Grant Round 1 2015Drafting your application

Institute for Teaching and Learning September 2014 Dr Alison Kuiper

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Plan for today’s workshop

› Introductions

- Are you planning to apply or thinking about it?

› Thinking about applying - Focus on EOIs and full grants

- 2014 priorities and your idea if you have one

› Preparing your application for submission - Process

- Requirements and support

 

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2015 Rounds

› Round 1

- Full Proposals and EOIs

- Closes internally 14 November 2014

- Closes 28 November 2014 with the OLT

› Round 2

- Full proposals from successful Round 1 EOIs

- and Seed grants

- Closes June 2015

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Changes for 2015

› Increased emphasis on dissemination, implementation and transferability

› Changes to full proposals

› Project impact and previously completed OLT work added to the criteria

› All criteria to be addressed under separate headings in the application

› Funding

› $5.5 million (indicative)

› between $40,000 and $500,000 per Innovation and Development grant

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Aim of grants program

› To provide funding for academics and professional staff

› to investigate, discover, develop and implement innovations in learning and teaching

› Grants facilitate scholarship and research into learning and teaching, and promote systemic change in the sector

› They play an important role in providing esteem for learning and teaching scholarship and practice

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Does your project fit an OLT priority area?

› Academic standards

› Assessing equivalence of qualifications and learning outcomes

› Assessment and promotion of student learning (on selected topics)

› Curriculum design (on selected topics)

› Employability skills

› Improving institutional pathways across higher education

› Improving access to and outcomes in higher education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people

› The contemporary PhD

› Handout

2015 priority areas

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Making an application

› Follow the steps on the ITL website

› http://www.itl.usyd.edu.au/awards/oltprojects.htm

› Download and get very familiar with the OLT document and resources

› http://olt.gov.au/grants-and-projects/programs-and-applications

› find partners

› contact HoS

› contact ICOs - Alison and tba in DVCE’s office

› seek feedback

› use the checklist – new version

› submit application in plenty of time with all required docs.

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Changes for 2015

› Increased emphasis on dissemination, implementation and transferability

› Changes to full proposals

› Project impact and previously completed OLT work added to the criteria

› All criteria to be addressed under separate headings in the application

› Funding

› $5.5 million (indicative)

› between $40,000 and $500,000 per Innovation and Development grant

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Academic Resources

› OLT help sheet

› Managing your project

› Good practice reports

› Good practice resources

› Dissemination resources

› Key features of successful applications

› Successful Grant holders

› Research Funding Toolkit

› Advice re Industry Partners

› Successful Proposals

http://www.itl.usyd.edu.au/awards/oltprojects.htm

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Academic resources

› Make use of both

› http://olt.gov.au/grants-and-projects/programs-and-applications

› Seek feedback from

› mentors

› faculty colleagues

› previously successful applicants for OTL grants

› other successful grant applicants

- ITL: Alison Kuiper PEI and ICO

- alison.kuiper@sydney.edu.au

OLT and ITL resources

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Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT)

Information Session

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› An OLT representative and OLT Secondee, Ms Tilly Hinton, will guide you through the programme.

› We encourage anyone planning to apply for an OLT Grant, or interested in the OLT Programmes, to attend this event.

› Please register online to attend https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/oltinfo.

› A confirmation including details of the venue will be sent to you after registering.

› We look forward to seeing you at the Information Session!

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What makes a good application?

› Demonstrates a passion for improving learning and teaching

› Is well grounded in literature

› Displays innovative strategies and approaches

› Shows a willingness to engage with emerging technologies

› Matches aims and activities to deliverables and outcomes

› Has well thought out dissemination strategies

› Shows good cross-institutional collaboration and engagement with industry

› Considers the work of past OLT projects

› Considers the scope of the project beyond the home institution

The OLT suggests a good application

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Criteria

A. Project rationale and sector readiness

B. Project outputs (or deliverables)

C. Project impact

D. Project team and governance

E. Project budget

F. Project evaluation

Handout

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Project rationale and sector readiness

› Clearly articulated outcomes and a clear argument

- demonstrating how the project will address one of the program priorities

- and contribute to the enhancement of learning and teaching in higher education

› Assessors consider › 1 quality of application

› 2 how important the project is to the sector

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Project outputs (or deliverables)

› Be realistic about proposed outputs

› Sustainability of outputs – build this in

Project outputs (or deliverables)

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Project impact IMPEL model

Impact Management Planning and Evaluation Ladder

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Project team and governance

› Roles and responsibilities of team members

- involve them in the planning

- a preliminary allocation of responsibilities among the team members is advisable

› Demonstrate capacity of team to deliver

- including the quality and timeliness of the project leader’s previous work

› It’s important to show the project will work.

› Allocate tasks and make sure people have the skills

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Project budget

- Funding between $40,00- $500,000

- Those over $350,000 are for significant national projects

- Appendix 8 p41

› Project evaluation

- Evaluation strategy required

- Independent external evaluator required for projects over $120,000

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Project evaluation

› Clearly identify the evaluation strategy

- Appropriate for scale of project

› External evaluator for projects over $120,00

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› Timeline

› Begin 1 August 2015

› Note complexities of inter-institutional agreements and time for ethics approvals

› Be wary of surveys; are there alternative strategies which could be used for collecting data?

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Submission issues and compliance requirements

› ICO, DVCE’s Office, provides this support, notifies OLT of impending applications

› Only applications that have been notified and have received university approval will be considered by the OLT

› Evidence of support from your faculty is required before letter of support from the University can be provided

› Partner applications also require a letter of support from the DVC(E)

› Prepare your application following the 6 steps by the internal submission date: Friday 14 November

› The internal closing date is firm

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Making an application

› Online form (p21)

› Full proposal – 20 A4 pages (p11)

› Associated appendices (p18)

- Letter of endorsement

- Additional letters of support

- Biographies of team leader and members

- If applicable, design specifications

- Checklist (p26) Summary (p28)

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Appendices

1. Assessment process

2. Obligations associated with receiving a grant

3. Intellectual property

4. Key web links p.34

5. Proforma letters of support- lead and partners

6. Project impact planning

7. Information about project team and governance

8. Information about project budget, funding and payment

9. Definitions and descriptions

Don’t ignore these!

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Key things to note in making an application

› 1 Value of the project

› 2 Impact beyond the institution

› 3 Methodology

› 4 Technical requirements

› The value of the project is the most important factor in determining funding.

› However an application which is professional and compliant provides evidence that you are well organized

› and that the grant is well planned and likely to deliver on outcomes.

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