Grant Proposals Wanted To Study Online Education
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.
About the Author
Michael Hart is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and the former executive editor of THE Journal.