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U N I V E R S I T Y O F P I T T S B U R G H |
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A newsletter devoted to the support of teaching and learning at the University of Pittsburgh |
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U N I V E R S I T Y O F P I T T S B U R G H |
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A newsletter devoted to the support of teaching and learning at the University of Pittsburgh |
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Rigorous standards shape ACIE grantsAs the fifth annual round of applications for Innovation in Education grants gets under way in October, members of the Provost’s Advisory Council on Instructional Excellence (ACIE) believe that the already high quality of the proposals has improved steadily since the program’s inception. Noting that proposals continue to come from “all over the University,” with representation by diverse schools, departments and campuses, Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs Andrew Blair, who chairs ACIE, describes the program as, “viewed by faculty as prestigious and attractive, reflecting the provost’s sponsorship and the advisory council’s membership of excellent teachers/research scholars.” This year, 25 proposals were received, and 14 were recommended for funding by ACIE. Although the number of proposals was down this past year, approximately 200 have been reviewed by the council during the program’s first four years. Blair notes that awards programs of this kind often experience a tapering off of submissions over time, and he attributes this year’s decline, in part, to a growing awareness among faculty of the demanding application and evaluation process. “A lot of work goes into preparing these proposals, and the standards for selection are quite rigorous.” ACIE currently is conducting a formative evaluation of the program in order to determine if further improvements in the process can be made, now that the program has become firmly established. Part of the evaluation data collected during the past year has come through focus groups consisting of past award winners. “The testimony of the individual faculty [in focus groups] was very impressive in terms of how they believed their teaching has been influenced by the program,” according to Blair. “They had the opportunity to do things that were exciting, that transformed their teaching, and they were exceedingly grateful for the opportunity to have access to the funds.” Project funding has ranged from approximately $4,000 to nearly $25,000, on the basis of the budgets accompanying the proposals. “Incidentally, innovativeness in teaching does not necessarily mean the use of technology,” Blair points out. “Although a number of the proposals are technology based, which is to be expected in this era, we do not view this as a program to use technology for instruction. We view technology as a handmaiden of instruction and, moreover, we have funded proposals that do not rely on technology at all.” ACIE is comprised of about 20 faculty from across fields and disciplines with members serving rotating three-year terms. Members for 2003-4 are as follows: Andrew R. Blair(Chair),Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs
The ACIE awards
has allowed us to build a one-stop Web-based tool that provides instruction
or a refresher on how to perform an engineering economic analysis for
engineering students across all disciplines. It has helped to more fully
integrate engineering economic analysis into the curriculum. The ACIE Innovations
in Education Grant helped bring our concept from design to reality.
Our work on this project [Interactive Digital Microscopy] was critical
in getting our NIH funding to develop the entire system. This grant helped
us to enrich the learning experience for students by converting a standard
visual teaching instrument to one with Web-based animation and sound.
This will enable students to interactively learn the symptoms and diagnostic
criteria for mood disorders.
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A newsletter devoted to the support of teaching and learning at the University of Pittsburgh |
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for Instructional Development & Distance Education |
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