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Instructional Grants

Multiple grant programs are offered for Virginia Tech faculty and departments to engage in the development of instructional skills, the application of effective teaching strategies, and the scholarship of teaching and learning.

To submit a grant proposal, please complete the online submission form. If you have questions about the grant programs, please email the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at teaching@vt.edu.

  • High-Impact Project Grants provide support for departments, programs, and/or interdisciplinary collaborators to design (or re-design), develop, and implement a large-scale project with the potential to have a significant impact on student learning and teaching excellence. Maximum funding for a High-Impact Project Grant is $10,000 with a limit of two grants awarded per academic year.
  • Large Class Teaching Grants provide support for the enhancement of student learning in large-class settings. Maximum funding for a Large Class Teaching Grant is $5,000.
  • Instructional Innovation Grants provide support for faculty enhancement of instruction. Maximum funding for an Instructional Innovation Grant is $2,000. 
  • GTA Training Program Grants provide support for the enhancement or the creation of faculty-led training programs for graduate teaching assistants with a focus on knowledge and skills (e.g., teaching practices, course design, mentoring, communication, scholarship of teaching and learning) needed to develop as effective educators. Maximum funding for a GTA Training Program Grant is $2,000. 
  • Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Grants provide support for faculty conducting a scholarship of teaching and learning research project. Maximum funding for a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Grant is $2,000.

The center accepts proposals for grants twice each academic year. The proposal submission deadline for fall semester funding is March 15 with funds transferred around July 15. The proposal submission deadline for spring semester funding is October 15 with funds transferred around January 15.

Grant proposals must be submitted by the appropriate deadline (see above) to be considered for funding. Proposals must be submitted using the online submission form. Incomplete project proposals will not be considered. The grant proposal form asks for the grant project information below as well as contact information for the primary author, additional authors (if any), the primary author's department head/chair (and an acknowledgment of the head/chair's awareness of the proposal), and the primary author's fiscal manager/technician. The form also asks for the IRB status of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Grant proposals. 

  • Project Title: Provide a short and descriptive title.
  • Project Description: Provide a brief narrative that contextualizes the proposed project for a reader that may not be familiar with the author's discipline or interdisciplinary perspective. Establish the need for the project based on current scholarly literature related to teaching and learning in higher education. Provide a description of how the project will help meet the need.
  • Impact on Student Learning: Provide a statement that highlights the project's potential impact on student learning at Virginia Tech [*for SoTL grant applicants, discuss the learning-focused research question(s)].
  • Objectives: Provide specific student learning-focused objectives for the proposed project. 
  • Implementation Plan: Provide a description of how the project’s objectives will be met. 
  • Assessment and Evaluation Plan: Provide a detailed description of how the project's objectives will be assessed and evaluated. 
  • Dissemination of Results: Provide a description of how the results of the project will be shared with the teaching and learning community at Virginia Tech and/or beyond.
  • Budget: Provide a detailed budget for the full amount requested from the center. (See the Grant Funding and Spending Restrictions section below for more information about grant project funding.)

Each complete proposal will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

  • Significance of Proposed Project: Does the proposed project address a significant need in teaching and learning in higher education? Does it have the potential to make a significant impact on student learning at Virginia Tech?
  • Appropriateness/Feasibility of Proposed Project: Does the proposed project represent an appropriate response to the described need and is project completion likely given the available resources?
  • Adequacy of Assessment and Evaluation Plan: Does the proposal provide an evaluation plan that is aligned with the proposal's objectives and that explains how the project's effectiveness will be assessed? 
  • Feasibility/Appropriateness of the Sharing of Results: Does the proposal identify appropriate and feasible outlets for sharing the results of the project with the teaching and learning community at Virginia Tech and/or beyond?
  • Appropriateness/Completeness of the Projected Budget: Does the proposal provide a detailed budget that accounts for all of the funds requested?

Grant recipients must submit a final report that highlights the completed project’s (a) activities, (b) general results, (c) specific impact on student learning, and (d) ways results have been shared with the teaching learning community at Virginia Tech and/or beyond. The final report is due no later than one year following the relevant instructional grant proposal due date (i.e., if one applies to an October 15 due date, the final report is due October 15 of the following year; if one applies to a March 15 due date, the final report is due March 15 of the following year). Final reports must be submitted using the online final report form.

Common instructional grant proposal budget items include (but are not limited to) instructional materials/equipment, project-specific consultations/expert support, and undergraduate or graduate student support for project-specific work. Grants will not fund conference travel, course buyouts, summer salary, or general office supplies. Funding is provided to support teaching and learning enhancements at Virginia Tech.

Grant funding is transferred as E&G funds to the primary author's department to be spent on the fiscal-year cycle. All expenditures must be in accordance with Virginia Tech policies and procedures. Grantees are responsible for working with their departmental fiscal managers to ensure grant funding is spent within the fiscal year and in accordance with Virginia Tech policies and procedures. The primary author of the grant proposal is responsible for communicating any changes to the budget outlined below, including the inability to spend funding before the end of the fiscal year, to the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning in a timely manner.

Instructional Innovation Grants

The Center supports an Instructional Grants program. Faculty request funds to support plans to improve instruction and student learning. The grants are unique in that they are customized to provide funding for the planning elements most likely to yield learning improvements and on a timeline that provides funding when it is most needed. Faculty use grant funds to supplement instructional materials, in partnership with other internal and external funds, and as seed grants for matching funds to secure larger grants. See two instructional grants from the 2017-2018 grantee cohort below.

Virginia Tech, City of Radford, and Glencoe Mansion partner to build New River Train Observatory, VT News

Design-build: Engaging Radford's Railroad History. A collaboration between Architecture students (instructor: Kay Edge) and students from the Department of Sustainable Biomaterials (instructor: Tom Hammett). The project partnered with the City of Radford to design and plan a train-viewing platform using cross-laminated timber. In addition to funding and materials donations from industry and crowd-sourcing, the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning funded class trips to the site.

Department of Economics launches new study abroad undergraduate research program between Blacksburg and Peru, VT News

Experiment-driven Policy Making. A collaboration between VT’s Economics Department and the Department of Economics at Universidad de Piura (Peru). Students from both institutions engaged in economic lab experiments about decision making for complex scenarios (in the US) and field experiments in Peru. The students from both universities participated together traveling to each location to leverage the strengths of each department. It featured unique experiential learning features in economics at the forefront of current research—behavioral economics. This unique program-blending study abroad and undergraduate research embedded in local communities-was funded by several sources, including the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning.