Author: John Milton

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University

Keywords: grant writing, writing grant proposals, National Teaching Development Grant Scheme (CAUT, Australia)

Contents

• National Teaching Development Grant (NTDG) Scheme
• How do you come to the task of applying? Case studies and questions
• The principal decisions
• Suggested program for preparing an application
• Getting to know your grant scheme : suggestions and tips
• Seeking and drawing on the experience of other tertiary teachers : tips
• Example of an analysis of a student learning issue
• Analysing the learning issue : tips
• Writing an application : suggestions and tips
  Some specific issues on matters of detail

  Project title

  Project summary

  Project team

  Project description

  Project outcomes

  Project justification (including selection criteria)

  Project development process (including evaluation)

  Budget and budget justification

  A word on the amount sought

  Project reference group

  Project team previous experience and professional background

  Dissemination and impact beyond the project context

  Referees, endorsements and certifications

  Eligibility

  Technology-based teaching projects

National Teaching Development Grant (NTDG) Scheme

• to support projects that are likely to lead to significant improvements in the quality of student learning;
• to facilitate dissemination of information on projects within higher education institutions; and
• to enhance the status of teaching.

Current thinking in the Australian higher education sector sees such schemes playing a key role improving the quality of student learning system-wide (recently reaffirmed by a review of CAUT). The essential aims and elements of the NTDG program have remained the same since inception. It has served as a model for internal schemes adopted by universities around Australia in recent years.

Such schemes are, of course, subject to many criticisms including:

• they may be seen as encouraging competitiveness and isolation amongst teachers rather than cooperation and collegiality;
• applications based on poor projects can be written to appear authoritative;
• a universal scheme which applies the same criteria and processes across diverse disciplines and universities may inadequately take account of critical content and context issues;
• lack of comprehensive evaluation of capacity to facilitate system-wide change.

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How do you come to the task of applying? Case studies and questions

Imagine you are advising these applicants.

Which teachers and teaching developments do you think are more likely to improve student learning? What, in each case, makes you come to that conclusion?

Anne has an idea for a teaching initiative which she feels has potential to improve student learning: a question bank which through computer managed learning will enable students to get rapid feedback on their progress. The questions would be made available on the Internet along with her lecture notes. She has no experience with computers in teaching, yet sees this new aid as the future of teaching. She is excited because this project represents an opportunity for her to engage in the technology for the first time.

Brian has historically had some success acquiring funding for his research. He has developed what he regards as an innovative and effective approach to assessment involving group questioning and peer assessment. As part of this project he consulted the academic development unit in his university and acquired an appreciation of what is valued in terms of student learning. He now actively seeks to design a project and to prepare a winning application. He starts with the scheme guidelines and seeks immediately to establish what are the keys for success. He consults the university experts and draws on what he knows is valued in the expert educational community (who, he feels, dominate the grant scheme). He is in contact with a professional colleague at another university who may well join him and make this a joint venture.

Claire and Clive are currently teaching statistics in a first year service subject for business students. They have started setting problems for students explicitly framed in the professional business context. This is innovative in their opinion (they have not done it before and are unaware of others in their Department having adopted this approach). Students have commented favourably both in formal evaluations and informally in classes. They believe they can go further to develop case studies, including worked problems, which they can incorporate in lectures and use as handouts for students. The teaching development scheme will give them more time to devote to this task.

David has heard about funding for a teaching development and it sounds as if he could take advantage of this opportunity. He wants to test students' skills in mathematics having noticed a drop in the capabilities of students coming into the university straight from college. He has other ideas if this one is inappropriate for funding.

For some time Elaine has been committed to enabling students to work more independently and take more responsibility for their learning. She has been responsible for implementing learning contracts in her course so students can set their own learning goals, processes and assessment (within broad guidelines). However, she has found through her regular end of year debriefing with students that the contract work tends to isolate students - strength as independent workers comes at the price of inability to work together. Indeed, her discussions with colleagues in industry have consistently pointed to the importance of group work in the field. Meanwhile, her regular review of the proceedings of design education conferences and journals has revealed the value of group problem solving to foster group skills. She feels there is potential to adopt a similar approach, but with contracts at the group and individual level. The teaching grant would provide her with an opportunity to review the literature on group contract learning and subsequently adopt a suitable model for her students' learning.

Some additional questions

• What are the strengths and weaknesses of their prior work on the learning issue?
• What do you think each should do as the next step in pursuing funding?

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The principal decisions

• becoming committed to apply;
• deciding the key learning issue to be addressed and the desired learning objectives;
• ascertaining and deciding the best way of facilitating the desired learning;
• establishing the nature of the teaching and intended student learning experience;
• developing the details of the teaching and learning in the students' courses;
• deciding how to develop the teaching and learning activities;
• deciding on resources needed, including the budget;
• developing an argument and justification for the project and its various elements;
• establishing a writing style for the submission.

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A suggested program for preparing an application

Here we make some suggestions for key stages of application preparation. It is based on the Four overlapping phases outlined in the Guide. Your team's program would, of course, set goals which are specific to your project and the issues you have to address.

Assuming you have decided to prepare an application, you could first research and write a short one and a half pages of analysis/description of:

• the learning difficulty,
• the desired student learning outcomes,
• the central ideas or principles to facilitate learning, and
• a note about the nature of the proposed learning experience.

This document is to serve as the starting point for many critically constructive discussions with experienced, perceptive and knowledgeable people, including many well beyond your university. A rigorous debate should be positively encouraged, leading to suggestions for investigation to follow up and subsequently, revision and refinement of your ideas. The document would be rewritten prior to circulation and yet further deliberation.

The document and its refinement is aimed at clarifying the basic thrust of the project and its potential to enhance learning. It is clearly intended as a task for phase two.

Needless to say, much of the description you prepare at this time can later be directly accommodated in the final submission! You are advised to keep a record of all comments. Subject to confirmation through your own investigations, they could be valuable justification to include in your application.

How much time should you devote to this phase? A very rough guide, assuming part time work, is to allow at least a month or about a third of the available time to submission.

If you wish to follow up this idea you are referred to Enhancing learning : analysing a learning issue in the Guide.

Having thoroughly researched a basic proposal and subjected it to critical review, you need to work on a more detailed description of the initiative and, what we will call, a teaching initiative development plan. Your final application will draw on both.

The first part presents a coherent, complete description of the teaching/learning initiative and all its elements, as well as how it fits in the students' courses. It includes descriptions of the nature, role and structure of all tangible project outcomes.

The second part, a teaching initiative development plan, explains how the teaching initiative will be developed. It refers to the principal stages of development (each incorporating formative evaluation), outcomes for each stage, a timeline and the required expertise and resources (including professional time, equipment and monetary costs). A budget is part of this plan along with sources for the essential resources.

Again, external, constructively critical analysis of this phase three document is called for, as well as negotiation for supply of resources. Clearly whole sections can ultimately be `lifted' to incorporate in the final application, though applicants can expect that details will still be being decided almost up to submission.

Again, allow a month or a third of the available time to work on this stage.

The final stage is to write the submission and seek such formal endorsements as are required. Allow a month to draft, circulate and critically review, and redraft. We suggest you prepare a complete submission for scrutiny by people who have served on teaching development fund selection committees. Make sure several have expertise in tertiary teaching and learning. Allow time for feedback and rewriting. Refer also to Preparing the submission in the Guide.

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Getting to know your grant scheme: suggestions and tips

Well, it entirely depends on your needs. Here are some ideas if you are seeking information about the overall priorities of the scheme: Why was the scheme established? What are its aims and key priorities? Are particular types of learning issues or teaching developments favoured? What are the main features of a successful project and application?

On all issues, including matters of detail such as the interpretation of selection criteria and certain phrases in the guidelines, you will find it helpful to ascertain reasons for its inclusion. Why, for example, does the fund specifically exclude requests for certain types of computer expenditure from the awarded project funds? Always probe for these reasons - they help you understand what is required.

You will usually get good and direct feedback if you describe the learning difficulty you are addressing and your proposed teaching initiative. However, you may be concerned that discussing your project is dangerous: someone may 'pinch' your ideas. Even though it is fostered by the nature of a competitive scheme, this fear is almost always unfounded. There are many reasons why ideas are unlikely to be stolen (at least in the short term!): other applicants are usually wedded to their ideas for the current round and have limited time to change; as the project proposal takes shape, it acquires very much its own character; no other applicant team faces quite the same context. And, of course, with your commitment to background research and investigation, you are bound to develop a stronger project and justification!

Some suggestions

• Make sure you first read the guidelines carefully, paying particular attention to aims, eligibility and selection criteria.
• Discuss the guidelines with colleagues who may be involved in the project or other applicants.
• If you do not understand aspects of the guidelines seek explanations from fund administrators and members of the deciding committee. In most cases, including CAUT, committee members regard providing advice as part of their duties, so don't hesitate to phone any member including the Chair. Even if a committee allocates an administrator the duty of fielding queries it is usually worth your while to contact a committee member - though some subtlety and tact may be called for! Can you work through personal contacts?
• Consult others who may be more experienced with the scheme or similar schemes (including people who have acted as referees to the committee and previous members of the fund committee).
• Seek the advice of university academic and education development units.
• Consult previously successful and, if appropriate, unsuccessful applicants.
• After a funding round, the committee may well provide feedback on the parameters which make for a successful project. They may advise unsuccessful applicants of the weaknesses of their teaching initiative and application. University academic and education development units may have a list of all previous local applicants.
• It is often very rewarding to take part in any public information or dissemination activity where members of the committee and/or successful applicants are talking about their work.
• Review all relevant public statements of committee members particularly those who are regarded as being influential.
• Seek copies of successful and unsuccessful applications; review summaries of successful projects.

A word on 'innovation'. A lot of energy is often spent discussing the meaning of this term which can appear in the espoused aims of a grant scheme ('the scheme is to support innovative teaching initiatives'). If we were to continue in the line of the previous comments we would say that the term refers to the types of projects which are likely to 'catch the eye' of the committee members, individually and collectively. Yet officially each committee would have its own interpretation of this term, so you should certainly raise this question directly with the committee.

We note here that what is innovative in a local context is often (usually?) not innovative in an international arena. The important point is to have clearly drawn on best international practice and to be able to demonstrate that significant enhancement of learning will follow development and implementation.

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Seeking and drawing on the experience of other tertiary teachers: tips

Some questions to guide your conversation with teachers and your review of documented cases of teaching initiatives

• What was the learning issue? How were the learning difficulties and opportunities conceptualised? What is known about the prior conceptual understandings, knowledge and capabilities of the students?
• What was the desired learning outcome for the students?
• How were students intended to learn?
• What were the students doing as part of their learning activities?
• What was actually done in the teaching?
• On what, and whose, ideas and experiences did they base their teaching initiative?
• Did their idea for teaching explicitly reflect authoritative views of teaching or learning?
• Is it explicitly based on a theoretical perspective on learning?
• What has been learned through the experience of teaching? Did it improve student learning as anticipated? What did the students learn? What were the positive effects and unfortunate impacts?
• On what evidence do they come to these conclusions? How was evaluation conducted? Was learning specifically evaluated? How? What did the students say about their learning experiences?
• What were critical factors for success? What would they now do differently? Why?
• With hindsight what suggestions would they offer others who may want to try something similar?
• You, as a member of the applicant team, may care to describe your analysis of the learning issue and plans to facilitate student learning. How do they respond?
• Finally, always use one contact to generate others: can they suggest other people who can shed some light on the issue at hand?

Remember to probe, seeking reasons why they come to certain conclusions. Recognise that their aims and context may be different to yours. This is one reason why you should explain your own views and ideas for their reaction. It helps you draw out the implications for your project.

Clearly a dialogue is called for, so conduct your conversations over the phone or by email. Keep summaries of all conversations and analyses of documented cases for future reference.

How can you find relevant experience on the international scene?

Internet and the World Wide Web can be used to real advantage in searches for relevant experience - but allow plenty of time to learn how to do it and to follow up the many trails (most of which will not be useful).

On the World Wide Web you can:

• search for relevant databases, some of which can be directly interrogated;
• join local and international networks and discussion groups;
• send out specific requests for contacts (`I am interested in contacting anyone who has sought to improve student learning of assessment skills in social work in an undergraduate course. The learning difficulty for my students seems to have been .... I have addressed this by.... but have found that.... Can you shed any light on this issue?').

Other ways of tracking down relevant experience elsewhere:

• scan conference proceedings, newsletters, publications and prominent members of relevant professional societies devoted to tertiary education (for example, the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia);
• contact societies representing the professions - they may have active groups dedicated to tertiary education;
• scan discipline or profession journals particularly those known to publish articles devoted to education;
• start a chain search by approaching colleagues and university staff who may have personal knowledge of teaching and teachers elsewhere;
• review summaries of teaching initiatives published by the funding committee (this, of course, is essential - it would not look at all good if you missed a relevant project already supported by the scheme!);
• use the range of library resources including databases.

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Example of an analysis of a student learning issue

An example of a learning difficulty is briefly discussed. We take the case of student midwives learning the skills of palpation - the physical assessment of a mother in an advanced stage of pregnancy. This example draws from the preparation for a successful 1996 CAUT application.

At the start... Initially, the teaching team may be reacting to the situation they face:

• students' palpable anxiety and lack of confidence when confronted with having to undertake their first few palpations as part of their clinicals;
• the risks of unnecessary discomfort or anxiety created for the mother;
• the lack of opportunity for students in a high enrollment course to learn by doing during clinical placements;
• the evident weakness of graduates in this area of professional competence.

This personal experience of the teachers - the problems as directly experienced or interpreted by the teachers - is simply not an adequate basis for making an improvement for student learning (and remember that public money is being asked for!).

Later... Exhaustive investigation, review of the literature, consultations and conversations with critical friends has been undertaken. It has led to substantial modification and refinement of the learning issue, desired learning outcomes and the preferred type of learning experience.

The learning difficulty and desired learning outcomes are now viewed in terms of:

• the way students come to have a professional conceptualisation of the position of the baby in the uterus (a visualisation skill);
• how students draw on multiple sources in a complete client assessment process (including conversations with the 'handover' midwife and the mother, interrogation of the nursing and medical records as well as the palpation skills);
• how students make decisions about the significance of their findings, their advice to the client and their ongoing management of the pregnancy with the mother.

Review of relevant learning literature of assessment in midwifery has led the teaching team to regard learning as a process of discovery: forming, testing and re-forming hypotheses at a number of interrelated levels including visualisation of position of fetus in the uterus, the implications for mother, baby, pregnancy and birth, as well as intervention in, and management of, the case. The learning is necessarily associated with the student using and interrelating all sources of evidence in the process of continual hypothesis refinement. So, for example, learning the basic skills of palpation is likely to be facilitated by the students listening to what the mother says and inspecting the abdomen, then making a hypothesis about the position of the fetus which is checked by physical examination. The examination necessarily involves manipulation and feeling through fingertips, with analysis in terms of visualisation of fetus in relation to the mother. Assessment of a pregnancy is above all a holistic process and must be learned that way.

Naturally such a view of learning may lead the teaching team to jettison the traditional computer tutorial in preference for a more challenging, but educationally sound, combination of physical simulation and multimedia (also far more likely to be regarded as innovative by the funding committee!).

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Analysing the learning issue: tips

Particular reference should be made to the attributes the students bring to the learning as well as their descriptions of their experiences, both being a critical part of the local course context. They provide vital clues to the learning difficulties. Later you will be proposing changes to how the students understand and undertake their learning experiences - this having a substantial impact on what students learn.

Consider conducting a few focus discussion groups comprising students who were taught recently. This could complement data available from other sources. Principles of good evaluation practice should be pursued. Of course, depending on the analysis to follow, evidence obtained from evaluation can be later summarised in the submission to support a proposed initiative.

Drawing on others' experiences is also essential. You may find it helpful to consult discipline colleagues from other universities, industry-based teachers from the field of practice and teachers who have addressed these issues in similar courses overseas. Such people would also help clarify the desired learning outcomes.

As far as possible the consultation should proceed as a probing, two-way conversation disciplined by reference to a written statement summarising the key learning difficulty, learning outcomes and basis for enhancing learning. Such a statement should build on your consideration of earlier conversations and your conclusions from the review of relevant literature.

Investigation of the relevant literature on learning in your area of interest can proceed on many fronts:

• consult education and staff development experts in your university and beyond;
• consult academics who are recognised for their contribution to education;
• review the literature in your discipline for relevant analysis and discussion (note that some journals in the professions have a section devoted to tertiary education);
• similarly, review proceedings of conferences for the profession;
• review newsletters produced by education interest groups in your professional society;
• conduct a search through the education databases such as ERIC (staff development, education department and library staff can advise you how to do this);
• search other tertiary education journals and proceedings of relevant conferences;
• review resources and expertise available through tertiary education societies, such as the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia;
• review authoritative general texts on tertiary learning and teaching (don't forget to pursue relevant cited references);
• use World Wide Web sources, other networks and individual referral for all they are worth.

Naturally, the literature and research review should reveal lots of ideas for practical and effective approaches to teaching (as well as ineffective ones to be avoided!).

Take your initial analysis and conclusions to respected and knowledgeable others for critical comment (as proposed in the Suggestedprogram for preparing an application above). In addition you could consult selected students who may have recently been taught the old way. They could offer valuable insights and helpful suggestions based on personal experience - something no other person could provide!

Some questions to help guide your analysis of the learning issue

Peruse the following questions. Some will suggest new lines of investigation and issues for your consideration and consultations. You may compile your own questions to serve as a brief for critical friends to whom you have also sent early summaries of your analysis and project descriptions. These questions are certainly not mutually exclusive nor a complete set.

Related to learning difficulty:

• What have students been finding difficult to learn?
• What is it about this topic which makes it difficult to learn?
• Some students have been having more difficulty than others. Why?
• What do the students bring in terms of prior understanding to the learning situation? Does this partly explain their difficulty in learning?
• What student ideas commonly interfere with their grasp of this particular topic?
• What do students say about their learning activities? Do they see them as facilitating their learning?

• Given this analysis of the learning difficulties what, precisely, do students need to learn?
• What underlying key ideas need to be learned?
• What attributes, competencies or capabilities need to be learned? How do they relate to the students' prior attributes/competencies/capabilities?
• What in the new technologies enables new, relevant learning outcomes to be achieved? What are those learning outcomes?

• Given your analysis of the learning difficulties (including what students bring to their studies), what type of learning experience is needed to achieve the desired learning outcomes?
• How does the proposed nature of learning experience incorporate and relate to views of learning at a tertiary level (topic specific and general)?
• Specifically, does it reflect student active engagement with the key concepts and perspectives for learning? Or does it reflect transmission or simple activity views of teaching and learning (which research demonstrates are inappropriate for higher order learning outcomes - see Ramsden, 1992)?

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Writing an application: suggestions and tips

The first and most important principle for writing a submission is to engage in the task by concentrating on key points and essential details while maintaining a clear view of the project itself. This and other principles have been discussed in the main part of the Guide.

Throughout this guide we have advocated the idea of regularly writing summaries for critique (Suggested program for preparing an application above). Remember to take full advantage of this material when compiling your submission.

Make sure you address every component of the application form. Ensure the committee and its support staff can see that all requested and relevant details and argument have been provided. There should be landmarks to identify each separate part, including each selection criterion. It is most important explicitly to address each selection criterion in turn, in the order requested.

Applicants may feel that there is less than sufficient space in an application for a complete project description. First of all, avoid virtually all repetition. Second, make sure you use each part of the application to add more detail if space permits, but only if relevant and the 'flow' of the application is not prejudiced. Some project development details, even timelines, could well be included in the space allocated for budget justification. The discussion of the significance of the project, too, can subtly reveal new elements of the proposed initiative.

Third, despite your excitement about the project and all your research and planning, resist the urge to incorporate all the detail. If it is not requested or adds little to your case in some fundamental way, reserve space for more pertinent and convincing material.

Write and circulate drafts for comment and be prepared for many rewrites. You will find it helpful to engage in dialogue with experienced applicants and other educational experts. Make sure you ask colleagues and `intelligent laypeople' to review your drafts, having briefed them to be constructively critical, to be questioning on matters they do not understand and to probe for details they think may be missing. Ask them to look at your descriptions and argument. Are there additional justifications? Do the justifications and argument clearly address each of the selection criteria? Is there any superfluous detail? Are there sentences which do not add anything to your case? Can they suggest alternative phrases? Above all, does the application present a clear and coherent description of the proposed teaching initiative, the learning issues it is to address and its intended learning outcomes? Is it clear that the proposed learning experience will help students achieve the learning outcome?

Such conversations should be one on one or in small groups of two to four. Allow time for multiple drafts for review by your critics. Some applicants report their partners were amongst their most valuable critics!

If time permits (and you should allow a minimum of a month for the preparation of the application), prepare a complete submission and circulate it to a chosen, expert few including several who have served on a relevant funding committee. Make sure you have time to incorporate suggested changes before submitting the final version.

A final suggestion. It always helps a lot if you review previously successful applications. Identify their strengths and weaknesses. You will get a clearer idea of what is required and appropriate. However, you should aim to prepare a submission better than all those you read. After all, the standard of application is getting higher.

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Some specific issues on matters of detail

Project title

Project summary

Funding committee members continually stress the significance of the project summary. It introduces the whole application.

The format of applications is usually tightly prescribed to ease consideration of the applications (ease of writing is less an issue!). In the standard format, the project title and summary are placed at the front of the application and are invariably read first. Together, they inform the reader of the key thrust and elements of the project. They become a frame of reference which enables the reader to relate to diverse statements of project detail, justification and budget which follow.

Having read the summary the committee member should have an appreciation of the focus of the project - the teaching and learning issue it is addressing - and the nature and scope of the proposed teaching and learning initiative. The more tangible project outcomes could also be noted very briefly.

Generally, the summary needs repeated reviewing and redrafting, usually towards the final stages of application preparation. Needless to say, you should draw on material prepared and critiqued during the investigation process (learning issue analysis and project development planning). The summary itself should be circulated to educated laypeople for their comment: do they feel it presents a clear and coherent picture of a proposal to enhance student learning? You may like to ask yourself the same question when you review published summaries of projects.

Project team

You do have some flexibility; so, for example, some key players can be invited onto the project reference group. Also you can adopt project development practices which are fully consultative. Complex projects can also introduce management by steering committee.

Consider intra- and inter- institutional collaboration. Increasingly, as demands increase for effective and efficient use of scarce resources (particularly an issue with resource hungry technology based learning), new teaching initiatives will need collaboration and cooperation at course level and across institutional boundaries. Such collaboration should commence at the earliest phase of project development to build in relevance to the different contexts and help ensure fullest support for development and implementation.

Project description

A complete description of the project will be required by all grant schemes. There are various elements which could be requested depending on the scheme:

• background to the project including discussion of the learning and other related issues,
• project objectives,
• intended student learning outcomes,
• the intended complete student learning experience,
• other tangible outcomes (for example, a computer-based simulation or a printed teaching aid),
• project development process (including timeline),
• evaluation as an integral part of the development and implementation,
• course context and plans for implementation,
• dissemination,
• future extension possibilities.

Project outcomes

Project outcomes can include all, or any of:

• the new teaching initiative and student learning experience,
• enhanced learning outcomes and other impacts of the teaching,
• tangible product, such as a computer-based simulation or a printed teaching aid, and
• indirect effects, including staff development.

As noted earlier, fund committees seek to maximise the benefits from their project allocations. Arguably, this may be best effected if the project generates tangible products which have value beyond the period of funding and can be widely disseminated for others' benefit.

Project justification (including selection criteria)

If the principal aim of the grant scheme is to enhance student learning, then the analysis of the learning issue, discussed at length in this guide, provides the major part of the justification of the project and its significance. Most selection criteria can be addressed by directly drawing on that research and investigation which formed most of your preparation. You will find that, with additional editing, some of your written summaries and argument could be incorporated in the submission.

You may have difficulty interpreting some selection criteria. This is where it is helpful to go back to the committee to seek clear explanations (Getting to know your grant scheme: suggestions and tips above). If it is unclear how a selection criterion relates to enhancing student learning feel free to ask! Consult others too, if necessary.

Remember specifically and explicitly to address each selection criterion in turn.

Project development process (including evaluation)

Clearly from the applicants' point of view it is important to reassure the committee that the project is in good hands. The teaching initiative will be developed in a responsible, professional manner which will:

• continually and systematically draw on all relevant knowledge and experience;
• recognise and make the key decisions creatively, practically and in an informed manner;
• continually evaluate decisions and outcomes at each stage according to best practice with proper consideration of all data obtained;
• keep the project focused on the desired learning outcomes and keep it appropriate to the context;
• manage the project development effectively and efficiently according to the vision and promises made in the application (including budget estimates!);

On evaluation

It is unfortunate in some respects that fund committees often want applicants to describe evaluation as if it is separate from the development process. Yet, practised and professional teachers agree that evaluation has to be fully integrated to give a new teaching initiative the best chance of success. Formative evaluation, which seeks continually to engage reflectively on the emerging teaching initiative, particularly in terms of impact on students and student learning, is part of the striving to produce the best possible improvement to student learning. At each stage of the process relevant information is actively and systematically sought then analysed and, if it promises to lead to even better learning outcomes, changes are made to the planned student learning experience.

Evaluation involves at each stage of project development:

• planning the critical factors which are best evaluated at forthcoming stage;
• devising how to get the most appropriate feedback to help make and review decisions;
• designing questionnaires, planning group interviews and constructing other feedback methods;
• conducting the evaluation in a professional manner as part of the development;
• assembling and analysing the data relating it to the aims and context of the teaching initiative;
• deciding what changes to make to the evolving student learning experience;
• incorporating such changes in the next and subsequent phases of the project.

A few pointers on evaluation

The evaluation strategy and methods need to review all aspects of the evolving teaching initiative from the point of view of student learning: what changes need to be made to this method of teaching to realise its potential to enhance student learning outcomes?

Of most value, of course, is feedback directly on student learning. This calls for dialogue with, and observation of, the students engaged in learning. You and the project team need to repeatedly undertake the evaluation cycle during trials in ever more realistic settings:

• How do the students describe and explain what they are doing and trying to do in the learning situation?
• Are the students engaged in a valuable learning approach? For example, does what they say lead you to conclude that they are striving to understand? Are they directly grappling with the key ideas to be learned or adopting a perspective critical for learning?
• What, in the circumstances of their learning, is `encouraging' them to take this approach?
• What do the students say is hindering their learning? Or helping their learning? In their opinion, what would enhance their learning?
• Obviously, answers to questions such as these will help you improve the teaching and learning.
• At this stage of an application your task is to design an approach to evaluation, referring to specific methods if necessary.
• A range of methods are available, usually well documented in recent guides to university teaching (though arguably not sufficiently related back to theoretically strong views of learning and teaching). See Ramsden and Dodds (1989) for an easy-to-read and practical discussion of formative evaluation and Alexander and Hedberg (1994) for a review of evaluation for technology based teaching initiatives.

Budget and budget justification

Accordingly, the budget represents the complete cost of the project, with each cost item separately noted and justified.

It is appropriate that the requested funding and the in-kind contributions be included as separate components in the budget - each itemised and, if appropriate, justified. This enables the committee to be sure all requested funding is eligible to be funded and, more importantly, to have a clear appreciation of the role of its money in project development.

Time for each member of the project team and other paid contributors has to be justified in terms of the role they fulfill and the tasks they are to undertake. Staff time rates need to conform to scheme guidelines and be capable of verification. Remember to include on-costs. If other applicant teams from your organisation are applying to a central scheme, it is in your interests to check the validity of your hourly rates for staff time (and other common cost items) against the figures other teams have used.

All costs must be realistic and be seen to be realistic. Don't underestimate the demands on computer programmer time and material costs! If you are successful, you may well find later that the grant committee wants you to keep to the original and itemised cost estimates. Do not be surprised if you have to provide a very convincing case in writing if you wish to switch resources from, for example, project team member involvement to computer programmer. This option may, indeed, be ruled out. Many applicants can attest to the problems (personal anxiety not being the least of them) created by having to find additional resources once the project is underway.

Schemes such as CAUT's NTDG usually apply some restrictions on eligible expenditure. For example, general purpose hardware and software usually cannot be purchased with fund allocations; it is expected that these are provided by the university. Find out why. Such restrictions are ignored at applicants' expense.

In-kind and other external funding, apart from the grant scheme, can be regarded by the committee as a measure of the local and institutional support of the project and its outcomes. Yet these are usually not brought to any project without substantial promotion and negotiation by the applicant team. You should not underestimate the time and effort required to maximise other funding; nor the 'political' skills which will be demanded of you.

Tertiary teachers are traditionally not experts at budgeting a teaching development. Take advantage of expertise around you. Specialists such as workers in media are usually readily available in different arms of the university and can quote costs if necessary. If this is the first time you have prepared a budget, you are strongly advised to consult experienced applicants and project teams. Even your final budget should be independently reviewed prior to final submission.

Note that if the funding committee finds your budget unclear or incomplete, it has little choice but to act conservatively. The committee is very aware that it is accountable to higher university authorities for the use of scarce resources.

A word on the amount sought

Project reference group

A idea, often overlooked yet always successful when implemented with commitment, is to ensure one or more students are part of the group. The students will need to identify with the project. Look for those who can articulate a useful role for themselves!

Project team previous experience and professional background

Dissemination and impact beyond the project context

Dissemination of information, taken literally, is one thing. Actively seeking to encourage and even facilitate change elsewhere, is another. The extent to which a project should engage in the latter more ambitious and ultimately preferable undertaking will depend on the aims and requirements of the funding scheme.

Referees, endorsements and certifications

Fund committees want to be convinced that the teaching development will be implemented. Hence, they often seek endorsement of line managers and course leaders.

Eligibility

Technology-based teaching projects

• reflect old and now rejected notions of teaching and learning (for example, learning critical thinking skills by transmission from teacher via electronically available lecture notes and 'overheads');
• reflect the opportunities afforded by old technologies and old ways of thinking about technology (for example, student access to experts via direct communication technologies - rather than engaging in a new community of learners and experts);
• be focused on the technology and what it affords, with limited appreciation of its relationship to the basic learning issue whether it is a learning difficulty or new opportunity (for example, students are given more control over their learning by using database technology which allows extensive hotlinking - but is student 'control' really reducible to switches between text items?) ;
• significantly underestimate the resources and expertise which are needed for many technology-based teaching initiatives.

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