply.
- A faculty member who submits a proposal is expected to serve as the instructor of record the first time (either Fall 2024 or Spring 2025) the course is offered after receiving funding.
- Grant recipient may receive funding for only one course.
- Prior recipients of teaching grants through CTE must have completed the prior project(s) and submitted final report(s) to be eligible to apply for this grant.
Up to 20 grants will be awarded based on the quality of applications received and approved. Successful proposals will be awarded $2,500. Funds will be disbursed to awardees after the project kickoff session and should be expended by all parties by May 15, 2025. Award funding can be used for salary, purchasing equipment, hiring undergraduate or graduate students for support, covering expenses related to travel, or acquiring any other resources necessary for implementing pedagogical innovations.
When completing the Online Application, you must enter information pertaining to your unit budget manager and PeopleSoft A-fund budget number. Please contact your unit budget manager and request the appropriate PeopleSoft A-fund budget number. If your grant proposal is accepted, then you must notify your unit budget manager of the financial award. Doing so will ensure a timely transfer of award funding.
CTE Instructional Designers will be available for pedagogical and design support to faculty for the development of instructional content.
To apply, complete the Online Application and submit the Department Support Form [pdf] and a Current Resume/CV that highlights your teaching experiences and accomplishments.
Department Support Form
Please include confirmation from your department chair, program director, or dean supporting efforts to offer your funded course within the next year, either through online, face-to-face, or hybrid delivery. Submit a signed Department Support Form [pdf]. (Digital signatures are accepted.) If the proposed learning content is for a unit outside of your academic department, then you must obtain endorsement from that unit’s program director.
Project Narrative
The proposal Project Narrative should include the following information and be concise (maximum 1,250 words which translates to approximately 2-1/2 single-spaced pages in 12pt font with 1" margins).
- The Course: Identify and describe the course that you plan to develop or revise. Describe what you are currently doing and what you plan to do. Provide a general description of your student population.
- Goals: Describe the goal(s) for developing or revising the course. What is the purpose? What types of student learning will be achieved with the content or delivery changes?
- Pedagogical Methods: Discuss briefly what proposed pedagogies you will incorporate into course development or revision. What new innovative techniques, assessment styles, pedagogical theories/models, active learning strategies, or instructional technologies will be incorporated to enhance student learning? What new instructional content will be integrated into your curriculum? If applicable, why do you want to change the delivery format of the course?
- Student Learning Experience: Describe how this project will enrich the student learning experience, resulting in better student engagement and learning outcomes.
- Impact and Sustainability: How will the proposed deliverable(s) be developed to ensure usage and continuity beyond the initial implementation? How often is the class taught and how many students (on average) complete the course each academic year?
Applications will be evaluated for merit. Proposals should be written to be understood by committee members who are not necessarily experts in the proponent’s discipline. Applicants should avoid the use of jargon and acronyms whenever possible.
Proposals will be evaluated by the following criteria:
- Completeness of application
- Quality of course proposal components: clarity, pedagogically sound, innovative approaches
- Likely impact and sustainability of the proposed course or materials
- Approval and support from cross-listed units (if applicable)
- Evidence that the proposer completed prior project(s) and submitted final report(s). (If applicable)
- March-April 2024: Develop Course Proposal.
- Friday, April 19, 2024: Submit Completed Application.
- Friday, May 3, 2024: Awards Announced.
- May 2024: Participate in Grant Program Kick-Off Meeting. (Date: TBD)
- Academic Year 2024-2025: Teach or Implement New/Revised Course.
- September 2024: Participate in One-hour Sharing Workshop (Date: TBD)
- January 2025: Participate in One-hour Sharing Workshop (Date: TBD)
- Thursday, May 15, 2025: Submit Final Report.
This grant opportunity is sponsored by the Office of the Provost and the Center for Teaching Excellence. For more information, contact Matt E. Thatcher at thatche1@cse.sc.edu.