Pedagogical Practice Projects (PPP) is a faculty development initiative supported by Denison’s Center for Learning and Teaching. PPP offer full-time faculty the opportunity to design, implement, and evaluate a new innovative pedagogy for a course that will be taught in the academic year. These projects will generate pedagogical innovations and significant teaching changes that deepen student learning and skills, enhance teaching effectiveness, and create alternative teaching or curricular approaches that contribute to Denison’s mission. Funded projects will include faculty stipends and professional development funds for resources and travel.
In some cases, individual faculty might pursue a project focused on a significant pedagogical change that will be implemented in a specific course. In other cases, pairs or small groups of Denison faculty, either within or across disciplines, will collaboratively develop pedagogical changes in a team-taught course or in multiple courses (or in multiple sections of a course). However, the proposed innovation and its teaching/learning activities must be a new development not already found in the course and should exceed the sorts of teaching changes or course revisions that typically occur (e.g., reading assignments, supplemental resources, schedule, exam questions, etc.).
In general, an innovation will embrace a student-centered learning pedagogy that promotes active learning, engagement, and reflection. The innovation can be applied in a particular unit of the course or used across the semester. Examples of innovations might include adopting new uses or types of digital technology, introducing role-playing, simulations, or gaming activities, designing a problem-based or case-study learning approach, infusing digital literacy assignments into the course, integrating experiential or community-based learning activities, providing students with alternative forms of practice, testing, and feedback, or structuring peer-to-peer or collaborative learning groups that rely on new forms of student interaction. Innovations within any pedagogical framework can be proposed.
The PPP initiative also seeks to create a context in which faculty can share their ideas, explorations, and outcomes with colleagues at Dension and beyond. In addition, thoughtful evaluations of how a pedagogical innovation had a role in student learning as well as in the professional development of a faculty member are important components of each project. Therefore, the funded projects will be recognized and shared on campus within the Center’s programming and travel support is available to allow faculty to present their project at relevant professional conferences or meetings.
Faculty will submit a written proposal to the Center for Learning and Teaching and the review and selection process will be administered by the director and the Center’s Advisory Group. The new teaching innovation or pedagogical change will need to be implemented in a course(s) scheduled to be taught during the current academic year (PPP awards will also be offered in future academic years). Each project must also include an assessment of the pedagogical practice and its relationship to student learning or other relevant outcomes. Faculty will share the project outcomes in a brief written report or at a Center for Learning and Teaching faculty development session open to all Denison faculty.
(a) Faculty who are selected for a PPP will receive an award of $750; however, the maximum total award for a collaborative project will be $1500. Awards will be offered either as a taxable stipend or as an addition to a Professional Development account.
(b) There will be limited support (up to $250) for teaching resources or materials not normally funded by a department.
(c) Faculty who subsequently present their PPP at a professional conference or meeting will receive travel funds (up to $750) added to their Professional Development account. The maximum travel support for a collaborative project will be $1500. Request for travel funds should be made to the Center for Learning and Teaching upon confirmation that a presentation has been scheduled at a relevant conference or meeting.
(d) The maximum total support for a single individual (except for projects that involve three of more faculty) will be $1750 ($750 award, $750 travel, $250 materials).
Proposals will be reviewed as received on a rolling basis.
Please submit questions and application requests to Lew Ludwig, ludwigl@denison.edu, (Director, Center for Learning and Teaching).