Teaching Innovation Fund

The J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College Educational Foundation is happy to offer to Reynolds full-time and adjunct faculty the opportunity to apply to the Teaching Innovation Fund. This program is designed to assist faculty in the testing of ideas to deliver inclusive teaching strategies that foster a sense of belonging and ultimately drives improvement in equitable student outcomes.

Application for Spring and Summer Semester grants opens October 1, 2024 and closes November 7, 2024.

Submit your application

Guidelines

• Grants may vary with average awards of $1,000 – $5,000.
• Full-time and adjunct faculty are encouraged to submit project ideas for consideration.
• Two faculty members may partner on a project, including interdisciplinary teams. Individual faculty members may be awarded more than one grant if in collaboration with other faculty members.
• Applications must address the following:
  • The desire to test innovative teaching strategies
  • The strategies must have a goal to foster equity and a sense of belonging for all students
• Ineligible projects include:
  • Faculty stipends
  • Conference attendance and travel expenses
  • Funding intended to supplant other college sources.

Check in with the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) for grant writing workshops and idea exploration! CETL@reynolds.edu

Reporting

• Faculty receiving funding must submit a brief report at the end of the semester.
• Awardees may be invited to share their project findings with other faculty, college staff, and/or the Foundation Board.

Previously Awarded Projects

Spring/Summer 2024 Awarded Projects

1. Dr. Kellie Aldi: Organic Lab Experiment Renovation to incorporate new organic chemistry laboratory experiments that have more direct tie-ins to real life materials, where students get hands on experience with the equipment used in characterization.
2. Dr. Otelia Vines: Embedding Hands-on Learning in the Virtual Environment to Improve Student Success Outcomes with Pivot Interactive - This project will implement virtual laboratory (hands-on) experiences in the NAS2 online course to increase mastery of foundational skills required for BIO 141 and ultimately increase completion rates of targeted minority students in the course.

Fall 2023 Awarded Projects

1. Dr. Kendra Brinkley and Prof. Bakar Bey: Project based learning coupled with peer defined rubrics, and DISC behavioral assessment-informed group formation will allow students to actively participate in creating personalized practices that contribute to building collaboration skills by increasing self-awareness of strengths as they apply to the group dynamic.
2. Dr. Kendra Brinkley and Prof. Emily Montgomery: This project seeks to use the hands-on experience of audio recording to increase student understanding, develop critical thinking, and foster an environment of collaboration. Hands-on experiences are proven to be highly effective among traditionally underserved, low-income, minority, or transfer students, qualifiers which categorize most of our ECA participants.
3. Prof. Melissa Brooks: To address diversity through representation in instruction and inclusion by differential learning in the online learning environment, this program procured subscriptions for the paralegal teaching faculty (1 full time, 4 adjunct) to utilize Synthesia, an AI video creation platform. This platform affords an intuitive and simple video editing framework that allows instructors to create video content without camera, microphones and with the help of synthetic media through 65+ built in avatars that represent a variety of ages, races, genders and ethnicities.
4. Prof. Kimberly Rose: To address equitable learning outcomes and to prepare for industry certification exams our Med Lab Tech students take after graduation, the addition of a computer exam simulator, MediaLab was incorporated into each of the last-semester Clinical Coordinated Classes. MediaLab provides unlimited access to over 5,000 questions with answers and feedback as computer adaptive tests simulating the real exams and also can be used as subject-area reviews for Medical Laboratory Technician students. This program also allows the instructor to track the progress with detailed reports and scores.

Timeline for Proposal Submissions

Teaching Innovation Fund Application Questions

1. In 200 words or less, state the problem you are trying to address with your project. What inequities are you observing in student success rates in your classroom?  Briefly describe your student population and data that demonstrates the problem. Applicants are encouraged to use the Student Performance Dashboards in making a case for support.
2. In 200 words or less, what is the idea you want to test to foster a sense of belonging in your classroom(s) that will lead to more equitable student outcomes? How does this align with the college's teaching and learning strategic priorities?
3. What is the expected outcome and how will you measure it?
4. Total budget for your project
5. Itemized Budget: please provide a dollar amount and description/justification for each line item in the budget (see examples below)
   
   Portable PA System Rental: $150
   Justification: This will ensure that everyone can hear the discussion clearly, improving the overall quality of the experience.
   
   Printing of Discussion Materials (handouts, schedules, etc.): $50
   Justification: Printed materials will help guide the discussion and keep participants informed about the topics and schedule