Instructional Improvement Grants

We recognize that there are many areas open to interpretation, and we strongly recommend a consultation with Dr. Kumiko Haas, Director of Instructional Improvements Programs, to clarify likely funding categories and project design. To schedule a consultation, please contact iip@teaching.ucla.edu.

Consultation is intended to help develop a proposal and is not an opportunity for lobbying on behalf of a proposal. Please schedule consultation appointments well in advance of the deadline for submission. Appointments during the last week of the application period are not available. Phone consultation and e-mail are the most efficient methods for answering specific questions.

A good project narrative would start with an explicit statement of what you aim to achieve with your work and what impact you expect it to have. Overall, a good narrative would answer the following questions: 

1. What do you want to achieve with your work? What are your expected results? How will student learning or students’ experience be improved? 
2. When will you achieve your expected results? What is your timeline?
3. How are you planning to achieve this? What will each person (e.g., Graduate Student Researcher, PI/faculty member, staff) do and how many hours will it take in a quarter? Why do you need the material/equipment? 
4. Why do you think your work will be successful? What assessment plans do you have to measure the success of the project? 

Length is not rewarded, but neither is vagueness. The project narrative should not exceed six (6) pages.

The budget sheet is an overview of the requested budget. Each element of the budget should be explained in the narrative. A proposal which, for example, requests $8,000 but doesn’t specify how it is to be spent is not likely to pass scrutiny. In general, there is no upper limit to the amount you can request in the proposal. However, for larger grants (exceeding $15K) the committee would likely be more favorable with matching funds from the chair/division or other external grants.

Salary Assistance

Funds can be provided for undergraduate or graduate student assistance. The type of assistance should be consistent with the level of goals to be accomplished. For some specific work, compensation for staff time can be requested. This may include programming time from local computing support centers that goes beyond their normal job description. Consult with the departmental MSO regarding appropriate funding levels or pay scales for Staff Research Associates (SRA), undergraduates, or Graduate Student Researchers (GSR).

Typically, instructional costs (cost for instructors and TAs) are covered by the department. However, Teaching Assistant support can be provided in cases where additional instructional support will be needed due to the changes and improvements in the course you are proposing. Please include in the proposal how TA funding will be provided in the future. In such proposals, please include letters from the chair/dean indicating such support. Again, the departmental MSO can advise on the appropriate levels for TA funding. Please be aware that GSRs and TAs are not interchangeable positions and requests for each will be evaluated on different terms.

There is no remission support for GSRs provided through the Instructional Improvement Program (IIP) major grants. Remissions, TIF, worker’s compensation, and other payroll costs are the responsibility of the hiring department, and will not be provided. Therefore, these fees should not be included in the budget. CAT will provide 19900 funding for GSR salaries when possible, which enables fee remission reimbursement from APB for eligible GSRs.

Equipment

The $6,000 limit is for equipment only. Equipment purchases come from a separate and limited account. The Committee is willing to support activities to develop new courses requiring equipment, which in most cases can be covered by $6,000. They will not fund individual laptop computers merely for presentation needs.

Course Releases

Faculty should only request a course release when the work is beyond the scope of normal course development that is expected as part of the faculty’s responsibility and cannot be easily delegated to a GSR, and the need should be well justified in the proposal. Senate faculty are not eligible to receive stipends for course development, and are generally not eligible to receive summer salary (except under very unusual circumstances and requiring substantial justification). For non-Senate faculty who propose to develop a course, we encourage consultation with Kumiko Haas to determine the best way to support their goals.

Course releases have to be approved by the department chair. Proposers should be aware that being awarded an IIP grant with teaching release does not necessarily guarantee the release. Ultimately it will depend upon the department finding suitable replacements for the proposer’s teaching obligations. 

The course release is a set amount that is provided to the department to provide replacement costs, and not a salary replacement. The department can request up to $10,465 (0.13 FTE at Assistant Professor, Step IV) for both faculty and lecturers. For departments that have specified language about course development workloads in the contracts with their unit 18 lecturers, they may request that cost in lieu of a course release.

Also see section on in-kind assistance from CAT below.

You may directly include in your proposal a request for resources or assistance (measured by hours) from the Center’s staff. We understand that faculty may not know exactly how many hours it would take to accomplish their objective, so we encourage consultation with CAT to obtain an estimate. In any event, please include a number of hours even if it is an estimate, and a description of the type of support you would need.

• Assessment: We strongly encourage proposals to include assessment components to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposal as well as impact on student learning. Center for Educational Assessment researchers are available for consultation that may lead to assistance with implementation. 
• Studio time: Faculty may request assistance in creating online modules of course materials. Material professionally recorded in the Instructional Media Production Studio, as well as consultation with Center staff, can be requested in an IIP Grant.
• Consultation: Faculty may request consultation on a variety of topics related to instruction, including but not limited to, pedagogy, curriculum development, course design, instructional technology, and hybrid/blended course development.

While IIP funds may assist in the development of projects, it is often the responsibility of Local Support Centers (such as the HumTech, SSCERT, and Center for Community Learning) to maintain or further develop such projects. It is important that they have the capability to do so in terms of personnel and/or expertise. Sharing proposals ensures such linkages and sometimes results in “co-developed” projects, which the applicant might not have anticipated as being possible.

A letter of support from the department chair is required for each proposal. If requesting a course release, the letter from the chair should include explicit approval of release time. Additionally, the Committee encourages applicants to obtain letters of support from local support centers, other faculty who may use the deliverable, and/or other subject matter experts, where applicable.

Yes! The Committee looks favorably on projects that involve collaboration among faculty. The project will need a “principal investigator” to contact for specific information, but the proposal can represent a department-wide initiative.

Yes. There is no penalty for submitting more than one request, although the Committee will look for evidence that priorities are clearly understood, and that sufficient time and other resources are allotted for each proposal. Each proposal will be considered separately.

Every effort is made to provide a response as soon as possible. Even under ideal conditions, however, it may require several weeks to notify all applicants. Because many of the proposals may also include further negotiation with the appropriate Dean(s), no specific date can be provided for the response. The Committee meets twice a year to consider proposals and most applicants are notified by the end of the quarter.

Funds are transferred to the requesting department and placed in the FAU as given by the department’s MSO via a funding form provided by CAT. Once transferred, the department is responsible for administering and monitoring the funds.

Yes, but carrying funds forward is not automatic. Permission is granted when it is not reasonable for the project to be completed as originally specified. CAT will send out a carry forward request form around the end of the fiscal year for PIs to submit if they need to request their funds be carried forward. Carry forward decisions will be announced in mid-to-late August.