Jill Singer Division of Undergraduate Education

1. The Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement Program: Opportunities for Transforming Undergraduate Education in STEM (and Some Proposal Writing Tips) Jill Singer Division of Undergraduate Education Directorate for Education & Human ResourcesNational Science Foundation Email: jksinger@nsf.gov Sustainability Grant Writing Workshop CSU Chancellor’s Office January 29, 2009

2. Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR)

3. Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement (CCLI) Vision of the CCLI Program: Excellent STEM education for all undergraduate students • Supports projects at all levels of undergraduate education • Supports activities in the classroom, laboratory, and field settings NEW SOLICITATION: NSF09-529 (replaces NSF08-546) Full proposal deadline: May 21, 2009 – For Type 1 proposals from submitting organizations located in states or territories beginning with A through M (May 22, 2009 – N through W)

4. Important CCLI Project Components • Creating Learning Materials and Strategies • Instrumentation and equipment requests are appropriate but must be based on their impact on student learning • Implementing New Instructional Strategies • Program encourages projects that lead to widespread adoption of promising pedagogical techniques • Developing Faculty Expertise • From short-term workshops to sustained activities • Assessing and Evaluating Student Achievement • Conducting Research on Undergraduate STEM Education

5. Important CCLI Project Features Quality, Relevance, and Impact Student Focus Use of and Contribution to Knowledge about STEM Education STEM Education Community-Building Sustainability Expected Measurable Outcomes Project Evaluation 5

6. Project Types:Scale, Scope, Stage, & Sustainability Three levels of support – Type 1, 2, and 3 Types are independent Type 2 and 3 projects reflect greater dependence on previous work Type 1 Projects: total budget up to $200,000 ($250K when 4-year colleges and universities collaborate with 2-year colleges) for 2 to 3 years Type 2 Projects: total budget up to $600,000 for 2 to 4 years Type 3 Projects: Budget negotiable, but not to exceed $5 million over 5 years NEW! CCLI Central Resource Projects – budget negotiable, depending on the scope and scale of the activity, duration up to 5 years Projects provide leadership and implementation of activities that sustain a community of practice engaged in transforming undergraduate STEM education 6

7. Program Director’s Notes (1) • Read the program solicitation • Determine how your ideas match the solicitation and how you can improve the match • Articulate goals, objectives, & outcomes • Outcomes should include improved student learning • Build on existing knowledge base • Review the literature • Present evidence that the proposed project is doable; will enhance learning; is the best approach • Explore potential collaborations (industry, business, academic) • Use data to document existing shortcomings in student learning 7

8. Program Director’s Notes (2) • Describe management plan • Provide tasks,team responsibilities, timeline • Provide clear examples of the approach • Integrate the evaluation effort early • Build assessment tools around defined objectives and expected outcomes • Connect with independent evaluation experts • Identify strategies for dissemination • Define a plan to contribute to knowledge base • Address broader impacts • Collaborate, form partnerships (build community) 8

9. Program Director’s Notes (3) • What does the knowledge base say about the approach? • What have others done that is related • What have been the problems/challenges • Why is this problem important? • Is it a global or local problem • What are potential broader impacts • How will it improve quality of learning • What is the evidence that the approach will solve the problem? • Address and achieve the defined outcomes and student learning • What are alternative approaches? 9

10. Ways CCLI Can Support UGR Activities • Acquisition of research quality equipment and its integration into undergraduate courses. • Labs can be constructed that integrate advanced equipment, prepare students for research, and draw on faculty research expertise. • Incorporation of inquiry-based projects into laboratory courses. • Partnerships with local research and informal education institutions. • Service learning can provide relevant problems while addressing the needs of the local community.

11. Writing the Proposal: Steps to SuccessPreparing to Write • Start EARLY • Outline what you want to do • Review the literature and descriptions of funded projects. Know what is being done in your field and how your project is similar/different • Use NSF Awards Search (http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/) • Read program solicitations to find the program that best meets your needs • If you still need clarification, contact (e-mail is best) the appropriate program officer to discuss your idea. • This may cause you to refine your idea and may prevent you from applying to the wrong program • Give yourself and your grants’ office enough time to complete the process and submit the proposal 11

12. NSF Awards Search:http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/

13. Writing the Proposal: Steps to SuccessWriting • Organize the proposal - use proposal guidelines • Make it easy for reviewers to find key items in your proposal by using such aids as bullets and an outline format • Be sure you clearly describe what you want to do and how you will do it as well as the problem you want to solve (goals and objectives) • For programs such as CCLI, describe how you will follow the progress of your project, determine whether it is successful and how you will disseminate the results • Consider the research potential of the project. Could the results add to the knowledge we have about what works and why in STEM education? If appropriate, relate your efforts to current research about what works and why. • Be sure the budget and budget explanation ‘match’ and that the budget reflects the size of the project team and the level of commitment for each member of the project team. Instrumentation, participant support, and/or travel requests should be clearly explained and justified. 13

14. One of the ways to confuse the reviewers… 14

15. Fatal Flaws • Fatal Flaw #1 • “My ideas are so great I’m certain NSF won’t care whether they fit the program guideline.” • Read the solicitation completely and carefully • Write proposal and address each area outlined in the solicitation • Check each program solicitation carefully for: Additional Criteria (for example) • Fatal Flaw #2 • “Trust us, we know what we’re doing.” • Formulate your idea(s); clearly state what you want to do • Identify the audience(s) you want to work with • Identify specific tasks and a timeline for completing activities • Give background information; cite literature-demonstrate that you are aware of similar efforts/prior work • Address broader impacts; if diversity is one of your goals, how will you recruit and support students? • Fatal Flaw #3 • “I’m sure they don’t actually count the pages. No one will notice I’m over the page limit. Maybe I should just use a smaller font.” • Follow page and font-size limits • Consult the program solicitation and the GPG (Grant Proposal Guide) 15

16. Fatal Flaws Fatal Flaw #4 “NSF should know what I’ve done in the past without my having to tell them. After all, they paid for it.” • Provide results from prior funding • Include a dissemination plan in your current proposal Fatal Flaw #5 “Evaluation will be ongoing and consist of a variety of methods.” • Plan for formative and summative evaluation • Include evaluation plan with timelines and benchmarks • Fatal Flaw #6 • “I’ll inflate my budget because NSF always ends up cutting it anyways” • Budget should directly reflect workplan • Provide biographical sketches for all key personnel. 16

17. Some Common Reasons for Proposal Decline • Lack of evidence the PI is aware of the relevant literature and is building upon it • Diffuse, superficial and unfocused plan • Lack of sufficient detail • Apparent lack of the requisite expertise or experience by the proposers • Lack of a clear plan to document and evaluate activities and outcomes and to disseminate the results • Evaluation plans that are mainly surveys to determine user satisfaction with no clear mechanism for documenting changes in student learning, faculty approaches to presenting material, and/or approach to education (at the disciplinary, department or institutional level) • Proposals that do not explicitly address both Intellectual Merit and Broader Impact and exceed the page limit are returned without review 17

18. What Happens to your Proposal? • Submission of proposal via FastLane • Proposals are reviewed by mail and/or panels of faculty within the discipline(s) • A minimum of three persons outside NSF review each proposal • For proposals reviewed by a panel, individual reviews and a panel summary are prepared for each proposal • NSF program staff member attends the panel discussion • The Program Officer assigned to manage the proposal’s review considers the advice of reviewers and formulates a recommendation • Negotiations may be necessary to address reviewers’ comments, budget issues, and other concerns

19. What Happens to Your Proposal(2) • NSF is striving to be able to tell applicants whether their proposals have been declined or recommended for funding within six months. Verbatim copies of reviews, not including the identity of the reviewer, is provided to the PI. • Proposals recommended for funding are forwarded to the Division of Grants and Agreements for review. Only Grants and Agreements Officers may make awards. • Notification of the award is made to the submitting organization by a DGA Officer.

20. Information and Inquiries • Email undergrad@nsf.gov • Phone 703-292-8670 • Fax 703-292-9015 • DUE Web Site http://www.nsf.gov/div/index.jsp?div=DUE • Jill Singer – office: 703-292-5323 • jksinger@nsf.gov