University of Bath

Teaching Development Fund 2018: Call for Proposals

Introduction

The University of Bath’s Teaching Development Fund (TDF) has been running successfully since 1999 and has provided opportunities for staff and students, as individuals and teams,to develop a wide range of ideas to enhance learning and teaching. A total of£60,000 has been allocated for projects in 2018.

Time-line for bids

There are two routes to funding this year. The time-line and submission deadlines for bids are:

TDF Sandpit: 2018
Friday 15 December / Deadline for expressions of interest
Wednesday 10 January and Thursday 11 January / Sandpit event
TDF written proposal: 2017
Friday 12 January / Call for proposals open
Wednesday 21 February / Deadline for expressions of interest
Friday 23 March / Deadline for full project bids

What is the sandpit route?

Colleagues involved in learning and teaching from across the university are invited to participate in the first TDF sandpit event. This will be a two-day facilitated workshop. You will work with people from across the university in small groups to brainstorm and refine ideas for curriculum transformation projects. At the end of the two days, you will be invited to do a short pitch to the TDF panel to win funds for the project you have developed. Funding decisions will be made that day.

You will need to be available on Wednesday 10th and Thursday 11th January.

Who can submit a written proposal?

Proposals are invited from all staff and students, as individuals or teams, in academic departments, Professional Services and the Students Union; those which involve inter-departmental/cross-University collaboration will be particularly welcomed. Projects leaders are also encouraged to involve students as active collaborators in the work.

You may notsubmit a new proposal if the report of a previous TDF project, with which you have been associated, has not been submitted.

Projects must demonstrate how they contribute towards the delivery of the University’s Education Strategy and Objectives 2016-21.

The Fund is open to allow proposals to emerge from existing good practice, innovative ideas and current issues in the University and the wider HE sector. Projects may wish to undertake research into an aspect of learning and teaching in higher education, or may seek to develop practical approaches.

How much funding can I ask for?

There is no formal lower or upper limit for funding; projects can be small or larger scale. When considering what to bid for, it is worth being pragmatic about what can be achieved within the 12 months of the project lifetime – a small-scale, high quality project will have greater impact (and be easier to run) than something larger and more complex.

What can I use the money for?

Funding might be used, for example, to buy-in staff or student time to work on the project, fund the hosting of events and external dissemination of project outcomes or similar. It may not be used for general capital equipment such as laptops, except where a strong case can be made for equipment that will subsequently be made available to, and benefit, a wider department. It is not permissible to use fundingfor current full-time staff salaries.

Sharing project outcomes

In order to optimise collaboration and the sharing of good practice and experiences, successful project leaders/teams will be required to:

  • Participate in the TDF project network;
  • Share their outcomes via a short presentation (e.g. oral, poster,video) within their Department/School, within Faculty Learning & Teaching Quality Committees or other alternative forum, and at the University’s annual Learning & Teaching conference;
  • Provide an evaluative report to the University Learning, Teaching &Quality Committee (ULTQC). This report will also serve as a case study for dissemination and the TDF web pages.

What advice and support is available?

The TDF is administered by the Centre for Learning & Teaching (CLT). The team will provide support in a variety of ways, for example:

  • Providing guidance workshops and one-to-one advice on writing proposals;
  • Publicising opportunities for collaboration;
  • Getting projects together to share ideas and experiences;
  • Providing individual guidance on external publication or bids;
  • Identifying and creating opportunities for dissemination;
  • A web site to host project case studies.

How do I submit a written proposal?

Expression of interest

1)The first stage is a concept stage only so the initial idea for your project together with an indication of who else you will involve, should the bid be successful, is all that is required. In the event that you progress to full bidding, you will be required to submit a full project bid, plan and budget.

2)Some important questions and areas to consider at the Expression of interest stage include:

  • what you want to achieve with your project (bearing in mind you only have 12 months);
  • how it will enhance learning and/or teaching;
  • which of the University’s Education Objectives 2016-21 your project contributes to;
  • what has been done elsewhere (outside the University of Bath) on this topic;
  • how you will involve students as active collaborators (you may find it helpful to involve students in putting the proposal together);
  • in what ways the outcomes or experiences could be relevant to or adapted by other departments across the University;
  • how you will know if the project has been successful;
  • what additional resource might be required (e.g. legal advice, IT or other professional service support).

3)Complete SectionA in Word – available at:

The Expression of interest stage of this process requiresonly a short summary of the proposed project of200 words maximum. Please also complete Section A with 50 -100 words per criterion. If your proposal is successful, this summary can be used as your project description in your full bid and will also be used subsequently on the Centre for Learning & Teaching website. This requires you to obtain agreement and a signature from your Head of Department/School/Service.

4) Discuss the project and obtain agreement from the head of the relevant service if additional support resources are required (e.g. Student Services, Student Union, Academic Staff Development, e-Learning, BUCS, Library etc.).

5) Email the completed Application Formas a single Word document (together with a confirmation email of support from the relevant service, if required) Wednesday 21 February.

Full bidding

Following consideration by ULTQC, you will be notified of whether you have been successful in progressing to full bidding. This will require you to:

i)Bring your project team together to consider the details of your project.

ii)For the Full Bid, please expand on Section A to 100 – 200 words per criterion and complete Section B (100 – 200 words per criterion) in the attached TDF Application Form available at:

iii)Obtain the agreement and signature of your Head of Department/School/Service.

iv)Email the completed TDF Application Form as a single Word document to Friday 23 March.