NCAT Call for Proposals

The Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL) invites participation in a new systemwide initiative to redesign large-enrollment, multi-section courses using technology-supported active learning strategies. The goal is to achieve improvements in learning outcomes as well as reductions in instructional costs. During the 2007-2008 academic year, the program expects to award up to 15 grants to support redesign projects. It is anticipated that most course redesign projects can be completed for $50,000 and most awards will be in this range. An additional $50,000 per project may be awarded to projects of exceptional merit requiring significant equipment purchases (e.g., establishing a mathematics emporium).

The goals of the program are to simultaneously:
•    Adopt new ways to improve student learning outcomes;
•    Demonstrate these improvements through rigorous assessment;
•    Reduce institutional costs;
•    Increase consistency across multiple-section courses;
•    Free up instructional resources to be used for other purposes; and
•    Develop the internal capacity of IHL faculty and staff to continue the redesign process.

More extensive information on course redesigns can be found at http://www.thencat.org/index.html and specifically for the IHL initiative at http://www.thencat.org/States/MS.htm . The presentations from the workshop are available at http://www.thencat.org/Workshops/MS-IHL/WkshpISlidesMS.htm . There is not an internal review process for proposals, nor is there a limit to the number of proposals that can be submitted by an institution.

The next stage in the process is the formation of institutional teams for each targeted course and the submission of a proposal, due January 15, 2008 (see http://www.thencat.org/States/MS/MS%20Application%20Guidelines%20(Final).pdf ).