Faculty Funding Opportunities from LTLC
Deadline for all applications: 5:00pm, March 1, 2024
Grants and Stipends Available
Open Educational Resources Stipends: Fall, Spring
LTLC offers a funding opportunity for faculty members interested in replacing their textbooks in a course with open educational resources (OER). Learn more about OER.
- OER transformations must take place in the current semester or either of the two semesters/Winter Session/Summer Session immediately following the application.
- Applicants are encouraged to identify possible OER prior to submitting an application.
- Award recipients must submit a report by the end of the semester in which the materials were adopted. The report due date for the spring semester is May 17, 2024.
- Funds are distributed after the course using the OER has been successfully completed and the report has been submitted.
Additional information including funding amounts can be found on the application form. Priority will be given to applications that directly support the adoption, remixing, or authoring of OER for an element of the Compass curriculum, such as two or more connected FYE courses, a sophomore experience (SE) course, or a LEAPS program.
If you have questions about how to apply for these funds, please consult with an R&I Librarian or a member of LTLC. The application for OER Stipends in Spring 2024 will close on Friday March 1 at 5:00pm.
Academic Innovation Funds: Fall, Spring
LTLC awards a small number of grants for projects that use technology to achieve innovative pedagogical goals. LTLC makes decisions about funding for projects based on the proposed use of technology for teaching, learning, and/or innovative pedagogy. The committee also looks at the project's breadth of impact, and the college's ability to support and sustain the project. The committee gives preference to projects that:
- Directly support an element of the Compass curriculum, such as the use of innovative technology in a connected FYE, a sophomore experience course, or a LEAPS program.
- Explore the use of new technologies in Wheaton's classrooms or present innovative pedagogy that uses technology (preferably both).
- Most clearly and realistically delineate their goals, budget, and timeline.
- Extend the farthest beyond a single faculty member's classroom/extracurricular student engagement.
- Engage most fully and realistically with available resources, e.g. liaison support, from Wallace Library.
Stipulations:
- Funds cannot be put toward faculty stipends, student or employee wages, or travel to conferences.
- You are welcome to use funds to purchase hardware, software, electronic resources, subscriptions to online services, and/or to pay for services related to a project (e.g. digitization, licensing of content, or outside speaker fees).
- Award recipients must submit a detailed report indicating how the funds were used and plans for sharing their teaching innovation with the rest of the community within one year of when the funds are disbursed.
- A consultation with a member of the library's Research & Instruction team is required as part of the application process.
If you have questions about how to apply for these funds, please consult with a Research & Instruction team member or a member of LTLC. You can also view past Academic Innovation Fund recipients. The application for Academic Innovation Funds in Spring 2024 will close on Friday March 1 at 5:00pm.
Research Computing Funds: Spring
LTLC offers small grants to fund the purchase of hardware and software for faculty research projects once a year, in the spring semester. We invite applications for funds for computing needs that will facilitate your research projects, including:
- mobile devices,
- laptop and desktop computers, and/or
- software and other computing resources.
Priority will be given to:
- Research needs that cannot be met through other funding sources.
- Equipment that facilitates new or ongoing research that will lead to the timely dissemination of results.
- Faculty who have not received research computing funds in the past.
All funding must be spent by May 1st and any equipment must arrive before June 30 of the fiscal year in which the application is made. The form for research computing will close at 5:00pm on March 1, 2024.
2023-2024
Max Ponticelli: The LTLC grant funded the purchase of Freedom H1 units and an Express dongle, allowing students to interface with a lighting design system. The units were used in the fall 2023 production of RENT! and The Pillowman.
2022-2023
Ada McKenzie and Hope Bastion: For their FYE called "Soy Cuba!", Bastion and McKenzie invited speakers from Cuba to virtually attend the course. The LTLC grant funded the costs for the speakers internet access.
Max Ponticelli: The LTLC grant funded the purchase of modular and mobile lighting units used by students in THEA 302: Lighting Design. Modular and mobile units allow students to make any space a lighting laboratory.
2020-2021
Rolf Nelson: For an FYE entitled "The Mind: Psychological and Philosophical Perspectives", Nancy Kendrick and I produced a podcast with psychologists and philosophers who answer basic, fundamental questions in the fields -- the same ones that students grappled with. The LTLC grant funded the purchase of podcasting microphones and a mixer.
Mary Beth Tierney-Tello: This project maximized students’ contact with the target language. VoiceThread allowed oral practice through the use of video forums; Movavi allowed conversion of video content to accessible files; and Padlet allowed for in class collaborative work. The LTLC grant funded the subscriptions to VoiceThread, Movavi, and Padlet.
Kent Shaw: Notion.so was used in ENG 240: Identity, Genre, and Poetry to flip the class. Students and instructor worked together on readings, deadlines, and wikis.The LTLC grant funded a subscription to Notion.so for the course.
Will Mason: MIDI controllers gave students in MUS 103: Music Technology different ways of interacting with course software, developing creative work and reflecting on how we interface with computers. The LTLC grant funded purchase of MIDI controllers.
2018-2019
Jonathan Walsh: This project allowed students to create podcasts about current French events and human interest stories, in French. The LTLC grant funded the purchase of 3 Blue Yeti USB microphones, allowing students to record their podcasts at a high sampling rate.
Leah Dyjak: The project explored the impact of large format images installed in and around campus, made by Wheaton students specifically for public installation. The LTLC grant partially funded the purchase of a large-format printer, paper, ink, and hard drive large enough to handle large image files.
Will Mason: This project enabled students to do live interactive performances of music and multimedia work. The LTLC grant funded the purchase of the Ableton Live software, increasing Wheaton College's suite of music software.
2019-2020
Amy Beumer: This project allowed students to provide real time feedback and anonymous questions in class from their phones or any internet enabled device. The LTLC grant funded the purchase of Socrative, an online response system.
Jeffrey Cashen and Del Case: This project allowed students to use an industry standard music notation tool for writing music and doing homework. The LTLC grant funded the purchase of 16 perpetual licenses for Sibelius, and upgrades to 5 previously-purchased perpetual licenses.
Lisa Lebduska: This project resulted in the creation of writing-focused instructional videos that offer lively and adult references, a quick pace, and an introduction to MLA citation. The LTLC grant funded the purchase of Camtasia, a screen recording and video editing software tool ideal for creating these kinds of learning objects.