FACULTY COURSE ENHANCEMENT & DEVELOPMENT GRANT Call for Proposals
2024-2025

Application Deadline: April 22, 2024
The Institute of World Languages invites proposals for the Faculty Course Enhancement and Development Grant.

Purpose of Course Enhancement & Development Grants:

CE&D grants are intended to support world language instruction at the University of Virginia by encouraging faculty projects involving the creation, development, or evaluation of course methods and materials, including technology, that are pedagogically innovative, aligned with current understandings of second language acquisition processes and supportive of the IWL mission.

Proposals must include clear theoretical and evidentiary justifications for the creation of a new course or for changes to an existing course. Evidentiary support could be student surveys, reports of need from employers, or published research findings. A letter of support from the appropriate Program Director and Department Chair must be included with the proposal.

Eligibility: All full-time faculty with a continuing contract of any rank, including lecturer and general faculty, who are engaged in the teaching of any world language at UVA, are welcome to apply for the Course Enhancement and Development Grant. Part-time faculty members are not eligible to apply. 

Awards:  The grant maximum is $3,000 per year, depending on the availability of funds and the number of applicants in a given year.  

Funding restrictions:

• A faculty member may receive only one award per academic year.
• Grant funds may be used to cover summer wages, but not travel. If taking the grant as summer wages, faculty must bear in mind that total pay from all sources for the summer period may not exceed 1/3 of the faculty member’s salary during the prior academic year.
• The grant period is for one academic year only and money must be spent by June 15, 2025.

Application Deadline:  The deadline to apply for Course Enhancement and Development Grants is April 22, 2024.  

Dissemination: Presentation at an IWL Roundtable or poster session is required of all grant recipients.

Proposal Guidelines 

Submission: Submit proposals via e-mail to both Professor Cecile Rey (chr2u@virginia.edu), and Professor Anne Rotich (ajr6y@virginia.edu) with “IWL Course Enhancement & Development Grant” in the subject line. 

Proposal Format: Include the following headings and sections in your proposal, which should be single-spaced and in 12-point Times New Roman font. It must be submitted as a single PDF that includes all the required information and documents. (please do not submit as separate PDFs).  The PDF should be labeled with the applicant’s last name, first name, department, and kind of grant sought (i.e., “Smith_Jane_Department_Course Development”). Please note that if you do not follow format and length guidelines, or submit more than one document, the proposal will not be accepted. 

Proposal Length: maximum five pages, excluding cover page, budget, CV and letter of support.

1. Cover Page: The first page of the proposal should have the following information:

• Title of Proposal (e.g. Developing Problem-Based Learning Tasks for French 2010)
• Dates of Proposed work
• Applicant’s Name 
• Email & phone 
• UVa Department
• UVa Job Title
• Length of faculty appointment – start to end

2. Justification and Goals: Justify the proposed course modifications with published research, theories and/or other evidence, such as student surveys. Describe the goals and significance of the proposed course enhancements/development for the language program and the overall mission of IWL.

3. Background: Explain the background to the proposed project, especially any previous relevant work by the faculty members involved or from the field of SLA/language instruction in general.

4. Project Details: Describe exactly what the proposed work would involve. Give specific expectations for phases of the work and a timeline.

5. Plans for Evaluation: Tell how the effectiveness of the course or course enhancements will be determined. What kinds of student assessments or feedback will be expected as the changes are implemented?

6. Budget: Include a narrative justification of the budget and a tabular budget with specific line items. For example, indicate costs for data collection, assistance with data analysis, materials, consultation fees, etc.  If money is used for wages, the budget must include the Fringe Benefit portion of any employee and student wage (i.e., 0.06% of the wages). For example, if your proposed budget is $998.58, it will be $943 in wages and $56.58 in Fringe Benefits.

7. CV: Provide a CV for each applicant on the project (two-page maximum).

8. Letter(s) of support:  Please include two letters of support, one from the appropriate Program Director and another from the Department Chair. The letters should be directly mailed to the committee members.

Proposal Checklist:

_____ 1. Cover Page

_____ 2. Justification and Goals

_____ 3. Background

_____ 4. Project Details

_____ 5. Plans for Evaluation

_____ 6. Budget 

_____ 7. CV

_____ 8. Letters of Support 

Criteria for evaluation:

Proposals will be considered based on:

• Justification and Goals of Project: The proposed course development or enhancements are justified with evidence from a range of sources. The goals are aligned with sound pedagogical practice and support both the program and IWL missions.
• Background: The faculty members describe either their own previous experience related to the proposal and its likely success or reports of other work that would predict success for this project.
• Project details: Details show evidence of thoughtful planning and reasonable expectations. A timeline for work is included.
• Plans for Evaluation: Descriptions for evaluating the merits and effectiveness of the course changes are aligned with stated goals and are reasonable for the course design.  
• Budget: Requested amount is appropriate and line items are justified within the scope of the project.
• Presentation: Proposal is sent as a single PDF document. All required elements of the proposal are included. Writing is clear, concise and highly readable. 

Notification: Applications will be notified of award decisions by May 10, 2024.  

Questions

Any questions about eligibility or suitability of proposals may be directed to Professor Cecile Rey (chr2u@virginia.edu), Professor  Anne Rotich (ajr6y@virginia.edu) , and the Director of the Institute of World Languages, Professor Miao-fen Tseng (mt3z@virginia.edu).