The Active Learning Change Grant program is designed to encourage and support a broad-scale adoption of active learning approaches to promote a culture of active learning across UGA departments and programs. Active Learning Change Grants are intended to encourage systematic thinking and a collective effort from academic units (e.g., departments and interdisciplinary programs) to create learning environments conducive to student learning through implementing new teaching practices and/or initiatives.
Eligibility of a Change Grant Team
Each change grant team is required to assign two faculty members as Active Learning Change Grant facilitators who will lead and oversee the project. At least one of the two facilitators must have received the Active Learning Leader Certificate before applying for the grant.
In addition to the two required facilitators, teams may include any additional team members. These members could be instructors who will help with the redesign (e.g., other ALSI alumni), instructors who will be teaching the redesigned courses, any instructor-adjacent roles (e.g., lab managers), and department leader(s).
Suggested Formats of Change Grant Projects
An Active Learning Change Grant aims to infuse a culture change of active learning within a program or unit (e.g., department) beyond a single course redesign. Some examples of possible change grant projects are included below, but other projects that are equivalent in scope are also encouraged.
● Foundational Course Redesign – Redesigning a single course across all its sections can impact thousands of students in an average academic year. Selection of this type of redesign tends to prioritize required, high enrollment, multi-section, and multi-instructor courses. For an example of a successful Foundational Change Grant redesign, please see the Statistics Change Grant 2023 (here).
● Two Sequenced Courses Redesigned – Redesigning two courses that build on each other helps to scaffold students’ learning experiences while they move through a curricular program. Selection of this type of redesign tends to prioritize required courses with high enrollment. For an example of a successful Foundational Change Grant redesign, please see the Mathematics Change Grant 2023 (here).
● Active Learning Module Across Courses – A single module that can be added to most or all courses in a unit or program. This module should be highly engaging and help to provide the students with content and skill-building toward a key programmatic goal.
Preferred Selection Criteria for Change Grant Projects
Applications for Change Grants will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
● Size of Student Impact – The number of students directly impacted by the course redesign proposal.
● Importance of Chosen Courses – The strategic placement of the courses in the curricular progress of the unit or program (e.g., required introductory courses or foundational courses in a sequence).
● Sustainability – Evidence to suggest that the proposal is supported by the unit’s faculty and administration and would be financially sustained beyond the original grant.
● Assessment Plan – The inclusion of a comprehensive, clearly defined, and aligned with the articulated expectations of the change grant program. Applications with evidence-based assessment plan that includes student disciplinary knowledge indicators, student perspectives on the active learning approaches used in these course(s), instructor peer observations, and/or instructor self-reflections will be especially welcome. To gather data on the students’ perspectives, the CTL can build capacity for instructors within a Change Grant team to facilitate Mid-Semester Formative Evaluations for these classes (more information here). For peer feedback from other instructors, the DeLTA Project on campus has options for training for instructor and department teams (please email Terri Dunbar for information: Terri.Dunbar@uga.edu).
● Funding Plan – The inclusion of a clear and comprehensive budget that covers the redesign planning, implementation, and assessment.
Funding Guidelines
Every change grant team will receive $15,000 per grant. Each year, two grants will be awarded. Funding is most likely used for the purpose below. Any deviation from these areas must be explicitly noted in the Change Grant application.
● Supplemental Salaries for Facilitators – Supplemental salaries for grant team facilitators should be included to compensate for their time spent planning, implementing, and assessing the project.
● Supplemental Salaries for Team Members – Supplemental salaries should also be included for other grant team members engaging in grant-related work (e.g., time spent engaging in the course redesign process).
● Operational Expenses – Change grants can help with operational expenses, including equipment and supplies needed for course redesign or the implementation of active learning.
● Outreach Expenses – Outreach events or opportunities to inform, encourage and/or facilitate active learning culture change within the academic unit or interdisciplinary program (e.g., Lunch and Learns) can also be included within the change grant funding proposals.
Timeline for Completion of the Change Grant Projects
Change grant applications should include a proposed project timeline that aligns with the Active Learning Change Grant implementation schedule provided below.
Year One (Fall)
✔ Change Grant Facilitators meet with the Center for Teaching & Learning at least once to review the plan for course redesign and discuss any capacity-building needed for the Facilitators to be able to offer unit-level workshops for the other team members
✔ Change Grant Facilitators meet with the Assessment Coordinator for Active Learning (Deenene Brewer) at least once to review the plan for assessing progress toward the redesign(s).
✔ Change Grant Facilitators meet with the other Change Grant Team members at least monthly to review the timeline and responsibilities for redesigning the designated courses. The redesign courses must be implemented in the fall of Year Two (more below).
Year One (Spring)
✔ Change Grant Facilitators meet with the other Change Grant Team members at least monthly to review the timeline and responsibilities for redesigning the designated courses. The redesign courses must be implemented in the fall of Year Two (more below).
✔ Before the end of the Spring semester, the change Grant Facilitators should present a progress report in writing to the Director of Active Learning. This report should include a description of the redesigned course(s) (including syllabi). If the team chooses to collect any pre-design assessment data, these data should also be presented in the report with a preliminary analysis.
Year Two (Fall) through Year Five (Spring)
✔ At least one section of the redesign course must be taught in the Fall of Year Two and then offered at least annually each semester.
✔ Any assessment plan agreed upon in the original change grant proposal must be completed and these data should be presented annually in this report and an analysis of the pre-design data.
Change Grant Applications
Applications for the Active Learning Change Grant program are opening soon. Applications will be reviewed by members of the Active Learning Management and Advisory Committees. In all phases of the selection process, the applicants will be judged based on the stated criteria. Notifications of the funding decision will be made in early January.
Please use this proposal template to prepare your Active Learning Change Grant application. To submit your application, visit the Qualtrics form at this link. For more information, please contact Ching-Yu Huang, Associate Director for Active Learning Initiatives, at chingyu@uga.edu.