Provost's Learning Innovation Grants

Questions? Contact plig@rit.edu

The Provost’s Learning Innovation Grants program was developed to broaden and enrich the learning experience of RIT students by funding faculty-initiated projects that enhance student learning and:

  • Integrate funding with institute priorities
  • Support dissemination of results to RIT faculty
  • Support the scholarship of teaching and learning

Faculty may redesign an existing course or propose a new course. The number of grants awarded depends upon the review and evaluation of the proposals in relation to the posted selection criteria.

Funding will range from $1,000-$5,000 per project, which must align with one of the following focus grants or to the exploration grant type: 

The rapid development of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has opened new avenues for innovation in the classroom, reshaping both how students engage with learning materials and the skills they’ll need in the workplace.

Strong proposals will:

  • Integrate AI tools for hands-on student engagement and practical skills.
  • Develop AI tools for education, focusing on student satisfaction and learning gains.
  • Ensure data privacy, transparency, and integrity in AI projects.

Examples of project approaches:

  • Create virtual office hours or tutors using OpenAI Assistants and RIT tools like TutorBot
  • Evaluate AI chatbots with surveys to assess student satisfaction and learning outcomes
  • Use premium AI tools to enhance comprehension and skill-building.
  • Incorporate Python-connected AI for prompt experimentation and educational outcomes.
  • Design pilot courses or modules teaching AI skills for specific tasks, like building bot-driven search tools.

The intersection of Technology, the Arts, and Design (TAD) is a key element of RIT’s promise to prospective students and the world. RIT defines TAD as the meaningful partnership of diverse ways of thinking, exploring, and making to address complex contemporary problems, advance knowledge, and pursue joy and wonder. This focus area invites faculty to incorporate TAD principles as a primary way of achieving learning outcomes.

Strong proposals for TAD Grants will:

  • Incorporate interdisciplinary activities and projects.
  • Enable students to learn and use methods and tools that are from outside their program.
     

Active learning is not activity for the sake of activity, but rather is having students engage in some activity that requires them to assess their own degree of understanding and skill at handling ideas or problems in a particular discipline. It is frequently associated with working in groups, in which knowledge is attained by participating or contributing. While these activities vary, common elements are metacognition—students’ thinking about their own learning—and higher order thinking (2016, Vanderbilt University). This PLIG focus area invites proposals for exploring and applying an active learning model to (re)design and deliver all or part of a course (or set of courses).

Strong proposals for Active Learning Grants will:

  • Incorporate a plan to measure the effectiveness of the active learning component of the (re)designed course(s). 
  • Present models that can be adopted by faculty for online and blended (part online, part face-to-face) course modes.
     

These grants are intended for innovative proposal topics that are outside the scope of Focus Grants, but nevertheless have the potential to positively impact student learning and success at RIT. The exploration grants provide funds for faculty to investigate an innovative mode or model of teaching and learning in terms of its potential to positively impact student outcomes and the student experience at RIT. 

Strong proposals for Exploration Grants will:

  • Have potential for application in more than one discipline.
  • Demonstrate a new use/application of a model, system, or technology already in use at RIT.
  • Supports a component of RIT’s Strategic Plan.

Eligibility

  • Applicant shall be a full-time faculty member for the entirety of the award effective date range and will not be on official leave for any of this period.
  • Proposed projects involving human subject research must obtain IRB approval.
  • Proposed projects must be in alignment of one of the defined grant types and must not be repeat applications.

Use of Funds

Provost’s Learning Innovations Grants may range from $1,000-$5,000. Examples of how grant funds may be used, include:

  • Course release, with department head/chair approval (reasonable, actual replacement costs for full-time, tenured, or tenure-track faculty members removed from teaching).
  • Summer salary for faculty time.
  • Funding for student workers (graduate or undergraduate), teaching assistants, and related materials.
  • Development of new technology-based learning tools and/or environments.
  • Technologies or equipment required by the project that are not normally provided by the department/college. (Note: Any equipment or other materials purchased with grant funds are the property of your department and revert to the department after your project is completed.)
  • Resources for research design and consultation, data collection and aggregation, instrument development and/or purchase, secure data storage, data analysis, and report generation.
  • Travel to support research activity and/or meet with potential funding sources.

Criteria

The selection committee uses the Provost’s Learning Innovation Grants rubric to evaluate the potential success and acceptance of an innovation by looking at six qualitative dimensions.

Application

The 2025 Provost's Learning Innovation Grants program is now accepting proposals for projects that enrich the student learning experience at RIT while supporting faculty scholarship and university priorities.

To apply for a Provost’s Learning Innovation Grant complete and submit an application no later than 11:59 pm ET, January 20, 2024 with the following completed documents:

Please note, a Department Head/Chair Support form is required for each member, principal investigator and co-investigators, of the project.

A preview of the application is available.

Timeline

Application Dates
Call for Proposals Open: October 31, 2024
Call for Proposals Closes: January 20, 2025, 11:59 ET
Funding Decisions Announced: March 2025

Effective Date Range: April 1, 2025-November 30, 2026

Deliverable Dates
Full Project Plan Report: August 22, 2025
Preliminary Findings Report: January 9, 2026
Showcase: May 2026, at CTL's Summer Institute for Teaching and Learning
Final Report and Budget: August 21, 2026

Past Grant Cycles

Effective Date Range: April 1, 2024 – November 30, 2025
Deliverables:
August 23, 2024: Full Project Plan
January 10, 2025: Preliminary Findings report
May 2025: PLIG Showcase at CTL's Summer Institute for Teaching and Learning
August 25, 2025: Final Report & Budget

Effective Date Range: May 1, 2023 - November 30, 2024
Deliverables:
August 25, 2023: Full Project Plan
January 12, 2024: Preliminary Findings report
May 2024: PLIG Showcase at CTL's Summer Institute for Teaching and Learning
August 23, 2024: Final Report & Budget