Learning Innovation and Teaching Enhancement (LITE) Full Grant Guidelines

Purpose

The purpose of the LITE Grants is to provide support for investigating student learning and alternative approaches to teaching and assessing student learning at the individual, departmental, Faculty, or institutional levels. The overall aims are to foster deep student learning at the University of Waterloo and promote curiosity, reflection, and exploration in the areas of teaching and learning. LITE grant projects must contribute to these aims. The program consists of two types of grants: LITE Seed Grants and LITE Full Grants. 

Description

The intent of the Full Grants is to support larger-scale or longer-term projects than Seed Grants. Proposals may focus on one or a combination of the following themes: 

• assessing new approaches to teaching and learning (what is possible and does it work?) 
• critically examining student learning with existing instructional approaches (what is happening and what could be improved?)
• pursuing instructional development (teaching enhancement) opportunities (how could I teach differently to better facilitate deep student learning?).

These grants may be most appropriate for cross-departmental or institutional level projects, but individual course level projects are welcome. Project results are expected to be disseminated at the University of Waterloo and beyond.

Amount: Up to $15,000 per year (for a maximum of two years and $30,000)

Consultation Deadline: One week prior to application deadline

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Eligibility as principal applicant

• Tenured and tenure-track faculty members

• Lecturers

• Laboratory instructors and teaching staff

• Academic support staff

Notes on eligibility           

• Please note that individuals with limited term appointments may apply. Appointments should cover the completion date of the grant, or the applicant should have as a collaborator someone with a continuing appointment. Please provide documentation confirming eligibility (e.g. copy of letter of appointment indicating that research is included in role). For further details regarding eligibility to conduct research of individuals with limited term appointments, please consult the relevant guidelines on the Office of Research Ethics website.
• A person may hold only one active LITE Grant at a time as principal applicant.
• Collaborations with people outside of the University of Waterloo are encouraged; however, the principal applicant must be from the University of Waterloo.
• In order to be considered eligible, you must consult with Annik Bilodeau (Educational Developer, Research and Consulting - annik.bilodeau@uwaterloo.ca) at least one week prior to the grant deadline.

Ineligible expenses

• Funds requested for fully online course redevelopment, computer purchases, and basic infrastructure maintenance or replacement. Individuals should seek these funds through their department chair or Faculty dean.  
• Funds requested mainly for subsidizing travel and related expenses for students enrolled in a course. Funds paid to students as research assistants are an exception.

• Funds to conduct an academic program review, or any similar initiative that normally would be expected for ongoing program development/improvement. 

• Salary for applicant(s)

• Teaching release and the development of standard course materials 
• Conference registration and travel expenses exceeding $4,000. A maximum of $2,000 per person per conference may be used (e.g., one applicant attending two conferences during the tenure of the grant, or two applicants each attending one conference).
• Fees for publishing manuscripts in open access journals exceeding $1,500. Fees for open access journals of $1,500 or less are eligible, but applicants must provide a rationale for why the manuscript is being submitted to an open access journal. Please refer to the University of Waterloo Library’s Open Access Guide for resources on publishing in open access journals. The Library also provides resources on assessing journals for credibility and impact. Applicants may check specific journals for the publishers’ open access, copyright, and self-archiving policies using the SHERPA/RoMEO database.
• Regular teaching retreats, although meetings to begin such a practice are eligible
• Journal subscriptions and professional memberships
• Tuition fees for credit courses taken as part of an academic program – Please refer to University of Waterloo Policy 4 “Benefits to Faculty and Staff Undertaking Part-time Educational Programs”
• Honoraria for members of the University of Waterloo on-campus community (e.g., faculty members, staff members, etc.) who collaborate in the research
• Work for which a University of Waterloo unit is already budgeted support
• Services already funded at University of Waterloo
• Salaries for research assistants at other institutions
• Funds for experts from elsewhere, when similar resources and expertise are available at the University of Waterloo

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• Conduct formal research projects on the impact of a specific new method of instruction on student learning at the course or program level. 

• Develop innovative courses, materials, or activities that promote the internationalization of curriculum, pedagogies, and student learning (e.g., integrating study/co-op experience abroad into the curriculum; curricular initiatives that promote greater interaction among home and international students; transcultural programs and courses; teaching, assessing, and supervising international students).  If you want to discuss a project idea related to internationalization, please contact Svitlana Taraban-Gordon. 
• Conduct investigations of pedagogical activities that support reflection on and integration of co-operative education and work-integrated learning experiences, or which examine the outcomes of co-operative education and work-integrated learning.  If you would like to discuss a project idea related to these areas, please contact Judene Pretti. 
• Develop course materials or activities that promote the Indigenization of the curriculum and sharing of Indigenous knowledge, or conduct investigations of pedagogical activities that promote these areas. If you would like to discuss a project idea related to Indigenization, please contact Lori Campbell.
• Implement a change across a program, or within a specific year of a program, to address a learning gap or challenge, and document the impact on student learning.
• Support teaching initiatives/collaborations between departments, schools, or Faculties to address a specific learning gap or challenge and document its impact on student learning.
• Present pedagogical scholarship at a disciplinary or higher education teaching conference outside of the University of Waterloo as part of a larger research project.
• Document the impact on student learning of redesigned physical teaching and learning spaces controlled by your unit (Please see note about expenses in this category which are ineligible.).
• Purchase equipment (e.g., microphones, etc.) or software (e.g., data analysis software, etc.) to support implementation of the new method of instruction (Please see note about expenses in this category which are ineligible.).
• Create innovative course designs or activities in which digital course materials, tools, or learning objects are part of the innovation. Note: Depending on the nature of the project, the Centre for Extended Learning (CEL) may be able to provide development support. You are encouraged to consult Aldo Caputo at CEL before submission to discuss project needs and timelines, to determine if the work can be accommodated with available resources and/or completed within the time allotted by the grant. If so, a development plan created in collaboration with CEL and confirmation of their assent should be included in your submission. 
• For descriptions of successfully funded projects, please visit the Funded LITE Grant Projects page.

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• If your research involves human participants, please ensure that you have met the University’s requirements for completing training (online tutorial) for the second edition of the Tri-Council Policy Statement for the Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans.

• The Office of Research Ethics has developed detailed guidelines for conducting research in classes or with students as study participants. Please consult these guidelines when designing your project and developing your proposal.

• For projects involving students in courses as participants, the research should be described in the course outline. The course outline should also describe any course activities and what is expected of students. If applicable, credit for participating in an alternate activity should be described. For a list of items to include in the course outline, please consult the guidelines on the Office of Research Ethics website. When applicable, it is recommended that a course outline, or a draft of the course outline, be provided with the research ethics application.

• The Office of Research has developed guidelines for research integrity, which includes information on breaches to research integrity, procedures to maintaining research-participant confidentiality, and available training and resources. The Tri-Agency Framework also provides guidelines for the responsible conduct of research. Please consult these guidelines before beginning your project. 

• If you are unsure about whether or not your project requires ethics clearance, please contact the Office of Research Ethics.

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A complete application consists of:

• LITE Full Grant Proposal Cover Page (DOC)* [Updated September 2017] 
• LITE Full Grant Proposal Template (DOC)* [Updated December 2019]
• LITE Full Grant Timeline*
• Office of Research Cover Sheet for Sponsored Research (please submit this with your application to CTE)

*Please note you must use the templates (proposal, cover page, and timeline) linked above (also found in Required application templates section below) for your application to be considered.

Required consultation with CTE research staff

In order for your application to be considered, applicants are required to meet with Annik Bilodeau, Educational Developer, Research and Consulting within the first three weeks of the term. This meeting must occur, at the latest, 1 week prior to the submission deadline. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss your project proposal and research plan, and suggest ways to enhance the quality and clarity of the application.

Please contact Annik Bilodeau to schedule this meeting.

Completing the Office of Research cover sheet

1. Applicants must submit a completed electronic cover sheet along with their LITE Grant application. On this cover sheet you will be asked to provide information on your project including:
   1. Project information:
      1. Check the box next to “New Project”
      2. Under “Project Sponsor” please write “UW Learning Innovation and Teaching Enhancement Grant”
      3. Provide the title of your proposed project
      4. Start and end dates:
         • For February Seed Grants: May 1 to April 30 of the following year
         • For June Seed Grants: September 1 to August 31 of the following year
         • For October Full Grants: January 1 to December 31 of Year 2 of the project
      5. Names and departments of the principal applicants and co-applicants
      6. Keywords relevant to your project
   2. Certifications and Risk Declaration: Of special note, you must declare whether your project requires ethics clearance and if applicable, the ORE approval number.
      1. Release of funds for successful applicants: If ethics clearance is required for the project but the project has not yet been approved, the Office of Research will contact the principal investigator to verify that they have received ethics clearance before the funds are released. If funds are needed immediately before ethics clearance can be sought, the principal investigator can complete an early release form provided by the Office of Research.  
   3. Collaborations: Please indicate any matching funds. Select “no” for sending any funds to another institution, and “no” to the project being led by another institution
   4. Total project budget: Input your proposed budget into the “Cash” and “Total” boxes. Input “0” for “overhead in cash” and “in-kind”.  Select “yes” for maximum overhead.
   5. Waterloo Signatures: Endorsement signatures of both your department Chair and faculty Dean are required. For staff members in an academic support unit, your immediate supervisor and Director would sign in place of the Chair and Dean. In the case that the Director of your unit is your supervisor, the Director’s supervisor would sign in the place of the Dean. Please note the deficit resolution responsibilities for chairs and supervisors in section 5 of the coversheet.
   6. Do not send the cover sheet to the Office of Research. You do not fill in the section “Office of Research Signing Authority” and you do not need to get a signature from the Office of Research. The cover sheet should be sent to CTE along with the rest of your application. 

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Preparing your LITE Grant application

1. Applicants must use the Required application templates and submit them as Word documents. Keep the section headings (a to k), but delete the instructions.
2. Maximum word count for Seed Grant proposals: 2000 words. The project summary, timeline, budget, references, and relevant appendices (e.g., research instruments, protocols) are not included in the word count. Proposals should be written in 12-point font.
3. The proposal review process is blind.  Please ensure that all identifying information has been removed from the body of the proposal.
4. Write the proposal with your audience in mind. The reviewers are teaching and learning specialists, but they are not specialists in your main discipline. A well-written, clear and concise proposal is more likely to be funded; avoid jargon, define key concepts, and use short sentences. The articles “The art of grant writing: write, rewrite and write again” and “Secrets to writing a winning grant” both provide useful advice about writing a successful proposal.
5. Supporting materials should be included with your LITE Grant proposal whenever possible to help clarify and support the project’s assessment plans. Relevant materials may include course outlines, assignment descriptions, protocols, assignment rubrics, course learning outcomes, survey tools, etc.
6. Please refer to the report from “The Task Force on Innovative Teaching Practices to Promote Deep Learning at the University of Waterloo” for important references and definitions of terms that may be central to your proposal, such as “innovative teaching practices,” “deep learning,” and “effective teaching.”
7. Please connect the outcomes of your project to the Undergraduate Degree Level Expectations (UDLEs), and if applicable, program and accreditation outcomes.

8. Funding for approved projects begins January 1^st of the following year.

9. Please note that grant holders will be held responsible for reimbursing over-expenditures. Please refer to the University of Waterloo’s deficit resolution procedure. Typically if funds remain in the account at the conclusion of the grant period, they will revert to the Office of the Associate Vice President, Academic or the Centre for the Advancement of Co-operative Education.

10. Please note that any equipment or tools purchased with LITE Grant funds remain property of the University of Waterloo. Justification to retain equipment or tools purchased with LITE Grant funds in the department or school must be provided; otherwise such equipment must be returned at the conclusion of the project to CTE, where it may be made available for other initiatives.

Application submission

• For assistance with proposal development as well as developing the research plan for your project, we encourage you to contact Annik Bilodeau, nstructional Developer, Research and Consulting or Brianna Bennett, Educational Research Associate at CTE.
• Please submit the proposal as Microsoft Word documents using the provided templates to cte-lite@uwaterloo.ca.

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• LITE Full Grant Proposal Cover Page (DOC)* [Updated September 2017] 
• LITE Full Grant Proposal Template (DOC)* [Updated June 2019]
• LITE Full Grant Timeline* 
• Office of Research Cover Sheet for Sponsored Research (please submit this with your application to CTE)

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General resources

• Teaching and Learning Research Guide: a comprehensive resource for designing and conducting research related to teaching and learning, created by CTE, Office of Research Ethics, and the Library.
• Office of Research Ethics guidelines for conducting research in classes or with students as study participants
• Recommended salary rates for research assistants
• Guidelines about participant recruitment and anti-spam legislation (Please see especially points 9 and 10)
• Guidelines concerning fees related to learning resources and field trips

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"Student podcasting as project-based learning in Science communication"

"Promoting meaningful learning in Computer Science courses by leveraging concreteness fading"

The adjudication committee will consist of four members selected by the Associate Vice President, Academic.  Two members of the Centre for Teaching Excellence – the Educational Developer, Research and Consulting, and the Director (or designate) – will facilitate the adjudication process with the Associate Vice President, Academic, but will not be voting members.

Proposal review criteria

a. Adherence to the submission requirements

Does the proposal include all elements required under the LITE Grant Proposal Guidelines?

b. Clarity of project goals/outcomes

Are the intended outcomes of the project stated in terms of student learning and/or enhanced teaching? Does the research question articulate a clearly-defined issue?

c. Project rationale and description, including review of relevant literature

• Is a sound rationale established for the project?
• Is this rationale based on a succinct review of the relevant literature?
• Does the proposal describe how the project will build upon and contribute to student learning and/or enhanced teaching?

d. Plans for carrying out and assessing the project

• Are project outcomes, student learning outcomes, and/or teaching enhancement outcomes clearly identified?
• Will evidence gathered as part of the research convincingly relate to the project, student learning, and/or teaching enhancement outcomes?
• Are the proposed research methods (data acquisition, analysis, etc.) appropriate to the project goals?
• If the project requires expertise in a certain area (e.g., qualitative research, statistical analysis, etc.), does the proposal confirm whether this expertise is held or not by the applicant(s)? If applicants do not have the expertise required, does the proposal explain where it will be sought and ensure that any related expenses are accounted for in the budget?

e. Feasibility

Does the proposed timeline seem realistic and achievable, given the scope of the project?

f. Impact and transferability

Are the contributions of the project to the members of the University of Waterloo learning community clearly articulated? Does the proposal outline the potential impact of the project beyond the University?

g. Plan for dissemination

Are there clearly articulated plans for sharing the outcomes of the project with others at the University of Waterloo and beyond?

h. Budget

Does the budget provide sufficient detail and justification regarding how funds will be spent? Is the budget realistic, given the scope of the project? Is the allocation of funds in each year of the grant specified?

i. Sustainability

Does the proposal demonstrate the practical and financial sustainability of the initiative beyond the grant’s funds?

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Expectations of grant recipients

1. Participate in one or two meetings per semester where project questions and progress will be shared with other grant recipients. These meetings will be hosted and facilitated by the Centre for Teaching Excellence.
2. Disseminate findings of the project locally to the University of Waterloo learning community (as outlined in the Proposal Guidelines) and, in the case of Full Grants, disseminate findings more broadly. Grant recipients may consult with members of the Centre for Teaching Excellence for suggestions regarding dissemination.

Completion time and reporting

Funds for LITE Full Grants must be spent within two years.  A progress report will be due in December of Year 1 and will be submitted electronically to cte-lite@uwaterloo.ca and forwarded to David DeVidi, Associate Vice President, Academic (AVPA). Release of funding for Year 2 will be contingent upon receipt and approval by the AVPA of the interim progress report.

A final report will be due one month after the completion of Year 2 of the project (January 31^st of Year 3) and must be submitted to cte-lite@uwaterloo.ca.  The report will then be sent to the AVPA.  Information from this report will be used to highlight the LITE Grant on the CTE website.