Program Description - Fall 2007

Program Goal

The Instructional Technology Grant Program has been funded by the University for the purpose of improving teaching and learning. To this end, the ITGP will provide awards for projects that creatively and productively use information technology to enhance methods of instruction and our students' educational experience.

While there is no prescription of particular outcomes for the various projects that will be funded, we do seek to:

• enhance the quality of teaching and learning, and
• increase instructional effectiveness and/or efficiency

Eligible Personnel

All faculty and instructional staff who teach within a Boston University academic program are invited to participate. Any instructor may submit a proposal prior to the deadline.

Review Process

Proposals will be peer-reviewed by committees composed of faculty appropriate to the content area and the technologies to be used.

Award Description

The number and the scope of the selected proposals will determine actual award amounts, with typical awards in the range of $5,000 - $10,000. These awards are intended to serve as "seed money" for projects that we hope will be ongoing (funding for any ongoing projects must be sought outside the program). Project duration is expected to be one year, although requests for extensions will be considered.

Awards can be used for the purchase of materials or services necessary to implement the project, e.g., hardware, software, equipment, consulting services and student support. However, awards may not be used for such items as:

• faculty or staff salaries
• general-use equipment that will not be substantially dedicated to the purposes of the project

Evaluation Criteria

Proposals will be measured against the following questions as applicable:

• Will the project increase the quality of teaching and learning? For example, does it increase course interactivity or present course material that would otherwise be difficult to demonstrate in a more conventional environment?
• Does the project address an educational or instructional problem that has proven difficult to solve via traditional means?
• Given a stated problem and a proposed solution, is it clear what the tangible project outcome, i.e., the "deliverable," will be?
• Does the project provide a resource that is not currently available, either at the University, at other institutions, or commercially? Has the PI demonstrated that she/he has performed a search to insure that this resource is not otherwise available?
• Will the project improve the efficiency of the educational process or make a department or college or the University more competitive currently or in the future?
• Is the implementation something that can be generalized? Does it offer the possibility of being transferred to other courses or disciplines?
• Many instructors want to put all or part of their courses online. Several hundred University courses currently have online elements, many of which rely on one of the two courseware products offered through the Office of Information Technology. Few of these courses received ITGP support. How is your project unique enough to warrant funding?
• Given the proposed time frame, the resources requested, and the skills/experience/expertise of the project team, is the project goal achievable?
• Is the project appropriate to the Instructional Technology Grant Program? For example, does it use information technology to affect registered Boston University students?
• Are the requested resources appropriate to the ITGP? A simple equipment request absent value added by the principal investigator, for example, is not appropriate.
• Are the learning outcomes identified? How will project impact be measured? Has a clear description of the evaluation plan provided?
• Are the project resource requirements clearly described? In addition to a table of budget numbers, the proposal should contain a brief explanation of why particular resources are being requested and how budget figures were calculated.
• Does the University currently provide any of the resources necessary to implement the project? Whenever a request for service or equipment duplicates existing University resources, the proposal should explain why those duplicative resources are required.
• Has the long-term sustainability of the project been considered ? What resources will be required to maintain the project beyond the one-year support of the ITGP? What sources might be drawn on in the future?

Proposal Requirements

Proposals are expected to contain specific content. Be sure to use the section-by-section description of proposal requirements when writing your proposal.

Project Responsibilities

The following are expected of each funded project and/or the Principal Investigator (PI):

• The project will be completed one year from the start date. Extensions will be considered upon receipt of justification, however
• The PI will participate in two interviews conducted by Office of Information Technology (OIT) staff. Each interview will require approximately one hour to complete. The interviews will be conducted at the midpoint and at the conclusion of the project.
• The PI will write a brief final report summarizing project outcomes.
• Project results will be posted on the Web to share our activities with the community. Based on the interviews mentioned in the previous item, the OIT staff will assist in getting this material online
• The PI will serve on a review panel in a future round of the program
• The PI will participate in at least one "Teaching with Technology" showcase

Important Milestones

Here are the milestones significant to the Instructional Technology Grant Program:

Copyrights and Patents

Work performed on a project funded by this program falls under standard University policies on copyrights, patents, and royalties.

Submission Procedure

Proposals must be submitted electronically. The document should be contained within a single file in rich text format (RTF). The preferred submission method is to include the document as an attachment to an electronic mail message (send to the Instructional Technology Grant Program).

Ancillary documents like letters of support may be submitted in electronic or hardcopy form, as necessary. Send any printed documentation to the Office of Information Technology at 111 Cummington St., to the attention of the Instructional Technology Grant Program.

Before submitting any proposal, review the proposal final checklist to be sure that you have met all program requirements.

Additional Information

If you have any questions about the Instructional Technology Grant Program, contact Bill Stewart at the Office of Information Technology at 111 Cummington St. He is available via phone at 353-2780 or via e-mail.

Proposal Requirements: A Section-by-section Description

1. For the PI, this document serves as an organizational aid and an implicit checklist of items important to include in your proposal. Addressing the various bullet items and questions which follow should result in your providing information sufficient to answer questions that commonly arise during the review process. Missing or vague information is a common reason for review panels electing not to fund proposals.

2. For your faculty colleagues charged with evaluating proposals, the task of reading and understanding consistently organized documents is easier. Returning to clearly labeled sections during the panel review process becomes a simpler task, too.

Proposal Format

We request that you:

• Use section titles: use titles from sections II - V below
• Use page numbers
• Use one-inch margins
• Use an 11- or 12-point character size
• Limit the total length of your proposal according to the suggested section lengths in the descriptions below (your proposal should not exceed 10 pages in total)

Your proposal should contain the following pages/sections

I. Cover Page (one page)

The following information must be included on the first page of your proposal:

• Project title
• Name of Principal Investigator, including appropriate salutation (Dr., Ms.,Mr.)
• Campus mailing address of PI, including school or college and department. This will be used anytime printed material must be mailed out (e.g., the award package)
• E-mail address and phone number of PI (e-mail is the primary communication method for ITGP correspondence)
• Names and e-mail addresses of the project team's principal members
• Project abstract (please limit to 100 words): state the existing problem or need and the proposed solution, including the technology (specifically, the type of information technology) identified to aid in implementing that solution. Abstracts from successful proposals will be posted on the Web by OIT staff

II. Background on affected course(s) (1-3 paragraphs per course)

Registered Boston University students must be the principal beneficiaries of any project funded by the ITGP. For each course affected:

1. Identify the course by number and name
2. Describe the target population of the course. Include:
• Graduate or undergraduate
• Required or elective
• Number of students affected
• How often the course is offered
• Any other information you feel is relevant

III. Detailed project description (1-3 pages)

1. Central problem or need
2. Proposed solution: provide information sufficient for the review committee to answer all applicable questions in the section entitled Evaluation Criteria. These criteria should be addressed as directly as possible.

   Include the following:

   • Desired goals and outcomes, particularly as they affect students in the course
   • Reference to research and/or experience to support your educational thesis
   • Rationale for choosing one technology over another (for cases in which a choice exists). For example, why is CD-based material preferable to the Web for your project?
   • How this project might affect instruction in other Boston University courses
   • The proposed timeline for development and implementation (approximate). Be sure to include a requested project start date
3. Evaluation plan: describe how you will measure the effectiveness of your project

IV. Project team qualifications

Describe how the project team will provide the skills and expertise necessary to successfully implement the project. For each member, include: role in course, role on project and experience with teaching and the technology to be used for the project (1-3 paragraphs per principal team member).

V. Resources required for completion of the project

Narrative
Describe staff and equipment needs, as well as any other required resources. With regard to equipment, distinguish between new equipment being requested for the project and resources available from other sources. Note that both categories of equipment and their respective values should be identified in the budget sheet.

Describe the role of each budget sheet item that is to be paid for by the ITGP. Justify equipment purchases, as necessary. For personnel expenses, include assumptions used to calculate costs (e.g., hourly rate and total hours worked).

Budget sheet
The project budget should be clearly outlined and labeled in a table format (see example below). Indicate category subtotals (equipment, software, other materials, and personnel) and the total amount requested from the ITGP. Identify which costs will be paid for by an ITGP award and which will be contributed or paid from other sources (please identify sources in the narrative section, as appropriate).

Awards can be used for the purchase of materials or services necessary to implement the project, e.g., hardware, software, equipment, consulting services and student support. However, awards may not be used for such items as

• faculty or staff salaries
• general-use equipment that will not be substantially dedicated to the purposes of the project

List separately any items in the following categories that cost $100 or more:

• Equipment/Material Costs
• Equipment
• Software
• Other materials required
• Personnel Costs
  List by project role the anticipated wages for temporary personnel (for example, student or consultant wages). Indicate how you calculate wages, including estimated pay rate and number of hours worked.

Here's a sample budget table:

Student and consultant wages - how much should you expect to pay?

Students are frequently hired to assist in implementing projects funded by the ITGP. Outside consultants, while used less commonly than student workers, are sometimes necessarily employed. As a very general rule of thumb, we suggest that you anticipate paying a student an hourly wage in the range of $9-$20 per hour. The amount you pay is dependent upon their skill set, their experience, their availability for the duration of the project, whether or not they are an undergraduate or graduate student, and so on.

A reasonable pay rate for a consultant is $25-$40 per hour. This range is based on freelance consultant fees posted on the Web for skills like programming (e.g., Java, C++ and Perl), Web site design and development, etc.

Appendix: Proposal Final Checklist

Experience has taught us that lack of merit is not a common reason for projects not being funded. Instead, more typical reasons are that either (1) the project outcome is not clearly articulated, or (2) one or more significant evaluation criteria have not been addressed. We therefore strongly urge that, before submitting your proposal, you re-read this entire document – especially the Evaluation Criteria – to be sure your project meets all requirements and is appropriate to the ITGP.

In addition, we recommend that you use this final checklist to be sure that your proposal contains the following:

• A clear statement of the problem and your proposed solution.
• A cover page containing the principal investigator's name (including appropriate salutation: Dr., Ms., Mr.), e-mail address, campus mailing address, school/college, department, names and addresses of principal members of the project team, the project title and a project abstract.
• Section labels, e.g., "background on affected courses," "project description," "project team qualifications."
• A budget containing numbers presented in a table format and a narrative describing each of the items in your budget.
• A statement of learning objectives and a project evaluation plan.
• A total length of no more than 10 pages.

"Appropriateness" is measured against the following criteria:

• Your project primarily affects registered Boston University students.
• Your project is based upon information technology.
• Your project is not simply a request for equipment.
• The principal investigator is a faculty member or instructional staff member within a University academic program.
• Funding is not requested for any part of a University faculty or staff member's salary.
• Your project can be completed within one calendar year.