Four D's = Success For Writing a Learning Grant

Typically in education 4 D's are not good news-- however, these four D's can be your guide for writing a successful Learning Grant.

ream - To help generate and refine your idea, here are some helpful hints.

Brainstorm with colleagues innovative ways to enhance and enrich student learning.
Discuss your idea with your Vice President of Academic Affairs.
Consult with other faculty within your discipline, at your college, at other Maricopa colleges, and beyond (web sites, discipline-specific email lists, etc).
Discuss ideas with your department chair and your college's faculty developer.
Ask your students about the hits and misses in your classes.
Consider an interdisciplinary project.
Review presentations from professional conferences and other online sources (see left for some starting points)
Review the sample Learning Grant applications. These are modeled after successful past grants.
Review previous award recipients in the Learning Grants Gallery.

raft - As you begin to write your grant application, consider that you will need to be providing answers for each of these questions:

What is the title of the project?
What are the names of all individuals directly involved with the management of and activities in the grant? (see examples)
What disciplines are addressed with the grant? (see examples)
What is the main idea/purpose for the grant? Can you write this in 2-3 sentences that would explain it to someone not familiar with your work? (see examples)
What exactly do you plan to do with the funds? Where will activities take place? (see examples)
What is your plan for implementation? Can you generate an approximate timeline? (see examples)
How will your project improve, advance, or enrich student learning? (see examples)
How will you evaluate the success of your project and measure the benefits to your students? (see examples)
How will you share your project or the results of your project with others? (see examples)
Are you willing to accept partial funding? Are you expecting to receive additional funds for this project? Does your college administration plan to continue to support the project after the Learning Grant is completed? (see examples)
What are the personnel expenses? (see examples for [extended contract] [reassigned time] [part-time wages] [student wages])
What are the operational expenses? (see examples for [professional services] [copy services] [printing / binding] [official function] [general supplies] [software] [facilities] [mileage] [in-state travel] [non-employee travel])

iscuss - Before submitting your Learning Grants application, have you...

Consulted with your Vice President of Academic Affairs (VPAA) about your application?
Discussed your idea and application with your department chair?
Shared your application with your faculty developer?
Asked colleague(s) within your discipline to review the application?
Made necessary changes based on the feedback from your DI, department chair, faculty developer and colleagues?

Keep in mind that when you submit a grant through the online form, a copy will be sent electronically to your Vice President of Academic Affairs, grant co-applicants, and all applicants' department chairs. Do not suprise them at this point! The Deans reserve the right to withdraw a grant proposal from consideration.

one! Once you click the final submission, you will be unable to make any additional modifications to your application. So...

Plan ahead.
Do not wait until the final day to complete your application.
Allow time to discuss with others.

Thoughtful planning and preparation are vital elements to a successful Learning Grants application.

Good Luck! If you have any questions, contact us.

Eric Leshinskie
Eric Leshinskie, MCLI Interim Director

For 2007-2008 funding, applications will be accepted October 29 - November 30, 2007.

For an idea of the information you will need for the online application, see the sample grant applications from previously funded grants. Also, you may want to review the revised criteria that will be used as a rubric by grant reviewers.

Also, review the evaluation criteria to see the questions and the weighting reviewers will apply to your grant application.