To: All UMW Faculty, Students, and Staff
Both the PTAC Innovation Grants and the Digital Media Commons Initiative applications are due Friday, Jan. 17, 2014. Here’s a summary of both opportunities:
1) President’s Technology Advisory Council Innovation Grants
The President’s Technology Advisory Council (*PTAC) wants to remind students, faculty, and staff from the UMW Community to apply for a PTAC Innovation Fund Grant. These grants, which can range from $500 to $25,000, are intended to help jump-start innovative uses of technology in learning, teaching, and exploration at UMW. One of the charges of the President’s Technology Advisory Council is to foster new and interesting uses of technology, and we hope these funds will enable pilot projects, incubate new ideas, and serve as seed money for projects across the University community. You can find inspiration in some sample grant ideas located here.
Applications are due by Friday, Jan. 17, 2014.
To apply for PTAC Innovation Funds, fill out the application at http://president.umw.edu/ptac/grant/application/. The application must include a 250-word (max) proposal, budget, and description of the finished product (presentation, website, tool, video, syllabus/assignment, project, etc.). Since we have a total budget of $25,000, we’ll also ask if it would still be possible to do the project if it was funded at a partial level.
PTAC will evaluate the proposals based on the following criteria: innovative uses of technology in teaching, learning, and/or exploration; how many people will benefit; quality of proposed product, output, or presentation; viability and cost of proposal.
Caveats:
— Materials purchased belong to UMW and must be returned to IT upon completion of the project.
— Estimating the cost of laptops, iPads, and other standard technology purchases can be made using the UMW form located at
http://adminfinance.umw.edu/procurement/tech-purchases/standard-purchases/.
— While funding can be used toward a subscription, PTAC Innovation Grants are intended to jump-start projects and so would not be renewable.
— This year’s grants will need to be spent by the fiscal year 2014 deadlines, though work on the projects can be continued over the summer.
— Grant recipients will be asked to share their work in a public forum (possible venues include Research and Creativity Day, Faculty Academy, as a display in the ITCC, or in an online context).
If you have questions about the PTAC Innovation Grants, contact Jeff McClurken or other members of the PTAC.
2) Digital Media Commons Initiative Opportunity
The Division of Teaching and Learning Technologies and The Center for Teaching Excellence and Innovation would like to remind all UMW students, faculty, and staff to apply to the Digital Media Commons Initiative. At the heart of this initiative is the creation of digital media projects and a documentary that can serve as the narrative of the different disciplines that will use the Information Technology Convergence Center (ITCC) in the creation of digital media. Its purpose is to bring students, staff, and faculty together (in partnership) to ‘imagine, create, share, and learn’ about digital media use and innovation at UMW.
This initiative is designed to build upon, strengthen, and develop staff, faculty, and students’ digital media awareness, expertise, and use, at a public liberal arts institution that values learning and engagement. Staff and faculty expertise (content pedagogical knowledge) and students’ cultural and digital knowledge, creates a unique opportunity for participants to come together and participate in an innovative cross-collaboration learning model. Participants will learn the tools through creating digital media projects.
We want the projects to answer these questions: What story would your discipline like to tell? Why should students consider your major at UMW? What are the unique and innovative aspects of your program? What is the appeal of the IT Convergence Center in the context of a liberal arts education? Why visit the ITCC? How would this “commons” space help to tell the UMW story?
Each participant will receive a $1,000 stipend that will be broken down into two payments. The first $500 will be awarded at the mid-point of the initiative (end of March 2014), and the final $500 will be awarded after July 1 and when you have completed your digital product(s).
Applications are due by Jan. 17, 2014.
To apply to the Digital Media Commons Initiative, fill out the application at http://academics.umw.edu/teach/digital-media-commons-initiative-application/.
The application must include a 250-word (max) proposal and description of the finished product (video, website, project, etc.). If you have questions about the Digital Media Commons Initiative, contact Andy Rush (arush@umw.edu) or Mary Kayler (mkayler@umw.edu).
