Funding, Grants & Awards

Grant Proposals Wanted To Study Online Education

• By Michael Hart
• 03/02/16

Academic Partnerships (AP) is now accepting applications for its spring 2016 Faculty Research Grants.

Each spring and fall, the company that helps colleges and universities convert on-campus courses to online formats offers research grants — typically of $5,000 or less to faculty and staff at higher education institutions that are AP clients.

Since its inception in 2011, the program has distributed $300,000 to more than 90 faculty members at about 20 universities.

This year, grants will be rewarded in the following focus areas:

• Competency-based learning;
• Course facilitation, with an emphasis on faculty-student interaction;
• Instructional technology; and
• ApprenNet, a video collaboration tool now offered by the company.

Institutions and the subjects that received grants last year included:

• University of West Florida, for Online Discussion Forums and Student Anxiety;
• University of South Carolina, for Online, Cohort-Formatted EdD Program: Doctoral Student Perceptions; and
• Lamar University, for Faculty Presence and Interactivity in Online Course Delivery;  e-Portfolios: Factors Contributing to Long-Term Usage; and Enhancing Student Learning via Value Added Engineering Education (VAEE).

"Faculty members who teach online courses see firsthand how this approach dramatically expands access to education," said Jennifer Scott, AP's senior vice president of academic products and services. "AP supports their efforts to innovate and understand the best practices for online higher education."

The grants are managed by AP's Faculty eCommons, a social learning site designed to provide ongoing support from its expert academic consultants to faculty partners around the world.

Proposals for this round of grants are due by March 14. More information is on the Faculty eCommons Web site, as are grant applications.