Request for Proposals for Innovative Curricular Projects The Alex and Brit d’Arbeloff Fund
for Excellence in Education

The Vice Chancellor is currently soliciting proposals for the d’Arbeloff Fund for Excellence in Education for MIT faculty-led projects that strengthen undergraduate education and enrich the experiences of our undergraduates.

Proposals can be focused at any level of undergraduate education; priority will be given to projects that:

• Expand inspiring opportunities to help undergraduate students explore different fields of knowledge, academic departments, and possible future careers, particularly in the first year.
• Improve the first-year academic experience, including the General Institute Requirements (GIRs).
• Develop student motivation, self-awareness, confidence, and self-efficacy by providing opportunities to demonstrate educational accomplishments in authentic contexts.
• Enhance undergraduate advising – including professional and career development discussions – between faculty and students.
• Create subjects in the humanities, arts, and social sciences that explore a set of enduring questions, concepts, ideas, or values. These subjects should engage with fundamental issues of knowledge in the discipline, historical examination of the topic, and relevance of the topic in today’s world. In addition to topics taught by an individual faculty member, we are also interested in collaborations across departments. These might be through having faculty members from multiple departments collaborate on a single subject, or through having more than one department offer subjects with the same, closely-related, or overlapping topics or concepts that can be taught with the materials from the distinct disciplines yet address common problems, for example, justice, equality, personhood (to encourage students in different subjects to find opportunities for connected conversations).

Proposals that make use of innovative, active, and/or inclusive pedagogies to improve student learning and the student experience are encouraged, as are projects that transcend specific departmental curricula, and/or make use of online technology.

The Selection Committee encourages all applicants to reflect upon the efficacy of their proposed educational innovations and to disseminate the findings and lessons learned. If you are interested in discussing how you might develop an educational research study for your innovation, please contact the Teaching + Learning Lab (T+LL). Resources to help you develop your own plan are available on T+LL’s website.
 
In addition, a select subset of proposals may be particularly well-suited for rigorous, educational research studies. In these cases, the Selection Committee may ask that PIs work with Assessment and Evaluation experts in the Teaching + Learning Lab to develop and implement a robust educational research study.

A final report on the project at the end of the funding period is also required.

For guidelines and more information, visit https://registrar.mit.edu/darbeloff.
For questions about applying for a grant, please contact Assistant Dean Genevre Filiault (x3-5629) or darbeloff-fund@mit.edu.

Proposals are due by Friday, September 28, 2018.

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