Fund for Innovative Teaching

Beginning in fall 2009, funds will be available for small grants supportive of innovative undergraduate and/or graduate, and postgraduate teaching at Emory. Grants will range from $500-$3000. FIT Grants are open to all full time faculty and are available for both individual faculty members and faculty working as teams. Priority will be given to those whose proposals promise long-term educational effects within the Emory community.

Funds will support a variety of new approaches:

• courses which feature recent discoveries in research and take that research into the classroom;
• courses which necessitate a “pilot” of new pedagogical methods; (funding would be available for both the course or the pilot that precedes it)
• new interdisciplinary courses that move across departments or across schools (NB: in this case support for the registration process across schools will be provided);
• innovative methods of team-teaching.

Grant proposals will be judged on the basis of six criteria:

• the suitability of the project for the areas described above;
• the clarity of educational purpose;
• the feasibility of integration into the Emory curriculum;
• the proposed budget being reasonable and sufficient to accomplish the aims of the study;
• the scholarly and pedagogical credentials of the faculty members and their suitability for the project; and
• the feasibility of the project’s gaining further funding outside Emory.

Grantees will be awarded the funds for AY 2009-10 and may use the funds on a reimbursement basis any time during the year of the grant. Funds may be used for direct and incremental expenses only. They may not be used to offset salary. During the year of their grant, grantees will be required to attend a once-a-semester teaching seminar with other grantees to share their innovations. At the end of the semester in which the class was launched, grantees will be required to provide a report that includes:

1. the final syllabus;
2. student evaluations that include students’ opinions of the new approach and how it affected their learning;
3. specific steps for integration into the Emory curriculum; and
4. plans for future funding of the project.

They will also be asked to participate in a transition session whereby they share their knowledge with the new grantees of the subsequent academic year.

Please apply by November 15, 2009.