(HOT) Teaching Mini-Grants
The Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor announces the availability of mini-grants to support hybrid, online and technology-enhanced (HOT) teaching.
The HOT mini-grants are intended to provide support for small to medium-scale teaching innovations and course updates in online, hybrid and tech-enhanced (face-to-face) undergraduate courses. Proposals may request funding to incorporate new educational technologies, blend digital and in-person learning experiences, or conduct research on student learning in specific hybrid/online/tech-enhanced courses. Proposal review and administration is managed by the Office of Teaching and Learning and the Office of the EVC.
Who May Apply
All ranks of instructors, and teams of instructor(s) and graduate student(s), in any department, may apply. You may only apply once during the academic year.
What Support is Available
Grant award of up to $3,000. We imagine three levels of support:
- up to $1,000 for incremental revisions
- up to $2,000 for small-scale projects
- up to $3,000 for medium-scale projects or pilot projects intended as a basis for larger-scale innovations.
HOT Teaching Mini-Grants are a one-time source of funding. Proposals must focus on a specific course or set of courses The proposed projects must be designed to be self-sustaining without additional HOT grant funding. Funding priority will be given to proposals affecting larger numbers of students.
Some examples of items on which the funding can be spent include:
- Graduate student support for course material development/revision
- Instructor stipend/research/professional development funding (up to $1,000)
- Headsets, recording devices or other equipment required for the production/delivery of a course module
- Equipment for students to use as part of a course assignment (e.g. energy meters)
Funding cannot be spent on the following items:
- Refreshments
- Permanent Equipment (e.g. laptops or printers)
- Ongoing software licenses
- Software licenses for technologies that are not yet approved by (see approved tools here)
- Conference travel
How To Apply
Fill out the online application form
Form submissions for Academic Year 2023-24 will close when funds available for this program have been exhausted for the fiscal year.
Your application will be reviewed by the Office of Teaching and Learning, with funding recommendations to the Executive Vice Chancellor. Decisions will be made within 2-3 weeks of submission and funding made available as soon as possible after approval.
In evaluating proposals, review committee will consider the following:
- Impact: How many students per year will be affected?
- Scope: What aspects of the course are expected to change?
- Alignment: How aligned are the innovations with the call for proposals?
- Evaluation: How will the instructor evaluate the success of the innovation?
Grant Requirements
- Funds must be used within one year of disbursement. All unspent funds must be returned.
- Grant recipients must submit the following report:
- A 250-500 word description of the project which can be posted to the Office of Teaching and Learning website to promote the program and to be shared with future grant applicants.
- A brief evaluation of the project that addresses what went well, what you would change for next year, and ideas you have for continued improvement.
- A post-project report on expenditures.
- If the applicant has previously received a HOT Teaching Mini-Grant, their final report on that project must be on file with the Office of Teaching and Learning prior to submitting a new proposal.
- Consistent with current practice of many funding agencies, proposals which are funded, along with supporting materials, become public documents.