Teaching and Learning Scholarship (TLS) Grants

To successfully apply for a TLS grant, you should complete the following steps:

• Meet with a SITE TLS faculty consultant for a pre-proposal session or attend SITE’s TLS Institute. This is your chance to brainstorm, ask questions, and generally develop your project into a competitive proposal.
• Write your proposal. Proposal guidelines below. Your SITE consultant can give you feedback on your draft upon request.
• Submit your proposal by email to Laura Cruz in advance of the posted deadlines. Deadlines will be announced through the SITE listserv and posted on the SITE webpage.
• Your proposal will be reviewed by the TLS Grant committee. Please note that funds are limited and the process can be quite competitive.
• Once your proposal is successful, you are encouraged to expend your funds during the same fiscal year if at all possible.
• TLS grants are given with the understanding that you will submit your work for publication to an accepted academic journal or equivalent venue within one academic year.

Your TLS Grant proposal should consist of the following elements:

• Title – Please provide a tentative title for the project that clearly indicates its scope and purpose.
• Brief description – Please provide a one or two sentence summary of your TLS project (150 words maximum)
• Project Team – Please list all members of the project team, including name, title, role on project team, and contact information (email and phone).
• Rationale – Please provide a rationale for your project (500 word maximum). This is your opportunity to make a persuasive case by articulating how your project advances larger scholarly conversations about teaching and learning. You are encouraged to situate your project within relevant literature (see Step 7 below for a directory of teaching and learning journals).
• Research Design – Please provide a brief description of your proposed research design, including any data analysis (qualitative, quantitative, or other). (250 word maximum)
• TLS grants are given with the understanding that you will submit your work for publication to an accepted academic journal or equivalent venue within one academic year.
• Schedule – Please provide a brief timeline of the major aspects of the project schedule. Your schedule should include submission of IRB materials and proposed date for manuscript submission. (150 words maximum)
• Publication Outlets – Please provide at least one potential publication outlet for your finished project, including a very brief (e.g. one sentence) description of why you selected this particular outlet. If you have not selected a publication outlet yet, we recommend consulting this fully searchable directory of teaching and learning journals: https://cetl.kennesaw.edu/teaching-journals-directory.
• Budget – Please provide a brief description and itemized cost estimation for how you would like to expend the funds once granted.

• Full proposal (including references) should be 1200 words or less
• 12 pt. standard font (e.g. Times New Roman)
• Double-spaced, 1” margins
• Please add page numbers to the upper right corner
• APA style is preferred; but others formats accepted.

Successful proposals will:

• Advance larger conversations about teaching and learning. We value projects that represent meaningful and substantive contributions to the field.
• Articulate a clear research design and methodology. We value projects that are well-designed and reflect the highest methodological standards.
• *Contribute to the development of Penn State’s teaching and learning community. We value projects that have sustained influence on others; including students, faculty, and staff.
• Provide a clear and appropriate justification for funds to be expended.