Building a Proposal

Using MS Word (preferred) or WordPerfect, you can build your proposal across time by outlining, fleshing out, meeting with collaborators, amending and re-editing the content of the Proposal.  We offer step-by-step advice on this page about how to go about building a proposal for submission.

Step 1: Review and contemplate the course that you are considering

• Is it a new course?  Or one you've taught face to face before? A major overhaul?  Or minor additions?
• What are the elements you've always wanted, but never had the chance to include in the course before.  Some, like threaded chats, online project groups, online study groups, are easy with products such as Angel.
• What are the elements that have worked in the past in your course, that you'd like to maintain in, and perhaps transform to, digital format.
• What is the content?  How will it look different once you've added "instructional technology" aspects to it?
• What were the assignments in the past?  Can these be submitted digitally instead of in paper format without changing the assignment?
• What handouts  do you have already in digital format?  Are these ready to use in your course via applications such as PowerPoint or Excel or MS Word?
• What assessment procedures did you use in the past?  Quizzes?  Tests?  Assignments? Projects?  Combination of these? Can any of these by done digitally and posted to applications such as Angel?
• How will you communicate to your students in non-face-to-face situations?  Cyber Office Hours?  Email?  Chat tools?
• How will you communicate your student's progress back to the students?
• How will you know that you are being successful in your efforts?

Write to yourself; start taking notes, particularly if you're considering a Mentor/Mentee project or a Collaborative group project.  You'll eventually want to communicate these to your team mate(s).

Step 2: What are colleagues from Providence College and other institutions doing with the same or similar material?

• Have you conducted lit & web review to find good models? (Don't forget, you can peruse courses already offered on Angel by going to PC's Angel home page...)
• Have you determined what you like and don't like about what you see?
• Have you seen anything you want to emulate?
• Of what you've seen, what would be appropriate for web deployment, Angel inclusion, or CD distribution.

Once you have determined the "lay of the land," summarize this information and include  it in your proposal...

Step 3: Working in a team?  If so, meet and talk with one another...

• If you proposing a solo or individual project, then you'll have to make al the design, format, and content decisions yourself.
  • Have you determined the broad "brush strokes" of what you want to do, what you want to accomplish, and what you want to change?

• If you're teaming with another faculty member in a Mentor/Mentee relationship, you'll need to meet with one another before preparing the proposal. 
  • Have you shared the info you've collected with your team mate, explaining what you like and don't like? 
  • Has your team mate done the same with you? 
  • Can you agree upon the broad "brush strokes" of what you want to do, what you want to accomplish, and what you want to change?

• If you're teaming with three, four or more faculty member in a Collaborative Group relationship, you'll need to meet as a group before preparing the proposal. 
  • Have you shared the info you've collected with your team mates, explaining what you like and don't like? 
  • Have your team mates done the same with you? 
  • Can you agree upon the broad "brush strokes" of what you want to do, what you want to accomplish, and what you want to change?

Once decisions have been reached, document these and include these in your proposal...

Step 4; Determine the phases of your project, and key activities related to the phases.

These phases can be defined in any way, but are more often than not defined in terms of what happens first, what happens next.  Thus, a series of activities across time will be determined.  These can include the steps in this page,  or can be comprised of others such as:

• Prepare the Course
• Teach the Course
• Assess the elements of the course.

These in turn can be broken down even more:

• Phase 1: Prepare the Course
  • Review existing material, syllabus
  • Determine transferables (paper to digital)
  • Set schedule for development of digital analogues
  • Post the new material in some fashion:  web, Angel, CD, etc.
  • Associate the digital products with the course content.

• Phase 2: Teach the Course
  • Present your information as usual, but also
  • Incorporate new elements, practices into your instruction in a controlled incremental fashion
  • Determine what worked today, what didn't.
  • Postulate how it can be better next time the course is taught.
  • Make the digital elements accessible to students on 24/7 basis
  • Require students to tie in reviews/use of the digital elements with their course assignments. (e.g., Don't just re-read the textbook, but review the class notes, class presentations, and class products).
  • Identify aspects of the technology that students can/should use:  Internet searches, chat rooms via Angel, web-based chat discussions, online quizzes, papers submitted in electronic form, presentations done via PowerPoint that can be posted in Angel for the entire class  to see. etc.
  • Identify assignments in which students can make use of the technology to "build" a product or project (e.g., group collaborations (face and cyber) that result in the creation of a product (e.g., a PowerPoint presentation on some topic that they'd actually use to present at a later date.)

• Phase 3: Assess the elements of the Course.
  • Determine what worked this week, what didn't.
  • Postulate what you would do to make it a  better learning experience next time the course is taught.
  • Document your ideas and thoughts on a week by week basis;  these notes you can use for adding to or altering the course the next time you teach it.
  • Identify alternate means of course evaluation over and above that routinely done and used.  How will you evaluate the new elements?  On a week-by-week formative basis?  Or at the end of the semester summative basis?  How will this information be tied in with currently-used evaluation tools?
  • Identify how you will know that your students will benefit from the alterations in your teaching practices.

These are offered for illustrative purposes. Once decisions have been reached, document these and include these in your proposal...

Step 5: Identify the Primary Purpose of your project

• What will be your major outcome of your Project?
• What is the time frame in which you want to start and end you project?

Step 6: Identify Needed Resources

Based on what you want to do and when you want to do it, what resources will you need to get it done?

• Reimbursement for your time?
  • Academic year? Summer?
• Student Assistants?
• Equipment?
• Software?
• Office supplies?
• Online training not currently offered at Providence College?
• Other?

Are any of these resources already available to you at PC?  (e.g., video cameras, computer projectors, etc.)

Please note that travel remains the responsibility of the faulty member's respective department.

Step 7: Make Decisions

For Collaborative and Mentor groups, decisions will need to be made.  Some of these decisions are part of conducting a solo individual project as well.

• Who is responsible for what?
• When are the "whats" due?
• What do you need to realize the "whats," or to make them happen?
• How much time will you, the other members if in a team situation, have to spend to complete the Project?
• Should you develop a timeline for the Project?
• What will you report in the mid-Project report?  End of the Project report?
• What will you present in the April Instructional Technology Showcase?

Some of these questions can't be fully answered now, but as your project progresses, the answers will become clearer.

Step 8: Create a Budget

A line item budget can be found on any of the applications:  Solo, Mentor/Mentee, or Collaborative Group Projects.

Will you and your colleague(s) be requesting stipend money for either the Academic Year, the Summer, or both?  Ceilings for this are up to $1400.00 for the Academic Year stipend per faculty, and up to $400.00 for the Summer stipend per faculty.  For Group Collaborative projects, any number of faculty can work on the project, but stipend costs cannot exceed $4,200.00 for combined academic years costs, and $1,200.00 for Summer stipends.  Thus ten faculty could work on a project, but each would receive only $420.00 and $120.00 on average, for Academic year and summer stipends, respectively.

What are the best prices for your software and hardware? 

• Good software source:  http://www.journeyed.com
• Good Source of prices for hardware:  http://www.pcmag.com/category2/0,4148,13,00.asp
  Click the category you want (e.g., digital cameras), select a review and click on any of the "check prices" links.  You'll see listed a number of vendors with specific prices for that item.  Clicking on the vendor link bounces you to a page on the vendor site that sells the device. 
• Suggestion:  Print off the vendor pages, as well as pages with price and contact information.   You'll later append these to the proposal, and will need them for ordering purposes should your project be accepted and funded.  Use these prices in your budget.

Need Student help?  Estimate how many hours you'll need, then multiply this by $7.25 for a rough approximation.  Enter this figure into the budget.

Tally the total, with staff costs.  Does the final tally exceed the ceiling for the particular type of project: $3,000.00 for Solo, $4,800 for Mentor/Mentee Projects, and $7,000.00 for Group Collaborative Projects.

Step 9: Identify and define course outcomes

What will result from your working on this project?

• An Angel course or web-enhanced course?
• A multimedia CD?
• An enhancement to your instructional practices?
• A paper or article?
• A conference presentation that you will give?
• Other types of products or outcomes?

These are offered for illustrative purposes;  your products and outcomes may vary....

Step 10: Define your Assessment Plan

What assessment activities would you undertake to determine
that you've reached your goal and met your objectives?

Questions to consider can include, but aren't limited to:

• How will you know your students' learning has been enhanced and/or improved?
• To what extent does your adopting such practices augment your pedagogy?
• How will you know if and when you are successful?
• How will you know you are using the tools of technology better?
• How will you know if your altered instructional procedures were more effective than those you used in the past?
• Are there any unanticipated benefits that may accrue from your altered instructional practices?

Other questions may be more appropriate for your project.

Time Saving Hint

Write your proposal using a word processor. Follow the format shown on any of the following applications:   Solo, Mentor/Mentee, or Collaborative Group Projects.

Step 11: Submit the Proposal

Once you're finished with your proposal, attach it to an email and send it to Michael Fimian at MFimian@Providence.edu. Print off the Chari's Signature page, have it signed, and mail it to the ITDP Office, Room 305, Feinstein. Finally, print your proposal for safekeeping.

Additional Information About the Applications