lasallian scholar grants
Background
In 1998 the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching launched the Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (CASTL), an initiative to support the developing scholarship of teaching and learning in higher education. One of its components, the Carnegie Scholars Program has as its purpose the creation of a national community of scholars committed to investigate and document significant issues in the teaching and learning of their fields. Saint Mary's faculty member Barry Eckhouse (SEBA) was among the first cohort of 15 faculty members chosen from institutions nationwide to work on a scholarly project in his discipline.
Another component of CASTL's overall plan moves beyond the level of individual faculty participants to enroll entire institutions in the nationwide effort of creating a scholarship of teaching and learning. Saint Mary's College is now officially enrolled in the Carnegie Campus Conversations. In order to encourage Saint Mary's faculty to contribute to the emerging scholarship of teaching and learning, we have created our own Lasallian Scholar Grant Program, modeled after the national program.
Objective
Funded by the President's Teaching and Learning Initiative, the Lasallian Scholar Grant Program provides funds for individual faculty members, or teams, to investigate specific issues of teaching and learning in their fields. The ultimate objective of all projects should be to improve student learning. The results of such research should also serve as models for other disciplines.
The program provides grants of up to $5,000 for each project to individuals or teams of faculty. Funds may be used to support summer research, hire research assistants or consultants, acquire materials (except for computer hardware) and for other expenses directly related to the project.
Grant recipients are encouraged to take an active role in the Campus Conversations on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning and regularly share their progress. Grant recipients also are expected to disseminate the results of their work in a manner consistent with scholarship. Examples of this may include public presentation at SMC and national conferences, publication in national journals, Educational Perspectives, and application of the findings in departmental programs.
Eligibility
Ranked faculty and adjunct (pro-rata) faculty. Visiting faculty and faculty hired on a per course basis are not eligible. Awards are limited to one award per person or per team.
Application Process
The application should contain the following items:
- Cover sheet (attached)
- Proposal:
Title of project
The problem or question you will address. Why is it important? - A brief overview of the literature and past practice. Has anyone else addressed this problem in your discipline or another field? How is this work relevant to what you plan to address?
- What methods will you use to address your problem/question? What data do you expect to collect? How will you analyze it? How will you use the data?
- How will you evaluate your project?
- Timeline for your project
- Budget
Selection Process
Applications are due on December 15 and April 15. A subcommittee of the Committee on Teaching and Scholarship and an outside reviewer will conduct a blind review. Applicants will be notified within a month of the respective due date whether their application was successful
Criteria for Selection
- Value of the project to the quality of student learning at SMC
- Quality of research design
- Quality of the project assessment
Guidelines for Project Design
- The project should focus on student learning and assessing student learning, not merely on course design. It should clearly state the aims of the project and criteria by which to evaluate the work.
- Explore not only teacher practice but the character and depth of student learning that results, or does not, from that practice. How do significant, lasting forms of learning evolve, and what aspects of course design and pedagogy foster such learning? Scholars are encouraged to look at complex forms of student understanding, including the ability to connect theory and practice, integration of key concepts, and the generating of new learning through appropriate processes of inquiry.
- Focus on learning in the area of values and ethics, civic engagement and commitment to principles and practices essential to democratic society.
- Examine issues and questions pertaining to enduring, widely recognized, or unrecognized but significant, dilemmas and challenges in the teaching and learning of the field.
- Build on prior and ongoing lines of work done by others in the scholarship of teaching and learning. The project should demonstrate some familiarity with pertinent literature on student learning in their field and include a bibliography of pertinent literature to be consulted .
