Announcing: TLC Grants 2016-2017

Field of Flowers

The Teaching and Learning Center is pleased to announce the first Teaching and Learning Center grants initiative. This program offers support to doctoral and masters students at the CUNY Graduate Center as they develop, plan, implement, and reflect upon creative approaches to teaching and learning. The goal of this program is to foster experimentation in the classroom, and contribute to the scholarship of teaching and learning at the City University of New York and beyond.

There are two levels of grants available: TLC Mini Grants and TLC Grants. Funding from these awards can support both the labor that goes into teaching and learning activities and offset the costs of goods, services, or experiences that are central to a project.

TLC Mini Grants of up to $500 will support the planning, execution, and public reflection upon assignments or instructional practices that are challenging, rewarding, and adaptable to other contexts, and which push student engagement with course material in creative directions. Examples of the kinds of projects that might be funded in this category include class assignments involving archives (digital or physical) or cultural institutions, cross-course collaborations, assignments that integrate writing into quantitative disciplines, the construction of a new series of teaching guides for the TLC website, and creative mapping or data visualization projects. TLC Mini Grant winners will be expected to design the project in collaboration with TLC staff, pilot it in a course (if applicable) in Spring 2017, and then publicly share the project and their reflections on the TLC website.

TLC Grants of up to $2,500 will support the planning, execution, and public reflection upon a teaching and learning project that extends beyond an individual assignment, and which will make a broader contribution to conversations about teaching and learning. Examples of the kinds of proposals that might be funded in this category include research on teaching and learning, a workshop series or seminar on a specific pedagogical strategy, the purchase of software or hardware to facilitate a specific course or set of projects, and the beginning phases of research and development of educational technology tools, platforms, and projects. TLC Grant winners will be expected to design their project in collaboration with TLC staff, launch or implement the project in Spring 2017, reflect upon the project on the TLC website, and make a public presentation about the project.

Applications for collaborative projects are strongly encouraged, and may be funded at up to 150% of the established limits for each level ($750 for Mini Grants, $3750 for Grants).

Proposals for both TLC Mini Grants and TLC Grants must include the following, submitted in a single PDF by email to tlc@gc.cuny.edu by midnight on October 10, 2016. Please put “TLC Mini Grant Application” or “TLC Grant Application” in the subject line, and save your PDF as lastnamefirstnameTLCMiniGrant.pdf or lastnamefirstnameTLCGrant.pdf:

  • Applicant Information: name, program at the GC, and contact information (email, mailing address, and phone number). Applicants must be a doctoral or masters student currently enrolled and in good academic standing at the Graduate Center.
  • Abstract: a one-paragraph statement succinctly summarizing the project and how it represents a creative, experimental approach to a pedagogical opportunity or problem
  • Narrative: up to 500 words for TLC Mini Grants, and up to 1000 words for TLC Grants. Describe the project, including a timeline for development and deployment, key benchmarks, and a statement about the projectโ€™s significance and potential impact.
  • Budget: an itemized description of how the funding will be used, not to exceed a page. Instructor labor should be priced at the Adjunct Lecturer hourly rate of $80.70 per hour.
    Short CV for all grantees: no longer than two pages.

Proposals will be evaluated by a review committee according to the following criteria:

  • feasibility
  • creativity
  • clarity of purpose
  • contributions of the project to the scholarship of teaching and learning
  • replicability and sustainability

Applicants will be notified about the status of their proposals by the end of October. Please direct any questions about the application process or the TLC grants initiative to tlc@gc.cuny.edu. Applicants are welcome to request meetings with TLC staff to talk through ideas for their proposals.