The award offers grants of up to £20,000 for University staff to fund creative projects. It aims to promote innovative practice in teaching and learning techniques by providing start-up funding for creative or exploratory projects ineligible for other sources of funding. Bids should focus on new approaches or initiatives that enhance teaching and learning. Any innovative project will be considered – they do not need to be IT-focused. However, bids in support of developing technology to support teaching and learning are particularly welcome.
Many creative projects have been supported by the Teaching and Learning Innovation Fund, including a collaborative learning initiative between University criminology students and offenders, and an online project to help new students in the Faculty of English make the step up from A-level to higher education. Further details about previous award winners, and case studies of their work, are available on the fund website.
The 2015-16 bidding round opened in November and will close on Friday, 22 January. Staff interested in making a bid should visit the fund website or contact Melissa Rielly in the Educational and Student Policy Team for further information.
The application process for this year’s Teaching and Learning Innovation Fund closes next week.
Learning Together
Staff from the Institute of Criminology designed and delivered a new educational initiative called Learning Together. With support from the fund, The project enables University criminology graduates and students at HMP Grendon to learn criminology together over an eight-week programme. Learning Together has attracted wide interest from the prison practitioner community as well as from colleagues in other disciplines at this University, and the initiative will run again next year. Find out more about the project on the Learning Together website.
English literature timeline
Staff from the Faculty of English used funding to develop a programme of English literature classes for new students. The programme included essential research skills, skills for employment and helped students get to grips with the rigours of University study.
The central piece of work in this programme was the creation of an online literature timeline, containing relevant information about the authors that many students study during their degree. Material was researched and uploaded by students themselves, as well as additional interactive material such as video, images, audio and tutorials.
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