Faculty Invited to Help Assess Student Research

September 17, 2010 — University of Virginia faculty members who have ideas for improving students' research and reporting skills or designs for better research opportunities for undergrads may be eligible for a Learning Assessment Grant. Applications are being accepted until Oct. 1.

Faculty members can apply for funding of up to $2,000 for projects that assess undergraduate students' ability to conduct and report on research, or that initiate improvements to curricula and/or pedagogy related to student research.

"Research" is defined as individual or team research projects, conducted within courses or through labs, studios or field work, wherein students formulate a research question or problem, collect and analyze evidence, produce findings and communicate the process and results. Student research can be conducted for academic, applied, design or creative purposes.

U.Va.'s Institutional Assessment and Studies office and the Teaching Resource Center jointly support the annual grants program to further student learning assessment. The program will fund up to $10,000 in grants for the current academic year. Grant announcements will be made by Nov. 2.

Recipients will be asked to report on their assessment activities and results and the resulting impact on program decision-making and student learning. Grantees could be invited to participate in poster sessions, case studies or panels open to the University community, and recipients should expect that their experience will serve as examples or models for other programs undertaking assessments.

Instructions for submitting a grant proposal are available at the UVaCollab site under "Learning Assessment" or by contacting Lois Myers at lm2r@virginia.edu.

— By Anne Bromley

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