Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Scholars Grant - (Up to $5,000)

Priorities

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Scholars Grant is a collaborative effort between the Center for Excellence in Transformative Teaching and Learning (CETTL) and the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (ORSP). This grant program is to be used to implement or evaluate an aspect of the Central Six. This grant program supports Transformative Learning by encouraging a continuum of research, creative, and scholarly activities in all disciplines.

Examples of four of the most common types of SoTL questions in research:

What is?

Questions that don't seek to evaluate, but describe. Descriptions of moments of how transformative learning or mis-learning are occurring.

What works?

Questions that seek to answer the relative effectiveness of a strategy. Will students learn more by doing X instead of Y?

What is possible?

Questions related to outcomes that haven't been met yet or are new.

Theory-building Questions

Questions that lead to building theory. Why are some things hard for students to learn? Why is understanding prior knowledge important?

Recipients (both Pl and co-Pl) of SoTL Grants will be required to be part of a two-semester SoTL Scholars Learning Community (SSLC). This SSLC will meet once every three weeks at a time agreed upon by all participants. The meetings will occur from August 2019-May 2020, beginning with an awards luncheon at the beginning of the academic year. If you receive a SoTL Grant, you will have to commit to attending the SSLC.

CETTL will be available as a consulting resource (literature review, research methodology, resources, list of scholarly journals and professional conferences, etc.) to assist faculty with proposal development.  For additional information, including ideas about the instructional methodology, please contact Jeff King, Ed.D., executive director of CETTL, or Jody Horn, Ph.D., assistant director of CETTL.

Goals

The goal of SoTL Scholars Grant is to provide faculty assistance to support the mission and vision of UCO by developing and/or adapting innovative and creative ways to incorporate the six tenets of Transformative Learning into the teaching and learning environment at UCO.

Our Mission: UCO helps students learn through transformative educational experiences, growing productive, creative, ethical and engaged citizens and leaders.

Our Vision: UCO will be one of the nation's top metropolitan universities, serving our community while providing our students the opportunities to achieve their highest level of leadership potential.

Transformative learning is a holistic process that places students at the center of their own active and reflective learning experiences. Projects chosen for funding must provide educational and learning opportunities/benefits for UCO students. Projects must include creative and innovative ways to transform students through:

• Discipline Knowledge;
• Leadership;
• Research, Scholarly and Creative Activities;
• Service Learning and Civic Engagement;
• Global and Cultural Competencies; and/or,
• Health and Wellness.

These grants are also intended to prepare UCO faculty to identify external funding opportunities which would expand their research interests at UCO and in their respective disciplines.

Objectives

Proposed activities must have 1.) intellectual merit, and 2.) broader impact.

A SoTL Grant will typically follow the Principles of Good Practice in SoTL:

• Inquiry focused on student learning;
• Grounded in context (literature review);
• Methodologically sound:
  • Propose creative and innovative methodology for how Transformative Learning can be implemented as a model for the process of Transformative Learning;
  • Include robust assessment measures for student learning outcomes; and,
  • Discipline-based research methods are appropriate.

• Conducted in partnership with students;
• Public review by peers:
  • Published; and,
  • Presentation.
• Provide the opportunity for students to work in collaboration with faculty to redesign courses incorporating the "Central Six" tenants of Transformative Learning;
• Propose creative and innovative methodology for how Transformative Learning can be implemented as a model for the process of Transformative Learning;
• Clearly list expected learning outcomes;
• Advance discovery and understanding in the discipline and the teaching of the discipline;
• Engage community partners and organizations; and,
• Increase student abilities to problem solve.

Faculty who have received a grant through the ORSP for 3 consecutive years and have not applied for external funding (private, state, or federal) are ineligible to apply for a 4th year.

Research assistants receive full-time, ¾-time, ½-time, or ¼-time assistantships and are able to work 20 hours, 15 hours, 10 hours, or 5 hours per week, respectively. Assistants are only allowed to work on campus a maximum of 20 hours per week in assistantship positions (RA and/or TA). Faculty are encouraged to split their RA awards into ½-time or ¼-time RAs to increase the number of students engaged in the research project.

The purpose of awarding reassignment time is to provide faculty with time for research above and beyond that available given a normal teaching load. Consequently, applicants cannot be paid overload salary if receiving reassignment time while holding a SoTL Scholars Grant award.

Support for the SoTL Scholars Grant is a collaborative effort between the Center for Excellence in Transformative Teaching and Learning (CETTL) and the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (ORSP).

Please note:  A one-page progress report is required to be submitted by faculty at the end of the fall and spring semesters during the academic year in which funding is received through the SoTL Scholars Grant Program.

If your project requires an IRB or IACUC approval, an IRB or IACUC application does not need to be completed at the time of your on-campus grant application, but the IRB or IACUC approval must be obtained before your research project begins.

For more information on the IRB/IACUC application process, visit the Office of Research Integrity and Compliance website.