Teaching Innovation Grants

The Provost’s Office, through the Center for Teaching and Learning, is pleased to provide annual Teaching Innovation Grants for Brandeis faculty. These grants are intended to promote excellence and innovation in teaching by means of evidence-based practice.

Examples of past Projects and recipients 

Posters can also be viewed at the Center for Teaching and Learning in Farber Library.

Areas of Focus

In 2021-2022, projects are invited that focus on inclusive and anti-racist teaching/learning practices.

Eligibility

All members of the Brandeis teaching community may participate in Teaching Innovation Grant projects, while the following are eligible to apply as principal investigators:

• Tenured faculty
• Tenure-Track faculty
• Contract faculty on multi-year contracts
• Part-time faculty who have taught at least three courses in the previous three years, and who are contracted to teach at Brandeis during the 2020-2021 academic year

Guidelines

Eligible expenses include:

• Summer stipends for planning
• Costs associated with attendance at courses, seminars, conferences, trainings, faculty development institutes or workshops (i.e. Association of American Colleges & Universities, Gardner Gateway, Indianapolis Assessment Conference, New England Faculty Development Consortium, Professional Organizational Development Network, etc.)
• Teaching assistants or student workers
• Publications about teaching and learning
• External consultants’ or specialists’ honoraria, travel, lodging
• Travel and admissions fees (e.g., for museums, sites, archives)
• Supplies for reading groups
• Evaluators

The following are not eligible expenses for Teaching Innovation Grant funds:

• Food
• Faculty salaries
• Equipment

Budget Guidelines

• Calculate student wages according to your department’s or program’s guidelines.
• Include 27.7% fringe costs for faculty stipends and 7.7% for summer graduate student payments. (Graduate student payments during the academic year are not subject to fringe costs.)
• Projects that require funding beyond the year of the grant (July 1, 2020 – June 30, 2021) must include a letter of commitment from the relevant dean or vice president.

Criteria for Selection

A selection committee consisting of Mary-Ann Winkelmes, executive director, Center for Teaching and Learning, representatives from the Committee on Teaching, Learning and Assessment, former Teaching Innovation Grant recipients, and representatives from each school and division will review proposals and make their recommendation to me by late April. They will evaluate proposals according to these criteria.

1. the significance of the project and scale of the need
2. the viability of the timeline and budget
3. how Brandeis students and educators will benefit during the project
4. what artifacts and measures will fully capture and communicate the project’s impact
5. how the project’s findings and materials can serve the Brandeis teaching/learning community

Supporting Services

The Center for Teaching and Learning, the Rabb School’s Instructional Design team, Student Accessibility Support staff, and Library staff will offer a variety of instructional design and other services to help you plan, design and implement your innovation. Any questions should be directed to Mary-Ann Winkelmes, executive director of the Center for Teaching and Learning.

The questions from the application form are available online.

Funds for independent projects will be released on July 1, 2020 and must be spent by June 15, 2021. Recipients will present their outcomes at a campus wide forum and share their findings on the Center for Teaching and Learning website.