Seed grants of up to $4,000 will support the implementation of projects and initiatives that immediately and directly impact student learning experiences within an academic course or in the co-curricular spaces between their courses through innovation and development.

These grants are intended to encourage experimentation within a course or a set of courses, fostering small-scale enhancements with the potential for future sustainability, transferability, and/or scalability within their home unit and/or into other undergraduate learning contexts. The overall aims are to foster deeper student learning and promote curiosity, reflection, and exploration in the areas of teaching and learning.

Projects may include:

• the creation of a new resource for a course or campus service
• the implementation of evidence-based teaching or assessment practices
• the (re)design of activities or courses to include co-curricular components or personalized learning experiences
• Diversity and inclusion: Exploring more equitable practices and pedagogies (e.g. Indigenizing curriculum, improving mental wellness in the classroom, encouraging diverse ways of knowing in course assignments)
• Redesigning coursework to incorporate innovative assessment in undergraduate classrooms (e.g. peer feedback, anti-essays, etc.)
• Multimedia in the classroom: incorporating technology-enhanced instruction (e.g., apps, collaborative tools, iclickers, and visual media)
• Active learning: incorporating pedagogies that seek to foster student engagement through student-centered approaches

New to the 23-24 PTL Grants is the Grow Grant! These grants, valued up to a maximum of $8,000, are designed to support work already underway, whether that be through a previous PTL grant competition or through other means. It is intended to allow recipients to grow their projects through assessing the transferability of innovations, more dissemination, and/or moving from research to practice.

A central purpose of the Grow grant should be to collect evidence of the transferability of the innovation beyond a single learning context. At the end of the granting term, Grow grant recipients should feel prepared to advocate to the Department, Program, or Faculty for the need to sustain the innovation beyond the granting year.

Projects may include:

• partnering with an instructor in another course to implement an alternative, flexible, or un-grading scheme
• expanding a student journal established through another funding stream to include more students
• implementing the findings from a literature review or course refinement
• implementing a proposal developed through a previous grant for a new network, CoP, or other learning experience
• collaborating with counterparts in another department or faculty to assess similarities in project work and areas for relationship-building or co-learning (i.e. EDI work, uses of PBL or Inquiry-based learning; VR and simulation-based learning)

Garden grants of up to $20,000 will support larger-scale improvements to whole programs or the teaching cultures and strategic educational directions of departments, schools, or faculties. The funding may also help support partnerships between programs, departments, or faculties, and we particularly encourage interdisciplinary teams with to apply.

These projects should already have support from the Department, Program, or Faculty for their sustained adoption beyond the granting year. They should demonstrate potential for long-term and sustainable impact on student learning and show potential for integration into complementary programs and courses.

Projects may include:

• the creation of interdisciplinary and/or experiential learning opportunities
• the revitalization of an activity, service, program, or process to improve equity and inclusion
• the development of intentional program-wide or Faculty-wide directions for engaging digital technologies to elevate teaching and learning
• First-year transition: improving first-year experiences (e.g. peer mentoring programs, wayfinding assignments)
• Community based/experiential learning: incorporating experiential learning both in and out of the classroom and/or building connections with the community

Each project requires:

• One lead applicant who is continuously employed for the duration of the grant, and who is able to oversee grant funds
• As many co-applicants as desired – interdisciplinary teams are encouraged
• A clear commitment to implementing at least one Impact Area from the PTL strategy
• A plan for sustainability beyond the grant term endorsed in a Letter of Support from department/unit/faculty leadership [Garden grants only]

These grants consist of a one-time transfer of funds and are not intended to support ongoing expenses. Recipients must provide an appropriate chartfield (operating or research) for fund transfers.

Eligible expenses:

• Equipment, resources, and supplies for the grant project or classroom
• Professional development
• Consultations with specialists
• Guest speakers or facilitators
• Honoraria for focus groups/surveys
• Multimedia support for development of teaching and learning resources
• Research/course design assistants
• Teaching events/retreats
• Food/drink purchases for events
• Travel for dissemination purposes

Inligible expenses:

• Technology for personal use
• Marking support (i.e. TA wages)
• Subscriptions and memberships
• Teaching tools/materials normally funded by department or faculty
• Building of physical spaces
• Off-campus commercial services
• Alcohol purchases
• Compensation for work which is otherwise already compensated

Hiring additional personnel

When using project funds to hire personnel, McMaster University will be the employer and the Lead Applicant will be the supervisor. Project Supervisors must pay appropriate wages and benefits at established rates listed on the Job Design and Evaluation for Temporary/Casual/Interim Employees webpage. When hiring students, consider securing supplementary funding through the McMaster Work Programs.

Teaching buyouts

These grants are not intended for teaching buyout, but approval may be given if:

• The buyout will support co-teaching or other mentorship opportunities, ex. creation of a Graduate Teaching Fellowship or other teaching opportunity for a senior graduate student or a recent graduate with guidance from the faculty member
• The buyout is at least 50% funded by in-kind support from a Department/ Faculty

Successful recipients must agree to…

• Attend an orientation (hybrid or asynchronous) in late summer
• Implement the proposal as approved unless changes requested in writing are approved by the grant administrators
• Meet as required with the PTL Grants Coordinator and support staff and provide interim and final project updates in written report or verbal interview format
• Provide names, project title and an abstract to be posted on the Office of the Provost website
• Disseminate the outcome(s) of their teaching development projects through appropriate mediums organized by, or in partnership with, the Grants Coordinator
• Inform the Grants Program Coordinator of any formal or informal publications (e.g., journal article, poster presentation, conference, or departmental presentation) that result from the project
  • If there are any printed materials (manuals, etc.) resulting from your project, we would appreciate receiving a copy (electronic or paper).
  • We encourage you to acknowledge in any publications, presentations, or participant compensation materials that: “Funding for this project was provided by funding from the Partnered in Teaching and Learning grants program.”
• Abide by financial policies and make appropriate financial arrangements
  • Grant funds will be transferred after recipients attend the orientation. Please provide a research account number in which to transfer the funds by contacting Samantha Clarke. If you need to request a new research account number, it is best to start this process early because the process takes time.
  • Any unspent funds will revert to the Office of the Provost’s on the date identified in your award letter.