HE in FE Mini-Projects 2007/8

Introduction

The Information & Computer Sciences and Engineering Subject Centres are pleased to be able to offer funding for development Mini-Projects. The aim of this funding opportunity is to enable the sharing and development of good practice and resources in engineering and computing education that will be beneficial to the wider teaching and learning community in both areas.

Please see our funding opportunities webpages for more information on other funding schemes offered by the Information & Computer Sciences and Engineering Subject Centres.

Submissions

The Information & Computer Sciences and Engineering Subject Centres are inviting bids from engineering and computing lecturers for Mini-Project funding to support work at Higher Education level within a Further Education Environment. This is a competitive bidding process for a fixed amount of funding. Proposals will be judged by the panel against the criteria outlined below.

Informal contact about all ideas for submission is strongly encouraged, although the current call for projects is now closed.

Please contact Ian Lindsay, Academic Advisor for HE in FE by e-mail to ian@engsc.ac.uk or telephone on 01509 227170.

The Mini-Project Scheme for curriculum related development:

  • To promote excellence in learning and teaching in the area of engineering and/or computing education.
  • To enable the development of learning and teaching resources that are of use to the wider engineering and/or computing communities.
  • To promote good practice in the evaluation of innovative methods of learning, teaching and assessment.
  • To disseminate within the wider community, innovative methods or resources developed initially for use within a single institution or discipline area.

Key Details

  • £3,500 is the maximum funding for a Mini-Project
  • Mini-Projects must be completed before the end of June 2008.

On completion of a Mini-Project, project holders will be invited to apply for continuation funding if applicable.

Who can apply?

All proposals must be specific to either computing or engineering education at HE level in a FE environment and are welcome on both generic engineering/computing or discipline specific aspects.

  • Any lecturer/practitioner or group of lecturers/practitioners involved in teaching engineering or computing at higher education level within a further education college.
  • Departmental / faculty / academy / central staff who support learning and teaching in engineering/computing may also apply.
  • Applications are welcomed from both individuals and collaborating groups within or across departments and/or colleges.

Development and Implementation of good practice

  • Proposals must have clearly defined outcomes (products) that will be of benefit or interest to either the wider engineering or computing community and not just to the individual department(s) or college(s) involved.
  • A Mini-Project should enable the sharing of existing practice or the development and subsequent sharing of new practice to the wider engineering and/or computing communities. Where a department submits a bid to support and develop existing projects, they will need to indicate the additional value and gain to the wider community that such a bid aims to secure.

What types of resources should the Mini-Projects produce?

A selection of the following resources/activities should be produced as part of the outcomes of Mini-Projects and will be made available through either the Engineering or Information & Computer Sciences Subject Centre, whichever is most appropriate:

Guides

Networks

Web pages

Report

Staff development session

Web based resource

Handbook

Toolkit

Case Studies

It is expected that all Mini-Projects will present their resources at least once at an appropriate ICS/Engineering Subject Centre event.

How should the proposal be costed?

The maximum funding for a Mini-Project is £3,500. We are asking for Mini-projects to be costed under the following headings:

Staffing

Travel and Subsistence

Consumables

Specified other/s

We realise that the amounts of funding available are limited and that you will have to be inventive in working out how you may use the money effectively. Feel free to talk to us about your ideas - we anticipate that the funds will be used for things such as buying out a small amount of your own time, covering the costs of hiring classroom support, enabling networking, etc.

What support will be provided by the Subject Centre?

Successful proposals will be allocated a Subject Centre team member to be their main point of contact who will provide ongoing advice and support.

The Subject Centre will also provide support for the dissemination of the outcomes in the following ways:

 Providing web pages (and support for authoring if necessary)

Publishing of resources (we have standardised templates)

 Organisational support for workshops

Promoting events/resources

 Opportunities to present your work at Subject Centre Workshops and Conferences

 Submitting papers to journals for publication if desired

How will the successful Mini-Projects be selected?

  • The bids will be assessed by an Assessment Panel containing at least three members of either the ICS or Engineering Subject Centre team.
  • The Joint Subject Centre Management Committee will then make final decisions on which bids to fund.
  • Proposers of successful bids will then be notified and terms and conditions will be drawn up. This will include an IPR agreement.
  • Proposers of rejected bids will be given feedback on why they were not funded.
  • The successful projects will be published on the Information & Computer Sciences website and/or the Engineering Subject Centre website.

The following criteria will be used for assessing the proposals:

  • Clearly specified aims and objectives, which are relevant to the specified aims and themes of the funding.
  • Quality of methodology and feasibility of the timetable.
  • Extent of need/demand for the proposed Mini-Project.
  • Evidence of appropriate expertise of proposer.
  • Quality of the proposed products.
  • Impact that the Mini-Project will have on the HE in FE community and plans for how the outcomes could be disseminated.
  • Evidence of plans to evaluate the outcomes of the project.
  • Extent to which the Mini-Project will enhance the resources/services provided by the sponsoring Subject Centre.
  • Extent to which the Mini-Project represents value for money.

What are the reporting procedures?

We will keep bureaucracy to a minimum to reflect the size of the funding.

After an intial meeting at the successful applicant's further education college, The Engineering and ICS Subject Centres will monitor the funded proposals as they develop through occasional telephone calls, the submission of a simple mid-term web-based form and a final web-based report.

How do I apply?

Sorry, but the current call for HE in FE funding proposals is now closed. Other funding opportunities, available to the wider community, are outlined on our Development Funds page.