The importance of the ‘wow factor’ in your Carrick application

1. The importance of the ‘wow factor’ in your Carrick application Denise Chalmers Director (Awards, Fellowship, International Links) CARRICK INSTITUTE www.carrickinstitute.edu.au

2. The Grants Scheme

3. The Grants Scheme • Principles • Compliance with the Carrick Institute mission, objectives and values • Transparency • Value for money • High impact • Future looking • Carrick Institute Objectives • Promotion of systemic change • Recognise fundamental importance of higher education learning & teaching • Develop mechanisms to identify, develop and disseminate good practice • Establish reciprocal national and international sharing and benchmarking • Identify important future oriented issues that impact on higher education and facilitate national approaches to them

4. Carrick Institute Grants Scheme • Leadership for Excellence in Learning and Teaching Program • Competitive Grants Program • Priority Projects Program

5. Preparation – Getting started • Review all documents for all grants programs before deciding to apply or which type of grant to apply for including: • Carrick Institute mission, objectives, values • Guidelines • Checklists • Assessment reports (2006-7) • Project management information • Previous and current projects/grants reports and activities • Review your own ideas/proposal – is it sufficiently different, or add a significant development/extension to what currently exists? • If you find a project, methodology similar to what you are proposing, find out more about it, see if you can join, receive reports etc.

6. Preparation – getting started (cont.) • Reassess – do you have a viable idea/issue? • Establish your team/collaborators - be strategic • Will this team impress? • Does it include a range of skills, contributions – are these clear? • Is it a collaborative or convenient team? – Do you have a track record of working together? Is there an established relationship? • Are the members all committed? • Do you all have HoD’s, senior exec support? How can you build the support? Is it strategic for the university? • Have you done a pilot? • Do your homework - review the literature and develop a sound theoretical basis for the project. Identify the need, gaps to be filled, application to be made (1st & 2nd generation). • Provide evidence of clear project management stages

7. Writing the application – Putting the bones in place • Address ALL the criteria and follow the guidelines • Demonstrate how it fits the category throughout the submission • Start writing NOW for next year, revisit regularly • Involve ALL members of the team in planning and writing the application • Have it reviewed by friends, colleagues, successful grant holders, assessors • Review against the previous Grant Assessment reports • Provide a pithy, compelling synopsis of the project on first page. Include discipline/focus and intended outcomes. • Ensure coherence between each/all section - objectives, outcomes, dissemination, evaluation, budget etc.

8. AWARDS

9. Carrick Australian Awards for University Teaching (CAAUT) Awards for Teaching Excellence (up to 27, $25,000) • Prime Minister’s Award for the Australian University Teacher of the Year ($50 000) Programs that Enhance Student Learning (up to 14, $25,000) Submissions due - 11 July, 2008 Citations for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning (up to 210, $10,000) Submissions due - 9 May, 2008 Career Achievement Award

10. Preparation – Getting started • Review all documents for all Awards programs before deciding to apply or which type of award to apply for including: • Guidelines • Assessment reports • Previous award applications – successful and unsuccessful • Review previous applications – What is their edge, what makes them stand out, what makes them dull? What features work and which do not work? List these • Review your own teaching, talk to others to identify the things that you do that others do not? • You need to provide EVIDENCE from a variety of sources of your depth, breadth and sustained contribution

11. Writing the application – Putting the bones in place • Start writing NOW for next year, revisit regularly • Address ALL the criteria and follow the guidelines • state claim • provide examples, illustrate • provide evidence from a variety of sources • Demonstrate how it fits the category throughout the submission • Have it reviewed by friends, colleagues, successful award winners holders, assessors • Review against the previous Award Assessment reports • Provide a pithy, compelling synopsis on first page. Include discipline, breath, depth and sustained nature of teaching. • Ensure coherence between each/all sections. • Less is more - EDIT

12. And the WOW factor?

13. Use ‘Extreme Makeover’ as your guide Put the focus of your time and work in building the bones and underlying structure Only then - highlight the features that you think will stand out (1-3 only) – trim the fat, highlight with makeup, clothes. There is no ‘WOW’ without a strong underlying structure. A strong, coherent application, with evidence, will be more likely to be successful over a “wow” application without coherence/substance. A strong, coherent application with “Wow” will stand out over the rest. What is “Wow”? Just as for beauty, it is intangible, but can be glimpsed in Passion, coherence, focus, confidence, commitment, evidence, focus on students/others, symmetry,

14. FELLOWSHIPS

15. Carrick Fellowships New scheme started in 2006 High profile and well resourced • Senior Fellowship Program (4) max $330,000 • Associate Fellowship Program (10) max $90,000 Closing date 8 February, 2008 Designed to promote system wide initiatives Strong encouragement for international links and networks Strong commitment to dissemination and implementation