Faculty Teaching Group Grants
The Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, in partnership with the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost, is pleased to provide this grant program to support Virginia Tech faculty members who would like to explore a topic related to higher education teaching and learning in a small and interactive learning community. The primary goals of this grant program are 1) to encourage faculty members to form collaborative support networks within or outside of their home departments and colleges at Virginia Tech and 2) to encourage exploration and discovery related to teaching and learning in higher education.
Faculty Teaching Groups will receive a grant of up to $2,000 toward their proposed goals. Approximately five grants will be funded each year.
The program supports the exploration of a range of topics related to teaching and learning in higher education. For example, the recent Faculty Teaching Groups' topics included
- supporting/mentoring early career university teachers,
- creating cross-discipline experiences in study abroad,
- developing learning experiences that incorporate multiple disciplines,
- fostering inclusion through peer support,
- incorporating R programming and data analytics in the classroom,
- integrating state-of-the-art-research into undergraduate teaching through collaboration,
- building an online community among students, and
- creating a discipline-specific and university teaching-focused learning community with an emphasis on peer observation and reflection.
Faculty members are invited to form a group of 5-10 other faculty members at any rank and submit a proposal for an academic year-long program of their own design that is focused on specific group goals. Groups should have a designated convener who will serve as the main point of contact and will facilitate and participate in the collective work of the group.
Faculty Teaching Group funding will be transferred to and managed by the designated group convener's department. Funds may not be used for salary, hardware, software, equipment, and/or capital improvements. Grant funding is transferred as E&G funds to be spent on the fiscal-year cycle. All expenditures must be in accordance with Virginia Tech policies and procedures. Faculty Teaching Group conveners are responsible for working with their departmental fiscal managers to ensure grant funding is spent within the fiscal year and in accordance with Virginia Tech policies and procedures. The convener is also responsible for communicating any changes to the proposed budget items, including the inability to spend funding before the end of the fiscal year, to the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning in a timely manner.
A final report of the Faculty Teaching Group's activities and outcomes will be due one year after the proposal deadline. Final reports must be submitted using the online final report form. In addition, group members may be asked to participate in a workshop or an evaluation activity to improve the program. Groups who have applied for or received this grant in the past are eligible to apply again this year.
Proposals for the 2023-2024 grant program should be submitted electronically with this Google Form on or before September 1, 2023, for consideration.
The proposal form asks for the following items:
- A brief title for the proposed Faculty Teaching Group
- A description of at least one goal or outcome that the group expects to achieve
- A tentative plan for the group's meeting schedule, format, and activities as well as expectations for member participation
- A proposed budget (Typical budgets often include professional development funding for group members to participate in activities related to the goals of the project; reading materials for the group; and food during meetings of the group. *Reminder - all expenditures must be in accordance with Virginia Tech policies and procedures.)
- Faculty convener and group member information
Proposals will be assessed based on the following criteria:
- Creation of a collaborative support network of faculty
- Advancement of faculty members’ teaching goals
- Development of the group members’ understanding, exploration, and discovery of best practices for teaching and learning in higher education
- Articulation of clear and achievable goals for the group
- Positive impact on the individuals, group, and broader teaching and learning community at Virginia Tech (and possibly beyond)
The Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost maintains the Writing Group Grant program, which supports faculty groups focused on research and writing productivity. More information about the Writing Group Grant program can be found on the program's website.
Example: Group A
Title: Teaching and Learning in Winter Sessions
Goal: To explore effective teaching and learning practices in winter session courses
Tentative Plan: Group members will meet regularly to discuss the challenges and opportunities for teaching in the compressed, winter session format. The group will identify several challenges to explore in-depth, and the group members will volunteer to lead monthly meetings for discussion and resource sharing on each topic. The group will meet three times in the fall semester and three times in the spring semester. This work will result in a list of best practices for teaching and learning in winter session to be shared with the group members and the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning to be distributed to the university-wide teaching community.
Faculty Participants:
- Convener: School of Communication, CLAHS
- Group Member 1: Department of Accounting and Information Sciences, Pamplin
- Group Member 2: Department of Chemistry, COS
- Group Member 3: Department of History, CLAHS
- Group Member 4: Department of Computer Science, COE
- Group Member 5: School of Animal Sciences, CALS
Proposed Budget:
*All expenditures must be in accordance with Virginia Tech policies and procedures.
Example: Group B
Title: Academic Peer Mentoring Programs
Goal: To explore strategies for effectively incorporating peer mentoring into courses
Tentative Plan: Group members will explore ways to successfully create, implement, and sustain a peer mentoring program at the course level. Members of the group plan to read a common book on peer mentoring on higher education, and each member will lead a meeting throughout the semester. The group members also plan to register for an online workshop about best practices for peer mentoring programs. In addition to participating in the workshop, the group will meet three times during the fall semester and three times in the spring semester. The primary outcome of the group’s work is for the members to create plans for developing or improving a peer mentoring component for their courses.
Faculty Participants:
- Convener: Department of Sustainable Biomaterials, CNRE
- Group Member 1: Department of Philosophy, CLAHS
- Group Member 2: Department of Computer Science, COE
- Group Member 3: School of Neuroscience, COS
- Group Member 4: Industrial Design, AAD
- Group Member 5: Department of Mechanical Engineering, COE
Estimated Budget:
- Online workshop registration for each member*: $300 x 5 = $1,500
- Common reading book for each member*: $50 x 5 = $250
- Food for six meetings* = $250
- Total: $2,000
*All expenditures must be in accordance with Virginia Tech policies and procedures.