Teaching Development Grants

ANNOUNCEMENT AND CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

 

CEU Teaching Development Grants

 

CEU Teaching Development Grants to support individual faculty members in the development of teaching projects are available on a competitive basis with funds up to 4,000 euros per project per academic year.

The project should both a), advance the grantee’s development as a teacher and b), improve student learning. The outcomes of the project should be measurable and sustainable beyond its lifetime.

Given the developmental focus, Teaching Development projects should be designed to focus on inquiry and experimentation, particularly identified in CEU strategic planning processes. These include greater development of connections between research and teaching; using new technologies to support learning; incorporation of problem-based learning; teaching with case studies; the development of interdisciplinary approaches to teaching; and other research-based teaching strategies; experiential, civic- and community-engaged teaching; and alternative forms of assessment. 

Applicant Eligibility and Eligible Expenses

Resident CEU faculty and resident teaching staff members are eligible to apply, as are resident research staff members with teaching responsibilities at CEU. Please see the Academic Staff Handbook for additional information about ranks. The eligible rank should be held throughout the period of project.

Teaching Development Grant funds may be requested for expenses necessary to fulfill the project and which directly advance the staff member’s teaching development and/or student learning. The approval of the budget is at the discretion of the selection committee and responsible ACRO program coordinator. Examples of expenses approved in the past include the hiring of a doctoral student to serve as a Teaching Assistant or as a Teaching Development Grant project assistant, the costs of attending teaching-related workshops and conferences, honoraria and travel costs of guest speakers, admission tickets and travel for student experiential learning, and software or other teaching-related equipment or materials required for implementation of the teaching development project.  The fund may not be used for faculty salary support.

When calculating the costs of student employees, please consult the current rates on the Sharepoint Student Employment page, and in all hiring or purchases, please adhere to the relevant university policies.

 

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Project Support from the CEU Elkana Center

Applicants who are awarded the grant are expected to consult with the Yehuda Elkana Center for Teaching, Learning and Higher Education Research (the Elkana Center) before implementing their project and at regular intervals during their project. Members of the Elkana Center are available to collaborate with individual faculty members to explore teaching ideas and challenges that interest applicants as they develop their project proposal; consult with interested faculty members and doctoral student project assistants as they develop their ideas into pilots and small-scale teaching innovations; and share feedback and research insights during the implementation of the projects and follow-up activities.

Dissemination and Impact

Grant recipients are expected to disseminate their project findings through multiple means, including presenting their project’s results at the Annual Elkana Symposium on Reimagining Teaching and Learning and by producing short reports or materials to share on the ACRO or Elkana Center website. Additional activities to promote dissemination and impact are considered favorably by the selection committee.

 

Review Process and Criteria

The call for applications for CEU Teaching Development Grants will be announced at the beginning of each academic year and will be awarded in two cycles: 

Second funding cycle of the 2024-2025 AY:  Applications for projects to begin also during academic year 2024-2025 are due on 15 November 2024. Grant awards for this cycle will be announced in early January 2025.

First funding cycle of the 2025-2026 AY: Applications for projects to begin in the next academic year in 2025-2026 AY are due on 15 May 2025. Grant awards for this cycle will be announced in June 2025.

 

Applications will be reviewed by the Teaching Development Grant Committee.

Applications are competitive, but subject to funding availability and the committee’s judgment, multiple awards are sometimes awarded per application cycle.

Projects will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

  • Goals - Clear articulation of the motivation for undertaking the project and project goals
  • Developmental potential - Potential for the development of the teacher (both in the context of the project/course, and more generally in the context of the teacher’s professional development)
  • Student learning - Potential to improve student learning;
  • Feasibility;
  • Alignment – Alignment with the teaching innovation priorities outlined in this call;
  • Impact and sustainability – Potential impact beyond the course or project and sustainability beyond the lifetime of the grant
  • Budget – Necessity of the requested expenses to achieve the project’s goals

Projects should be completed within one year, and a short final, narrative report will be required within three months of project completion. There is no need to submit a financial report as expenses are available in SAP. Modifications to the budget should be requested in advance to the ACRO program coordinator.

Questions regarding budget and personnel cost calculation, as well as the applications and reporting information should be directed to Veronika Csapó of ACRO at:  csapov@ceu.edu.

To meet with faculty members at the Elkana Center to discuss their teaching project ideas, please contact Michael Kozakowski at: KozakowskiM@ceu.edu