Who can submit a proposal?
- Any Duke University instructional faculty or staff who work on teaching programs overseen by faculty.
- DKU instructors/faculty who are proposing a collaborative project with a Duke entity.
Project leaders must be working full time at Duke and/or DKU for the duration of the project. Projects must include active participation by at least one full-time Duke or DKU faculty member or instructor; we encourage collaborative proposals between Duke and DKU instructors.
What support will be provided for selected proposals?
Faculty may request the following types of staff support from Learning Innovation for their project:
- A DLI project lead who can help the faculty member manage the project by coordinating efforts across the project team and maintaining a project plan, tasklist, and timeline.
- A support team tailored to your project’s needs, such as: pedagogical consulting; support with licensing, implementing and training on education technology; developing and carrying out educational research; instructional design support to create online courses or programs; assistance with designing and implementing a project evaluation plan; support for public dissemination of your project.
- Networking with other Duke faculty, administrators, and resources across the university who might help collaborate on or otherwise support your project.
In addition, proposals may request funding for up to two years (see details below), Bass Digital Education Fellow support, and time/resources from other campus units (with their prior knowledge).
Funding may be requested for:
- One-time purchase of specialized teaching-related equipment, software or other materials or resources necessary for the project and not available through other university funding.
- Wages for undergraduate or graduate student workers directly connected to the project (hired and supervised by the faculty project leader or their designee).
- Payment to contract workers for programming, web development or other technical services.
- Funding to provide monetary incentives for faculty participating in a Faculty Learning Community, or FLC (to be paid as transfers to a Duke departmental or individual faculty account), or other reasonable expenses to provide materials or support for a semester or year of an FLC’s work.
- Other relevant project expenses.
Funding may NOT be requested for:
- Direct Duke faculty or instructor salary or stipends.
- Salary for permanent or temporary staff or post-doc positions.
- Standard computing or teaching equipment typically acquired through departmental or school funds.
- Personal or departmental equipment purchases when existing university facilities, such as labs or campus or departmental facilities, can be used in the project instead.
What are the requirements for faculty leaders of accepted projects?
- Depending on the nature of your project, you may function as the project manager (or designate someone you supervise to be the project manager). If so, we ask that you participate in an initial planning meeting with DLI staff during Summer 2021, during which the project plan would be jointly developed. Thereafter, meet at least once in Fall 2021 and once in Spring 2022 with DLI staff to discuss progress on the project; stay in touch with DLI staff to keep them informed about project progress between meetings.
- If DLI assigns a DLI project manager, we will ask you to meet with our team approximately monthly, and complete agreed-upon project tasks between meetings.
- Implement the project during the 2021-22 academic year, continuing in 2022-23 if the project scope warrants.
- Participate in agreed-upon project communication and evaluation activities, which may include writing blog post(s), giving a Duke presentation, conducting evaluation surveys, writing up project results or other activities.
What is the proposal review process?
Initial application forms are due by 5 pm EST Friday Feb 19, 2021.
Review of initial applications (Part 1) will occur between Feb 20 and March 11, during which time DLI staff will contact each applicant for additional information.
On March 12, successful initial applicants will be invited to submit a full proposal (Part 2), which will be due by 5 pm EDT, April 16, 2021. Individuals invited to submit a full proposal will be offered the opportunity to consult with a DLI staff member before the full proposal due date.
Full applications will then be reviewed by the DLI staff and other relevant reviewers based on the criteria shown below.
What are the selection criteria?
Priority will be given to proposed projects that demonstrate one or more of the following:
- Impact: Does this proposed project have the potential to significantly impact learning at Duke, such as transformative changes to your teaching, innovation across a program’s curriculum or across disciplines, or improving the design of high enrollment or introductory courses?
- Innovations in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: Does the proposed project focus on making programs, courses or learning experiences more equitable and inclusive? Does it maximize accessibility to students of all backgrounds and needs?
- Feasible project plan: Does the project seem carefully planned, with a realistic proposed timetable and outcomes? Have necessary personnel been identified and consulted?
- Measurable outcomes: Will this project result in a measurable change for students? Does the applicant have a plan to evaluate the project success? Will the project result in a published or shared result?
- Sustainable change: Once project support has ended, is the department, school or individual able to continue the new innovation, if successful? Does the department, school or program have resources to contribute to the initial proposal?
- Link to larger school or University priorities: Does the project clearly support the teaching and learning goals of the leader’s unit or school? For example, in Arts & Sciences, there is an effort to improve gateway courses. We will give priority to proposals that demonstrate connections to broader initiatives.
- Multi-faculty collaboration: does the project include collaboration between multiple faculty, either within a department, between departments, or between institutions such as Duke and DKU?
All else being equal, projects which appear to have the potential for a larger impact — such as those which are integral to planned curricular change in the department/school, or which involve more students, more courses, more instructors, will be used in more semesters, or can serve as a model for others — will be given higher priority for support. In addition, DLI will seek to accept a diversity of projects to spread available support as widely as possible.
What information is required for the initial application?
The following information will be requested in the initial application:
- Project title
- Which program track does your project best fit? (Educational Research, New Tools, Course Redesign, Faculty Learning Community)
- Describe your project idea, including your goals and planned outcomes (1-2 paragraphs).
- Tell us why we should support your project (please use terminology understandable to those outside your discipline). Include:
- Why your project is important to your program, department or school’s educational vision.
- How your successful project will positively impact students, student learning and student outcomes.
- How your successful project could be a model for other faculty, courses and programs at Duke and/or DKU.
- Describe generally the types of support or funding for which you are asking.
- If this project will focus on one or a small number of courses, please list those including subject/number, title, estimate of student enrollment, when offered, format offered.
- Basic faculty information (name, department, etc.)
- Other faculty actively involved in the project, if any (name, department, school, email, and netID).
- Names and email addresses of faculty project leader’s department chair, academic dean, department/school IT person, department/school business manager.
What is the program timeline?
| Initial Application Form due | Friday February 19, 2021, 5 pm EST |
| Review of initial applications | February 19 – March 11, 2021 |
| Initial response to applicants | Friday March 12, 2021 |
| Full Application Form due from invitees | Friday April 16, 2021, 5 pm EDT |
| Review of completed proposals | April 16 – April 29, 2021 |
| Announcement of selected projects | April 30, 2021 |
| Funds transferred to projects | July 2021, or on agreed-upon timeline |
| Implementation of projects | Typically June 2021 – June 2022 |
| Project evaluation and communication activities | Typically April/May 2022 and/or October 2022* |
*Due dates for these activities are dependent upon the planned project activities and targeted completion date, and may vary from those listed above.
What if I have an idea that doesn’t fit this program?
We can consult with you on your instructional ideas. Duke faculty may email learninginnovation@duke.edu to request a consult; DKU faculty may email dku_ctl@dukekunshan.edu.cn to request a consult.
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