Call for Course Development Grant Proposals
*** Please note the NEW deadline for proposal submissions is Friday, April 1st at 5:00 p.m***
Slides and other resources from the March workshop
The Data@Carolina initiative is soliciting proposals for data science/data studies course development grants as part of an initiative to promote the development of data skills and data literacy among undergraduate and graduate students across the entire UNC campus.
1) Proposals will be accepted for undergraduate and graduate level courses.
2) Proposals that develop content that can be shared with other faculty and students — for example data sets, software tools, computer code, or any sort of learning modules that can be used in other courses are strongly encouraged.
3) Proposals for courses that will be offered in the 2016-17 Academic year are strongly encouraged.
4) Proposals should identify resources, such as software, existing data sets, or infrastructure requirements that will be needed for student success.
Grants may be used for developing full courses focused on some aspect of data science/data studies, or for significantly integrating data into a course with a substantive focus. Funds can be used to develop entirely new courses or to revise existing courses. The expectation is that all courses will provide students with substantial hands-on training and experiences with one or more major aspects of data science/data studies.
Applicants may apply for up to $10,000 funding, though we expect average award amounts to be approximately $5,000 for the program. Awards may be used for a variety of purposes, including (but not limited to): supporting a graduate student to work with an undergraduate course; collecting or acquiring data sets to be used for a course; purchasing specialty software not otherwise available to students; hiring a data management expert to support some aspect of the course; paying for the faculty member to attend workshops or gain some additional training; summer salary for a faculty member; or any other expense that can be justified. We strongly encourage expenditures that will have a broad impact.
This is a new initiative and, as such, we encourage creative proposals from across the entire campus. There are likely many other creative ways that funds could be expended to support creating innovative data courses for students. Applicants should not feel limited in any way to the examples listed in this call for proposals. We encourage experimentation and creativity, and hope to support a broad diversity of proposals.
ELIGIBILITY
All tenure track, fixed term, and adjunct faculty at the University who are eligible to teach undergraduate and/or graduate level courses may apply.
Assistance in developing courses under this program and web resources for sharing data and other materials will be provided by the Data@Carolina initiative through the Odum Institute for Research in Social Science and the Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI). Data@Carolina has launched a new website to assist this effort (http://data.web.unc.edu/).
WORKSHOPS
There will be an information workshop held on Wednesday, March 2 from 2:00pm-4:00pm in the Research Hub located on the second floor of the Davis Library Building for those interested in applying for a course development grant. The first hour or so will describe some available resources on campus with the remaining time devoted to time for questions and discussion. Attendance is not required, but is encouraged. Another workshop will be held in April for course grant recipients. Both workshops are intended to help interested faculty to meet each other, learn more about the available support on campus, and brainstorm ideas. A follow-up workshop will be held in the Spring of 2017 for recipients to share experiences with each other and with others who might be interested in developing similar courses.
EXPECTATIONS
Award recipients commit to:
1) Creating a new or revising an existing course that can be taken for course credit.
2) Consulting with the Data@Carolina Course Development Committee regarding the development of the course.
3) Delivering a report to the Data@Carolina Couse Development Committee detailing the course development activities, the disbursement of funds, and the outcomes of the grant-supported efforts during the grant cycle.
4) Participating (if possible) in the Kick-off workshop in April of 2016 and the Reunion workshop in the Spring of 2017.
APPLYING
Applicants should submit:
1) A current CV.
2) A proposal of no more than three single-spaced pages that includes (but is not limited to): a course description including the role of data in the course, the target audience for the course, and when the course will be offered.
3) A brief (no more than one additional page) budget and budget justification.
4) A support note signed by the applicant’s Department Chair
All materials should be submitted via email attachment to Rosemary Russo (rrusso@live.unc.edu) by Friday, April 1st at 5:00 p.m. Please use the subject line: Data@Carolina Course Proposal
For questions related to the proposal process, contact either Tom Carsey (carsey@unc.edu) or Rosemary Russo (rrusso@live.unc.edu).