Faculty Mini-Grants Are NOT Available for 2009-2010 Pending Budget Resolution.

Who May Apply?

Faculty Members.

To Do What?

Course Development/Improvement: Minor revisions, or development and testing of materials or procedures, to improve one or more courses. Examples include development of case studies, revision of lab procedures, production of media or computer materials for instruction, and pilot testing and evaluation of different approaches to the teaching of specific academic content. Proposals need not involve media or digital technologies; any approaches to the improvement of instruction will be considered. The benefits of a funded project must affect more than one offering of one or more courses.

Retreats: Many departments have found retreats to be highly effective in considering departmental priorities, practices, and policies concerning curricula and academic programs. Minigrant funding may provide support of departmental retreats up to the maximum of $500 per department per year. Meal costs can no longer be supported. Essential to a proposal will be an agenda that reflects issues directly connected to the quality of undergraduate instruction. Cost sharing by the requesting department is strongly encouraged. For issues to be addressed in proposals, contact Instructional Consultation (Rick, Shirley, George).

Travel: Limited funding may support faculty travel to develop teaching techniques, strategies, methodologies, or materials, or to disseminate results of instructional projects conducted at UCSB. Requests for support of course development must provide documentation of the training or consulting the traveler will receive, the workshops to be attended, the experiences which will lead to improved teaching techniques, strategies, methodologies, or materials, etc. A detailed conference program or workshop description is usually the starting point for addressing this requirement, and typically the proposal will need to make specific connection between the traveler's experiences and the changes to be made in one or more UCSB courses. Proposals must receive a letter of support from the chair or equivalent of the academic department or unit; support is most persuasive when it includes some provision for sharing of costs. A minimum of 25% of the total travel costs must come from sources other than the Faculty Minigrant program. Amounts approved from travel will not exceed amounts which would be available under current guidelines for research travel by the Academic Senate Committee on Research. Finally, the benefits of a funded project must affect more than one offering of one or more courses; in some cases, this may take the form of presentations to faculty colleagues. For additional information, contact Instructional Consultation (Rick, Shirley, George).

Video/Film Purchase: Purchase of film or video titles as part of course improvement will be considered only if there is some evidence that each title has already been used instructionally (e.g. through prior rental). The benefits of a funded project must affect more than one offering of one or more courses. Films and videos acquired with IIP funds are required to be housed in Instructional Development's Film and Video Library as a campus-wide resource.

Course Web Sites: Course web sites have become a common means of distributing both course information and course content. From the perspective of the Instructional Improvement Program, it is important to recognize the distinction between these two functions of a course web site. Potentially fundable through the Faculty Minigrant program would be the preparation of course content, defined as materials specific and necessary to achieving the course's instructional goals through interaction with academic content. This content may be presented online in a variety of formats (e.g. text, streaming audio or video, data and/or program downloads) and may serve a variety of instructional goals (e.g. animations as visualization tools, simulations of complex processes, summaries or recaps of lecture presentations, topic-specific tutorials, pre-tests and quizzes, and other means of giving students feedback about the quality of their learning). Requests for adding new content to a course are not by themselves sufficient to justify funding; it is necessary that requests describe in what ways the course's web site will improve the pedagogical quality or the anticipated educational outcomes of the course. Not fundable would be preparation of course information, defined as administrative and logistical information about a course such as the syllabus, schedule, list of assignments, readings, lists of resources online and offline, faculty member info, and links to department, college, campus, etc. Routine maintenance and updating of course websites also is not fundable from this source.

These two distinct categories, course information and course content, often represent substantially different development and delivery technologies, as well as substantially different investments of intellectual energy and technical expertise in their development. The Office of Instructional Consultation will gladly provide advice and assistance to faculty in determining what aspects of a course web site may be eligible for Minigrant funding, and what aspects may not, as well as where faculty might get assistance in developing those portions that do not qualify for funding support.

Please note that the Web Minigrant Program can provide trained technical assistants to faculty in developing web-deliverable course content (click here). Web Minigrants provide technical assistance from qualified students to projects that do not require specialized academic content knowledge on the part of the assistant. Faculty Minigrants are intended to address projects where such specialized knowledge is essential.

Available Support

A maximum of $1,000 per applicant per year for:

• student assistance
• supplies, although minor supplies such as photocopying, paper, and printing are normally supplied by the academic department
• services, such as Instructional Resources media production services

Specific budget items (e.g. student assistant hours, production costs, supplies) should be justified. Purchases of equipment are not funded. Requests for funding of activities completed prior to proposal submission typically are not approved.

How To Apply

Submit proposals containing a brief description of the project, including the expected instructional impact, and itemized budget, Electronic Submissions Only: Send via email to: proposal@id.ucsb.edu If you submit a proposal and do not receive confirmation within 48 hours, please contact ruth@id.ucsb.edu.

Proposals are reviewed by the Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Programs

When? At any time. Decisions are usually announced within two weeks of receipt.

For Further Information

For detailed information regarding the grant program and specific application procedures, or for budget preparation and evaluation design, contact Instructional Consultation at 893-2972 or (Kim, Lisa, or George).