Features

Application Deadline: May 15th each year

New Initiatives/New Instruction (NINI) funding is available to LSA faculty and lecturers to foster student success through inclusive teaching practices and innovative teaching methods. Proposals should seek to directly and substantially benefit LSA undergraduates, enhance the student learning experience, and focus on inclusive teaching and learning through the creative use of digital resources, active/experiential learning methods, or instructional technologies.

Past awards have ranged from $15,000 to $75,000.

Possible projects might include: 

• Implement new instructional practices in LSA undergraduate courses, which allow all students to engage with/explore new content and inclusive teaching in new and creative ways.
• Shift a traditional lecture-based course to active learning or studio instruction with focus on student created content and incorporation of digital resources/activities to increase student access and engagement.
• Develop and expand experiential learning opportunities—with particular focus on experiences to build inclusion and equity, engaging with groups not typically included in undergraduate experiences or as focus of course content.
• Incorporate new content and activities into courses to meet departmental goals for curricular innovation.
• Transform traditional courses into interactive, exploratory team-based learning experiences, in which students actively engage during class with new content and new perspectives focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• Ensure access and inclusion to all by enhancing instructional technologies in classrooms and class-labs.
• Create experiential learning opportunities to foster instructor-student interactions and student-student interactions to support inclusive learning communities.
• Integrate collaboration tools to facilitate community engagement and student expression, particularly in telling stories of communities and experiences not traditionally included in LSA courses.
  

Proposals should address the pedagogical value, scope, and scale of the project, present the intended benefits and impact on the undergraduate student experience, describe associated risks, and establish a plan for assessment. All faculty or staff responsible for the project must be clearly identified.