Developing submissions for the UQ New Staff Start-up and New Staff Start-up (SoTL) and Early Career (SoTL) grant schemes

Workshop: May, 2010

Developing submissions for the UQ New Staff Start-up and New Staff Start-up (SoTL) and Early Career (SoTL) grant schemes

Workshop: May, 2010

Clair HughesClair.hughes@uq.edu.au

Ext. 52456

With acknowledgement of material generously provided by Mia O’Brien and Kelly Matthews

Clair HughesClair.hughes@uq.edu.au

Ext. 52456

With acknowledgement of material generously provided by Mia O’Brien and Kelly Matthews

UQ funding for teaching and learning

• Advanced Concept Teaching Space (ACTS) Innovative Development Fund

• Early Career Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Grants

• New Staff Start-up Grants - Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

• Resteach

• Support of Visiting Teaching and Learning Presenters

• The University of Queensland Teaching Fellowship Scheme

• UQ Strategic Teaching and Learning Grants

Session overview

• Background and essential features of the UQ New Staff Start-up and Early Career Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) grants

• Over view of SoTL• Application requirements and criteria• Examples of successful applications• Developing your own ideas• Evaluation and dissemination• Some cautions• What next?

New Staff Start-up SoTL Grants

• The aims of the Scheme are:– to encourage new members of TF staff to identify and develop an area of

professional learning in SoTL that is relevant to their current and intended role; and

– to provide limited seed funding as a means of generating future support from competitive internal and external grant schemes.

– Funding available: Maximum combined total of $12,000 per grant per applicant, by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) and Faculties, and TEDI. Total allocation at the recommendation of the relevant Faculty.

• Eligibility: staff members appointed to a TF position since introduction in 2007. Applications from 2011 onward will need to meet standard timeframe - normally, within 12 months of their appointment to a Teaching Focused position.

• Application closing date: Friday, 28 May 2010

Early Career SoTL Grants

• The aims of the Scheme are:– to encourage new members of staff, and existing staff members

transferring to a TF position, to engage in the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL);

– to identify teaching and learning issues, within or across disciplines, and facilitate an approach to addressing these issues;

– to initiate the development of a project or program that could later attract external funding (e.g. from the Australian Learning and Teaching Council);

– to support, on a competitive basis, high quality teaching and learning projects of modest financial cost.

• Funding available: a maximum of $15,000 per project

• Eligibility: An Early Career Scholar (ECS) is someone who is, at the time of application, within his/her first eight years of teaching employment in either a teaching-focused or similar appointment at another university, allowing for uninterrupted, stable academic development.

• Application closing date:  Friday, 3 September 2010

Eligible activities

• Early career– Research and administrative assistants– Other research and development costs– Travel expenses– Seminars and related activities.

• Funds will not support general curriculum renewal at UQ – projects must be new initiatives or innovative and or collaborative extensions to existing curricula

• See guidelines for budget items not supported

Scholarly Teaching and Scholarship of teaching

Scholarly teaching •  Scholarly teaching in a discipline involves all of the following:

– striving for a high level of proficiency in stimulating students and fostering their learning in a variety of appropriate ways,

– being familiar with the latest ideas in one's subject,– being informed by current ideas for teaching that subject, – evaluating and reflecting on one's teaching practice and the student learning which

follows. 

The scholarship of teaching The scholarship of teaching develops from a basis of scholarly teaching in a discipline but is not the same as excellent teaching. It involves exploring, testing, practicing and communicating improved pedagogies, learning processes, curricula, policies and learning materials. It meets the following additional criteria in the context of promoting student learning:

– It requires high levels of discipline-related expertise.– It requires an understanding of who the learners are, how they learn and what practices

are most effective in the context of the discipline (pedagogical content knowledge)– It breaks new ground and is innovative– It can be replicated and elaborated– It is documented and subjected to peer review

•  See UQ Report at http://www.uq.edu.au/teaching-learning/index.html?page=65733

Characteristics of SoTL Projects

• Focus on improvement/enhancement of student learning• Focus on disciplinary-specific teaching and learning

• Framed often as an ‘intervention’ or innovation (but not necessarily) for example:– Change in teaching approach and practice– Change/elaborate learning activities– Modify curriculum/assessment– Provision of resources to students– Teaching/learning designs that facilitate disciplinary-specific

practice/thinking

• Provides evidence of outcomes/impact of intervention

• Implications for teaching and learning elsewhere…

Criteria: New Staff Start-up

• The proposal demonstrate an understanding of the nature of SoTL within the university context?

• Does the proposal identify an area of Sotl that is relevant to their current and intended role in the discipline in which they teach?

• Will the anticipated outcomes contribute to the SoTL of the discipline? How?

• Will the anticipated outcomes be applicable to other disciplines within the T&L spectrum?

• Are the conceptual framework, design, methods and analyses adequately developed, rarely integrated and appropriate to the aims of the proposal?

• If the proposed budget appropriate?• How will the proposed project lead to an application for

external funding for future work?

Criteria: Early Career

• Excellence is the primary criterion to be awarded the grant, both in terms of the project and the investigator/investigator team strong, as well as– The applicant/s contribution to scholarship of teaching and

learning– The capacity of the applicant/s to embed the outcomes of the

project to the benefit of the University– The significance of the issue to be addressed– The extent to which the project is innovative and creative, and

grounded in scholarly literature– The extent to which the project activities are feasible, bearing in

mind the expertise, track record, and productivity of the applicant/s

– Extent to which the outcomes could form the basis of an application to an external agency

– The appropriateness of the evaluation strategies– The extent to which the budget is justified and appropriate

New Staff Start-up application

Project title and summary

• TITLE– A clear encapsulation of the project (e.g. An

investigation of how student awareness of task cognitive demand influences achievement)

– Consider an acronym (e.g. charM)• SUMMARY

– A plain language summary of the issues to be addressed, significance and expected outcomes (approx 100 words)

Summary sample A

• Recently there has been strong impetus to encourage undergraduate science students to develop the attributes of ‘being a scientist’ by promoting scientific and research skill development. However, creating effective and equitable methods to assess the development of these skills remains difficult, particularly when coupled with large class sizes. This project aims to develop innovative and effective assessment practices to explicitly evaluate these skills in students in a large class setting. It also aims to improve the curriculum design process by supporting the expansion of the expertise in assessment practices of teaching-focused, discipline-based academics. This should enhance the students’ satisfaction by demonstrating the value placed on the development of these skills.

Summary sample B

• The current 1st year practical experience contains ‘traditional labs’ and a limited opportunity for students to do undergraduate research. In this project, the introduction of guided inquiry will be explored to investigate whether a range of experiences best meets the needs of a diverse cohort. The project will develop a guided inquiry-based practical for both XXXX1111and XXXX1111 and determine the extent of students’ gain in their understanding of the Nature of Science.

• If the project is successful, teaching practice would be modified across 1st year chemistry, which could enhance student learning and outcomes.

D1: Aims and background

• Aims and background to the project• Information about recent international SoTL

progress in the relationship of this proposal to work in the field generally

Aims & Background: Example A

Project Aims• To facilitate correction of alternate conceptual models possessed by students

through active learning experiences and effective teaching practices in chemistry.

• To enhance the development of cognitive skills by students through the explanation of transformations between symbolic, microscopic and macroscopic

representations of chemical phenomena.Background• As students make transitions between the secondary to the tertiary context,

between individual courses or even between modules in a course they tend to ‘box’ concepts. We compound this process by organising chemistry courses around traditional sub-disciplines such as organic or physical chemistry or in themes such as thermochemistry or bonding. One of the challenges in teaching chemistry is to encourage students to both recognise their existing knowledge and conceptual understanding and then apply it in new learning situations (Schraw et al, 2006).

• We have increasing evidence that students possess a diverse range of alternate conceptions to key ideas. Concept inventories are well established instruments for gauging the extent of alternate conceptions (Mulford & Robinson, 2002) and we have incorporated a number of questions in a survey of the prior learning experiences of our 1st year chemistry students in 2008 and 2009. Significant alternate conceptions in ideas that students were assumed to have acquired at a novice level were evident. Our data mirrored the outcomes reported for 927 general chemistry students in the US (Mulford & Robinson, 2002). To address the diversity in conceptual models we will explore the development of cognitive skills in the explanation of transformations between symbolic, microscopic and macroscopic representation of chemical phenomena (Chittleborough & Treagust, 2008; Treagust et al, 2003; Kozma & Russell, 1997). To become proficient in these transformations, students must be able to recognize, organize and apply the underlying concepts. Students will be presented with a range of activities both as individual and group tasks framed in contexts that challenge their existing conceptual models of chemical principles and encourage reflection on discrepant ideas. These activities will be embedded in lectures (clicker questions), collaborative group tasks and laboratory experiences through instructional design based on inductive T&L practices (Prince & Felder, 2007).

• Outcomes of this project will be measured in terms of the extent of conceptual change.

D2: Significance and innovationD4: National benefit

• Significance and innovation– Important questions or problem to be addressed– Contribution to the SoTL in a discipline and novel and

innovative characteristics of aims and concepts– How proposal will advance own teaching and

learning profile/program and lead to external grant application of (nominated) external funding agency

• National benefit– Expected outcomes and likely impact of the

proposed project– How SoTL project might result in improvements in

the outcomes for teaching and learning for Australia

Example A• The development of problem solving capabilities and mastery of inquiry-based

learning processes are essential aspects of life-long learning for university graduates. Recent surveys of graduate employer groups sited these skills amongst the top 5 most valued skills in new employees (DEST, 2008). While there are many forms of academic skills programs already in existence within the US, few are currently in use within the Australian higher education context. The development and piloting of this seminar will provide an evidence-based template for student learning seminars in Australian health science settings that may be translatable to other professional learning contexts.

• Moreover, the opportunity to trial and evaluate a tailored version of these seminars provides me with an opportunity to contribute to, and potentially lead innovation in, current approaches to clinical practice education in Australia. This project will enable me to translate my experience as a clinical supervisor into an area of disciplinary scholarship. I plan to extend upon this project by coordinating and leading an interdisciplinary version of this seminar with colleagues within clinical psychology, occupational therapy, and social work education settings.

Example B

• Undergraduate science education in Australia is rapidly expanding and attracts students with a wide range of educational experience and ability. As class sizes increase the opportunities for staff to identify and support individual student’s difficulties and misunderstanding wanes. The pre- and post-test tools that this project will develop to detect misconceptions in physics will be an efficient tool applicable to large first year science courses across the country. Moreover this process provides an evidence-based mechanism that can inform and shape existing approaches to first year physics curriculum, teaching and assessment.

• At present physics teaching is dominated by the use of traditional textbooks and the teaching of ‘principles’ and formula. I aim to use the outcomes of this project to contribute to a shift to more experiential and student-focused models for learning physics. For this project I will draw upon my recent experience within the Graduate Certificate of Higher Education, in which I investigated the kinds of troublesome knowledge my students encountered within first year physics labs…

Example C

• While adult education has a strong research presence within the literature (see for example Billet, 2008;Fenwick, 2008;), the role of community-service in the teaching and learning professional competencies and the development of students’ sense of social justice is unexamined.

• Because community-based learning has become a priority within the adult education field, it is important to ensure our approaches to developing appropriate skills and abilities in future professionals are effective. This project will develop a process to engage and support these abilities by embedding students in an authentic community-based setting. This will provide an opportunity to link these skills to the competencies required of professional associations and employer groups…. As well as expanding existing work on service learning, this project will provide me with a basis for leading a sector-wide curriculum redevelopment in collaboration with program convenors from other universities in Australia.

D3: Approach and methodology

• Outline of conceptual framework (list references in D5) design and methods

• Demonstration that these are adequately developed, well integrated and appropriate to the aims of the project

Early career grant application

C2: Issues to be addressed

• Discussion of– issue to be addressed– including clear statement of the research

questions/hypothesis– significance in the context of T&L practice

• Information about the theoretical/conceptual framework to which your project contributes, or from which it arises (list references in C8)

C3: Activities and timeline

• Detailed plan of activities to address project issue(s)• Relationship between planned activities and:

– investigator expertise – appropriateness to the specific challenges addressed– intended outcomes

• Evidence that you are primary originators of project activities

• Detailed timeline, including explanation of any concurrent academic activities for the period of the grant

Overview of research plan/activity

The research will be undertaken in four stages: Stage 1 Literature review with focus on: o Innovative teaching

and learning tasks with assessment potential

o Innovative approaches to outcomes assessment

Selection of interviewees - two from each of UQ, Wollongong and La Trobe – selected because they are the partners in the current Priority Project submission of which I am a member.

Stage 2 Interview with individual and/or teaching teams reporting innovative teaching and assessment practice, collection of teaching and assessment artefacts to investigate the nature of effective approaches to the assessment and influences that have fostered assessment innovation. Interviews with students who have undertaken innovative assessment tasks to investigate awareness of graduate attribute development and passive/active role in the assessment process.

Stage 3 Data analysis and interpretation and initial theorising of the nature of innovative approaches to assessment and influences that have fostered assessment innovation.

Stage 4 Documentation & final dissemination through report, conference presentation and

journal articles.

Overview of timeline, activity and activity purposePhase

Activity2010 2011 Activity function

M J J A S O N D J/F

M A M J J A S O N/D Development

Evaluatio

n

Dissemination

Phase 1Literature review

√

Analysis of SGP data √Group interviews √ √ √

Phase 2Resource development

√

Consultation √ √Development of guidelines √

Phase 3Staff professional development

√ √

Pilot √ √

Phase 4Collection of data

√

Revision of resources √

Preparation of publication and conference presentations

√ √

C4: Collaboration

• Identification of issues, either within disciplines or across other disciplines, affected by the issue to be addressed

• Summary of expertise required to adequately address the issue and how to identify and involve other scholars in the field

C5: Profile building and dissemination

• Use of the outcomes of this project to enhance professional profile

• Range of approaches to ENGAGED dissemination

Dissemination definedDissemination is more than distribution of information or making it available in some way. Dissemination also requires that some action has been taken to embed and upscale the innovation within its own context and to replicate or transform the innovation in a new context and to embed the innovation in the new context.

ALTC Institute Dissemination Framework

Two dissemination forms - engaged and information provision

Purposes of project disseminationDissemination for awareness(scattering the seed to the wind)Information provision

Distributing information through reports, publishing papers, conference presentations, sending emails, developing websites.One way information process.

Dissemination for understanding(sowing the seed in prepared soil)Information provision

Distributing information in a more purposeful manner, e.g. workshops, visits.Requires interaction with others who are involved in the project.

Dissemination for action(propagating, breeding, growing, grafting)Engaged dissemination

Purposeful, directed, systematic, proactive engagement, evidence-based, involves adaptation and implementation, resulting in changes in practice.

Dissemination questionsWho are the users of and other stakeholders in this program?

What do we want to disseminate (process, ideas, products)?

How could we make users and other stakeholders aware and involved?

How could we engage users and other stakeholders so they use and/or support the program?

How could we obtain feedback from users during the project?

How will we know there has been change in practice?

C6: Grant outcomes

• Information about outcomes of the grant• How outcomes might be embedded within

teaching and learning practices at UQ• How the project could be developed further

and submitted to an external agency• Project’s contribution to the scholarship of

teaching and learning

C7: Evaluation method

• Evaluation conducted throughout the project• Data collected for inclusion in the final report

which evaluates the activities and the outcomes of the grant

• Describe strategies for both ongoing (formative) and final (summative) evaluation

Evaluation definedEvaluation is the process of determining the merit and/or worth of things for a range of purposes.

Consider funding agency requirements for evaluation:• Ensure that evaluation is undertaken at multiple points throughout the project and is understood and reported within an evaluation framework.

ALTCCompetitive Grants program: Guidelines and Supporting Information – 2008 (p.23)

• Must provide a strategy for the evaluation of the project with information on outcomes for students, whether there has been a noticeable improvement or not in the expected outcomes for students.

UQ Teaching and Learning Small and Large Grants Scheme Guidelines

Lack of success a worthwhile and significant outcome if it generates new insights or learning

Evaluation questionsWho is our project audience (stakeholders)?

Select two stakeholders/groups and list one or more questions each may have in relation to this project.

How could we collect data to answer these questions? (methods)

From whom or where (stakeholders and others) could data be collected? (sources)

What will count as evidence? (consider both qualitative and quantitative)

Purposes of project evaluationFormative(to inform ongoing project decision-making)

•Monitor project progress•Revise/enhance project processes and outcomes•Engage key stakeholders early and during project to:

–demonstrate respect–intensify participation–collaborate in identifying key indicators of success–progressively expose to new perspectives, or information

•Make interim reports

Summative(to determine/support project findings and outcomes)

•Report on success/results/value•Demonstrate impact•Account to sponsors•Sustain project outcomes•Support related submissions (eg grants for funding for further related projects; promotion; teaching and learning awards)

Enlightenment(to learn)

•Provide opportunities for project team to maximise the learning developed through participation in the project

Adapted from “The Learning Partnership” 2007 and W. K. Kellogg Foundation

Example of an evaluation framework

Evaluation questions

Sources/Methods

Institutional contacts

Expert reference

group

Existing records/artefacts

What is Generic Graduate Attribute (GGA) policy in Australian universities?

Telephone interview (to clarify, address omissions or current activity)

Web search of university policy documents

What are current barriers to effective GGA implementation?

Focus groups to elicit responses to issues paper based on literature review

Written responses to draft issues paper

Literature review (research into implementation experience)

Analysis of AUQA reports

Budget example Detailed Budget (List all items individually)

$ Amount Requested

Total

Personnel (include type of appointment and on-costs) Research Assistant (HEW 5, Level 1) 6 weeks @ $1,371.06 per fortnight + on-costs 5232 Casual rates (RA as above) 20 hours @ $22.50/ hour + on-costs 524 Total: 5756 Equipment (items costing more than $1,000 each) Nvivo for qualitative data analysis with training 780 Specialist chemicals for practicals 700 Total: 1480 Maintenance (Including equipment items costing $1,000 or less each) Total: 0 Travel Conference, National: Herdsa and Uniserve Registration Herdsa: $1450 1450 Herdsa: Standard economy return airfare: $550 550 Herdsa: Accommodation: 4 nights @ $160/night 640 Herdsa: Subsistence: $70/day 280 Uniserve Science: conference registration 390 Uniserve Science: Standard economy return airfare: $425 425 Uniserve Science: Accommodation: 4 nights @ $180/night 720 Uniserve Science: Subsistence: $70/day 280 Total: 4735 Other Total: 11,971

Activity 1

• Work in pairs• Use one of the samples provided and the

feedback sheet to identify how the individual components have been framed.

Activity 2

• Use the application form to make some notes for your own application development

Feedback on ALTC grant submissions

• Continuity is a strength – build on previous projects (your own or others) where possible

• Focus the project to produce a targeted outcome• Base submissions on sound theory and show engagement with the

body of knowledge in the area• Embed evaluation and dissemination into the proposal• Demonstrate appreciation of sustainability and portability• Application weaknesses:

– poor budget justifications– unclear evaluation plans – particularly in engaging stakeholders– a lack of detail about how outcomes would be achieved– inadequate preparation – some form of literature review should have been

completed prior to submission– limited engagement with key ideas and theoretical concepts or limited

integration of proposal with this body of knowledge– poor presentation of ideas

Feedback (Kelly Matthews)

• Ensure your budget aligns with your project– As dissemination is central to SoTL, money for travel is reasonable, although if 30% or

more of your budget is for travel, it needs to be well justified.– If you suggest dissemination (T&L forums, conferences) in your proposal, this should

appear in your budget.• Documentation and peer-review (i.e., publication) are central to SoTL; you should demonstrate

an understanding of this in your application. • References should be current and up to date with appropriately formatted bibliographies.

– Ensure that you are referencing properly to avoid unintended plagiarism. – Ensure your in-text citation and bibliography are consistent.– Ensure bibliographic information is complete.

• This granting scheme does not support the “supplementation of projects being funded by other agencies” including UQ T&L grants or ALTC grants.

• Your proposal should demonstrate how it will lead to an application for external funding for future work. Just referring to ALTC or other external funding might not be enough to convince the central committee

• This proposal is about SoTL and hence, your teaching and your student’s learning, so this application should focus on teaching and learning in the context of your role and in your discipline. Be sure you demonstrate an understanding of SoTL, as defined by UQ, in your application.

Useful resources• ALTC Resources (including project reports) http://www.altc.edu.au/resources • ALTC Dissemination Framework

http://www.altc.edu.au/resource-dissemination-framework-altc-2008 • ALTC Grants Scheme - Evaluating Projects

http://www.altc.edu.au/extras/altc-gsep/evaluation_plan.pdf • High-Impact Educational Practices - What they are, who has access to them, and why th

ey matter - George D Kuh 2008 http://www.neasc.org/downloads/aacu_high_impact_2008_final.pdf

• TEDI Teaching and Learning Support http://www.tedi.uq.edu.au/teaching/index.html

• TEDI Evaluation Services http://www.tedi.uq.edu.au/evaluations/index.html• The Higher Education Academy - Resources

http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/resources and Subject Centres http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/subjectcentres

• Centre for Studies in Higher Education (CSHE) Teaching & Learning Resources http://www.cshe.unimelb.edu.au/resources/cshe_res.html

• The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching - Resourceshttp://www.carnegiefoundation.org/resources

• International Journal for the Scholarship pf Teaching and Learning http://academics.georgiasouthern.edu/ijsotl/

What next?

• Planning your submission– set side time to write– identify one or two colleagues to ask for

feedback (include one who does not know you or your work very well)