The Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Programs and the Academic Senate Council on Research and Instructional Resources announce the continued availability of grants to improve the quality of undergraduate instruction at UCSB.
The purpose of the Instructional Improvement Program is to encourage and support faculty efforts to improve the quality of instruction. The program is supported largely by Undergraduate Instructional Improvement funds. Grants are viewed as seed money to encourage experimentation with new ideas, methods, technologies and content, so that the quality of undergraduate instruction at the University of California, like the quality of research, remains “cutting edge.”
The intent is not to support “new” for the sake of newness, but rather to promote excellence no matter what the form. To this end, evaluation of the impact of these projects is essential. Funding programs outlined here can support efforts which vary in scope from minor additions to individual courses to major restructuring of entire academic programs.
The Instructional Improvement Program has had major impact on educational issues fundamental to the campus, including the quality of lower division education, effective teaching of introductory course sequences and General Education courses, teaching toward diversity, and the teaching of fundamental skills such as problem solving and effective communication within the context of a wide range of subject matters. Projects have improved articulation and student learning outcomes for entire curricula, including interdisciplinary or interdepartmental programs, and at all levels from lower division prerequisites to upper division major sequences. Some projects have received national attention and awards, and some have been seed projects for extramural funding of major curricular development and of instructional equipment.
Note: Consistent with current practice of many funding agencies, proposals which are funded, along with supporting materials, become public documents.