In light of the positive reception of UA Little Rock’s Jumpstart Program for Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works, Provost Ann Bain is pleased to announce the Jumpstart Program for Teaching and Learning to showcase the dedication and innovation of UA Little Rock’s faculty in teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. This funding has been allocated from UA Little Rock’s second round of emergency federal CARES Act funding, so proposals must relate to attempts in adjusting, adapting, and developing teaching practices in dealing with the impacts of the pandemic on teaching and learning.
The Jumpstart Program for Teaching and Learning will provide limited, competitive funding for a total of 40 full-time teaching faculty to be awarded a stipend of $2400 for successfully proposing a presentation about the following:
- Planned future teaching innovations and interventions that have clear assessment plans for measuring impact on student success in the post-pandemic learning environment.
- Teaching innovations and interventions that have been developed and measured since March 2020 in response to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic on student learning and success.
- Past teaching innovations and interventions (i.e., pre-COVID) that have had measurable positive impacts on student success during the pandemic that can be implemented and/or scaled in the post-pandemic learning environment
All proposals should feature teaching interventions or innovations that have the potential to positively impact teaching, learning, and student success in the post-pandemic classroom. Priority will be given to teaching interventions and innovations that address high DFW rates and closing equity gaps in student learning and success in gateway courses. Faculty are encouraged to collaborate with one another and submit proposals that cluster course interventions and innovations across disciplines or course levels. Research on teaching and learning may require IRB oversight and approval. This must be obtained before recruitment or data collection can begin. For questions and guidance please contact [email protected]. Know someone who might be too humble to apply? Nominate them by contacting Erin Finzer in the Office of the Provost ([email protected] or 501-916-3204) and we will contact them.
All full-time teaching faculty are eligible to apply for the Pilot Jumpstart Program for Teaching and Learning.
To apply, faculty should submit a proposal using the online form below by no later than January 10, 2022.
Faculty are invited to submit proposals of no more than 1000 words in the following areas:
- Pedagogy of care
- Teaching synchronously, asynchronously, and hyflex
- Proof of concept in evidence-based practices
- High-impact teaching practices (work-based learning, project-based learning, experiential learning, etc.)
- Active learning
- Curricular/course redesign
- Instructional design
Faculty receiving stipends through the Jumpstart Program for Teaching and Learning will present their teaching innovations virtually at a Jumpstart Teaching Virtual Expo.
Awards will be announced in the following areas:
- Innovation
- Scalability and/or Dissemination Potential
- Equity, Inclusion, and the Pedagogy of Care
- Best Blackboard Course Design
- *Bonus Award Category* – Presentations Demonstrating Collaboration Across Multiple Courses– This bonus award showcases presentations bringing synergy of content or student engagement connecting differing areas (e.g. chemistry course & biology course; criminal justice course & psychology course; multiple math courses changed in a coordinated fashion). There will be up to $5000 allocated to this category, which will be divided among collaborative awardees, with a maximum award of $1000.
Proposals will be evaluated with the following rubric:
| Type | 4 Capstone | 3 Mature | 2 Developing | 1 Benchmark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment design (30%) | – Design is clear and comprehensive – Defines clearly at semester start, what students will be able to do by the end of the intervention with measurable student learning outcome statement statements – Metric threshold meaningfully signifies success and is innovative in how success will be measured (in addition to DFW rates) | – Design is mostly clear and comprehensive – Defines at semester start, what students will be able to do by the end of the intervention with mostly measurable student learning outcome statements – Metric threshold signifies success and is clear in how success will be measured (in addition to DFW rates) | – Design is somewhat clear and somewhat comprehensive -Defines at semester start, what students will be able to do by the end of the intervention with some measurable student learning outcome statements -Metric threshold signifies success and is somewhat clear in how success will be measured (in addition to DFW rates) | – Design is not clear and/or comprehensive – Defines at semester start, what students will be able to do by the end of the intervention, but student learning outcome statements are not measurable – Metric threshold does not indicate success or how success will be measured (in addition to DFW rates) |
| Innovation/High-Impact Practices (20%) | – Project demonstrates significant impact through regular and substantive interaction – Incorporates more than one of the following in a unique, novel, or significant way: pedagogy of care, individualized instruction, experiential learning, work-based learning, project-based learning, active learning, etc. | – Project demonstrates moderate impact through regular and substantive interaction – Incorporates in a novel, significant, or unique way one of the following: pedagogy of care, individualized instruction, experiential learning, work-based learning, project-based learning, or active learning, etc. | – Project demonstrates some impact through regular and substantive interaction – More incorporation of high-impact practices needed | – Project demonstrates little or no impact through regular and substantive interaction – Does not incorporate high-impact practices |
| Based on evidence of how people learn (10%) | – Project is deliberately based on and cites best practices in existing literature – Deliberately uses evidence-based practices in teaching and learning – Project is highly conversant with larger communities of practice and contributes significantly to discovery and improvement in the scholarship of teaching and learning | – Project is deliberately based on best practices in existing literature but does not cite it – Employs evidence-based practices in teaching and learning but not deliberately – Project is conversant with larger communities of practice and contributes to discovery and improvement in the scholarship of teaching and learning | – Project is touches on best practices in existing literature but does not explicitly – Employs evidence-based practices in teaching and learning but not deliberately – Project is conversant with larger communities of practice but does not clearly contribute to discovery and improvement in the scholarship of teaching and learning | – Project is not deliberately based on best practices in existing literature but does employ best practices – Haphazardly employs evidence-based practices in teaching and learning – Project is limited in conversation with larger communities of practice and provides limited discovery and improvement in the scholarship of teaching and learning |
| Ability to scale and/or disseminate ideas (10%) | -Scalability across disciplines and/or learning levels are clearly articulated and mapped out. – Project offers strong potential for dissemination at a national or international conference; or – Offers strong potential for publication in national or international journal | – Scalable across disciplines and/or learning levels – Project offers potential for dissemination at a national or international conference; or – Offers potential for publication in national or international journal | -Moderate scalability across disciplines and/or learning levels – Project offers limited potential for dissemination at a national or international conference; or – Offers limited potential for publication in national or international journa | -Limited opportunities for scale across disciplines and/or learning levels – Limited potential for dissemination at a national or international conference; or – Limited potential for publication in national or international journal |
| Equity, Inclusion and the Pedagogy of Care (30%) | – Project significantly increases equitable student learning and outcomes by improving DFW rates in a gateway course – 100% accessible content, technologies and course navigation | – Project increases equitable student learning and outcomes by improving DFW rates – Mostly accessible content, technologies and course navigation | – Project provides some increase in equitable student learning and outcomes by improving DFW rates, however, more is needed -Some accessible content, technologies and course navigation | – Compelling project, but limited increases in equitable student learning and outcomes by improving DFW rates – Weak attempt at accessible content, technologies and course navigation |
For prioritization of projects: Does the project address high DFW rates and closing equity gaps in student learning and success in gateway courses?
YES or NO