Making a successful application
for a Teaching and Learning
Strategic Grant
Some advice arising from a Carrick
Institute Leadership Development Grant
project
Fred D’Agostino & Mia O’Brien
Key information sources
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Guidelines for your application
FAQs about the program
TEDI support for your application
A list of currently funded projects
Large grant application form
Small grant application form
Teaching and Learning Enhancement Plan
2008-10
Find all of these on the Teaching and
Learning website
Key Dates for
Second Round Applications
Applications
open
School and
Faculty
Selection
and
Ranking
Dates
Application
closing date
– Faculties
send ranked
applications
to Office of
the DVC (A)
Grants
announced
Monday, 29
October 2007
Variable Please
discuss with
your School
and Faculty
Thursday, 20
March 2008
April 2008
Check with your Faculty’s Director of Studies about
the “local” deadline.
Be sure to allow adequate time to prepare your
application, get feedback on it, and revise it for
success.
Orienting to the task—
looking for a place to start
Section D – Project Proposal
Fill out each section in the area provided. If required, one additional page
above the total recommended word limit may be submitted.
Application Assistance
SC=Selection Criteria
(refer to application
guidelines for more detail)
1. Rationale (150 words approximate)
- Describe the
problem(s)/issue(s)/
innovation your project is
trying to address.
- Demonstrate alignment of
the project to University
and/or faculty key teaching
and learning operational
priorities and objectives
(SC1)
•If you can’t say what the problem-to-be-solved or the
opportunity-to-be-seized is, you don’t yet know what
you’re asking for money for.
•You need to be able to connect your problem/opportunity
with the University’s strategic objectives in learning and
teaching. This is the significance of the TLEP.
•What the problem/opportunity is will determine what
actions you take as part of your project.
Brainstorm your project now!
Describe the problem/opportunity in 25 words or less!
Your project is
a staged sequence of actions
2. Project Outline and Approach (300 words approximate)
-Provide a step-by-step
action plan describing the
activities you will undertake
during the project
•What is an “action plan”?
•If your project is problem oriented, then your action plan is a series
of activities that, if well-designed and successfully executed, will
contribute
to solving
the problem.
WARNING
FROM
ROUND
1:
your project did
is opportunity
oriented,
then your
action manner
plan is a
Many•Ifapplications
not explain
in a straight
forward
activities
that,going
if well-designed
and successfully
executed,
whatseries
they of
were
actually
to do to make
the change
or
will contribute to realizing the opportunity.
innovation
to the course. This often made it difficult for the
•A good action plan has “face plausibility”—i.e. relies on activities
selection
committee to decipher what the funding was going to be
which are either “obviously” or demonstrably conducive to realizing
spent
ongoals
andof
then
how this would clearly lead to improvements in
the
action.
the course.
Advice
theinclude
committee
•Every action
planfrom
should
both is to get someone outside
your discipline
to read
the
submission
to their
makeeffectiveness
ensure its clarity.
•evaluation
of the
actions
taken and
in
reaching project objectives;
•dissemination or scaling of the outcomes of the action plan.
Brainstorm your project now!
Identify one key action you will have to take to succeed!
A key element—
enhancing the student experience
3. Demonstrate how the project aims to enhance the student experience
criteria (large grants should aim to enhance multiple criteria) (200 words
approximate).
What are the “student experience criteria?
WARNING FROM ROUND 1:
-Proposals need to avoid making
unsubstantiated claims or citing anecdotal
evidence, especially in the rationales.
Applicants must ensure that claims are
supported by evidence/references.
Need to demonstrate how
one or more of the selected
student experience criteria
(see SC2) will be enhanced
by
- the outcomes of the project
- the planned project
activities and use of
resources
- project deliverables/outputs
(SC2)
Brainstorm
your project
now!
Identify one
improvement
your project
will make.
Sustainability
4. Sustainability of the project outcomes (200 words approximate)
WARNING FROM ROUND 1
• T&L Strategic
arerequests
not designed
Proposals
need Grants
to avoid
that to
fall
fund recurrent
activities
one-offs.
within
the scope
of coreorschool/faculty
• A good
project produces
results
funding
activities
as opposed
to which get
embedded in
on-goingand
practice.
developing
teaching
learning
• Engagement
is a crucial –
issue.
innovation
or excellence
eg the
Projects will
not become
embedded which
development
of new
courses.
depend on the continuing enthusiasm of
the project leader.
- What is the intended
impact of the project
outcomes?
- How will outcomes be
sustained? eg:
- How will new practices
be embedded
- stakeholder
engagement and
adoption
- Consideration should be
given to existing University
policies, protocol, and
maintenance systems and
their influence on outcome
sustainability. Eg.
Adherence to ‘Multimedia
Authoring Guidelines’
(SC3)
Brainstorm your project now!
How are you going to engage and embed your project’s
outcomes in the ordinary business of your organisational unit?
Evaluation and Dissemination
5. Evaluation and dissemination of project outcome (100 words
approximate)
•Your problem/opportunity defines your
outcomes.
•If your problem was attrition, then an
outcome will be reduction of attrition.
•Your predicted outcomes need to be well
enough specified so we can tell whether they
have been realised or not.
•Measurements are handy, but not the only
sort of evaluative instrument.
•Surveys can also show change.
•Dissemination is crucial to capitalizing on
your work.
Brainstorm your project now!
What instruments will you use to assess success?
How will you disseminate findings and to whom?
- Briefly describe your
strategy for evaluating the
impact of project outcomes
on student outcomes eg:
- Questionnaire
- Indicators of success eg
GPA, retention
- Evaluation tools eg.
student surveys
- Describe strategy for
disseminating outcomes to
others in the discipline eg:
- stakeholder
engagement and
feedback
- reports and
presentations
- Large grants must also
describe strategy for
disseminating outcomes
within or across discipline
(within UQ and nationally/
internationally)
(SC4) and (SC7)
Working backwards to
the project summary
Section C – Project Summary
Project Summary
(100 words max)
Student experience
criteria that the
project aims to
improve - large
grants should aim
to improve multiple
criteria (tick as
appropriate)
Key Words
Brainstorm
your project
now!
Cut-and-paste
your project
summary!
Improving student satisfaction
Improving student outcomes
Improving student success
Now we have the components of a good
project summary:
•The problem/opportunity is
•The actions to be taken are
•The predicted outcomes are
•These are related to student experience
enhancement as follows
•The assessment of project success will be via
•The project’s results will be disseminated via
The budget, 1
Section E – Budget
Large Grants: over $30,000 available with the component of the grant over $30,000 requiring $ for $
leverage funding from another source e.g. external grants, School, Faculty or Institute funding, external
body such as industry/professional organisation. The expectation is that these projects will be completed
within 2 years. Leverage funding must be detailed in the ‘Other’ category and the source of funding
detailed in the budget justification.
Item
DVCA ($)
Year 1
Other ($)
DVCA ($)
Year 2
Other ($)
Total per
year
DVCA
Other
Total
Total
Project
Budget
For each action you have to take (see the action plan), including
evaluation, identify and cost
•who’s going to do it;
•what other resources you will need to do it.
Each of these is a line item.
The budget, 2
Budget Justification
WARNINGS FROM ROUND 1
•Eachcommittee
line item should
be linked, about
via a “face
•The
had concerns
the
plausible”ofmechanism,
an outcome.
amount
buy-out ofto
teaching
time to
•E.g. this project
officer
will buy-out
perform this
action
undertake
projects
– any
of time
which isbe
linked
to this
outcome.
should
clearly
justified
and avoid buyout of key teaching duties
•Proposals that allocate a large component
of the budget to equipment need to justify
these purchases based on a strong
argument which identifies the importance
of the equipment to the educational
innovation and its significant benefit to the
students. The committee felt that some
projects were relying on a ‘technical fix’
instead of examining core teaching and
learning methods to improve the student
experience.
Explain the contribution and
importance of each
budgetary item to the
success of the project
Source(s) of the leverage
cash funding must be
detailed
(SC5)
Submission
You will need sign-offs and
endorsements.
 You will need to submit to an
internal ranking.
Section H – Application Submission
 Make sure of your deadlines.
GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR
APPLICATIONS!

Section F – Endorsement
This endorsement indicates my support for the project and that internal resources as required will be
available (eg administrative support and workload allocation).
Head of School Endorsement (or attach written endorsement)
Name
School
Signature
Applications open
School and Faculty
Application closing date –
Grants
Applications should beSelection
submitted
via FacultyFaculties
Teaching
andranked
Learning Committees.
The Faculty Teaching
and
send
announced
& Learning
Committee
is responsible
providing
the central
selection
committee with a ranking of the
Ranking
Dates
applications
to Office
of the DVC
Executive
Dean Endorsement
(or attachfor
written
endorsement)
(A) ranked separately). Faculties should submit all
applications (small and large grant applications
Monday, Name
29 October
Please
Thursday,
20 Vice-Chancellor
March 2008
April 2008
applications
to Majella Variable
Card in- the
Office of the
Deputy
Academic,
[email protected] .
Faculty
2007
discuss
with
your
Applications
should be:
Signature
School and Faculty
- in electronic form (Word or PDF)
- one file per application
Section G – Project Leader Sign Off
Responsibilities of the Project Leader
I acknowledge I have read, agree and understand the Project Leader responsibilities and conditions for
the release of funds as outlined in the UQ Strategic Teaching and Learning Grants Guidelines.
Project Leader
Name
Signature