CCLI Proposal Writing
Strategies
Tim Fossum
tfossum@nsf.gov
Program Director
Division of Undergraduate Education
National Science Foundation
Vermont EPSCoR NSF Research Day
June 7, 2008
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Caution
The information presented in this
workshop represents my opinion and
is not an official NSF position.
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Overview of Workshop
Goal: Prepare you to write more
competitive CCLI proposals
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EHR/DUE’s CCLI Program
Vision: Excellent STEM education for all
undergraduate students.
Goal: Stimulate, disseminate, and
institutionalize innovative developments in
STEM education through the production
of knowledge and the improvement of
practice.
Components:
 Material & pedagogy development
 Faculty development
 Implementation
 Assessment
 Research
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Audience participation
Identify the single most important
piece of advice you would give to
a colleague writing a CCLI
proposal ...
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Initial Proposal Sketch
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Goal: Enhance student learning in
<field X> at U of Y
Rationale: Observed shortcomings in
educational experience of the students at
U of Y and felt that new stuff would
improve the situation
Project Description: Details of new stuff
Evaluation: Use U of Y’s course evaluation
forms to show improvements in learning
Dissemination: Describe new stuff using
conference papers, journal articles, and
web site
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Proposal Strategies
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Read the program solicitation
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Articulate your goals, objectives, & outcomes
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Outcomes should include improved student
learning
Build on existing knowledge base
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Determine how your ideas match the
solicitation and how you can improve the match
Review the literature
Present evidence that the new stuff
is doable; will enhance learning; is the
best approach
Explore potential collaborations
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Proposal Strategies
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Use data to document existing
shortcomings in student learning
Describe management plan
 Provide tasks, team responsibilities,
timeline
Provide clear examples of the approach
Integrate the evaluation effort early
 Build assessment tools around defined
objectives and expected outcomes
 Connect with independent evaluation
experts
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Proposal Strategies

Identify strategies for dissemination
Define a plan to contribute to
knowledge base
 Address broader impacts
 Collaborate, form partnerships, build
community

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Write Proposal to Answer
Reviewers’ Questions
What are you trying to accomplish?
What will be the outcomes?
Why do you believe that you have a good idea?
Why is the problem important?
Why is your approach promising?
How will you manage the project to ensure success?
How will you know if you succeed?
How will others find out about your work?
How will you interest them?
How will you excite them?
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Developing
Goals & Outcomes
 Start
with one or more
overarching statements of
project intention
 Each statement is a goal
 Convert each goal into one or
more expected measurable
results
 Each result is an outcome
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Goals –> Objectives –>
Outcomes

Converting goals to outcomes may
involve intermediate steps
 Intermediate steps frequently
called objectives:
More specific, more
measurable than goals
 Less specific, less
measurable than outcomes

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Goals

Goals may focus on
 Cognitive behavior
 Affective behavior
 Success rates
 Diversity
 Cognitive, affective, or
success in targeted
subgroups
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Goals

Goals may focus on ...
 Cognitive behavior
 Affective behavior
 Success rates
 Diversity
 Cognitive, affective, or
success in targeted
subgroups
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Outcomes
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Must be measurable
Must be related closely to
goals
Outcomes are the basis for
evaluation
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Example Outcomes
Conceptual understanding
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Students will be better able to solve
simple conceptual problems
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Students will be better able to solve
out-of-context problems.
Attitude
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Students will be more likely to describe
<field X> as an exciting career
The percentage of students who
transfer out of <field X> after taking
<course Y> will decrease.
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Project Rationale

Rationale is the narrative that
provides the context for the
project

It’s the section that connects the
“Statement of Goals and
Outcomes” to the “Project Plan”
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An Effective Rationale answers
the following questions:
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What does the knowledge base say about
your approach?
Why is this problem important?
What is the evidence that your proposed
approach will solve the problem?
What are the potential problems &
limitations?
Have you done prior work? If so, was it
successful?
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Project Evaluation Plan
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All projects require evaluation
 All proposal require an evaluation plan
During the project, formative evaluation:
 Monitors progress toward goals
 Identifies problems
At the end of the project, summative
evaluation:
 Tells you what you accomplished
 Provides data for you to use in telling
others
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Evaluation Plan
 Get
help at the beginning – in
the proposal writing phase
 Involve an expert evaluator
 Consider an outside
(independent) evaluator
 Size of budget
 Importance of objectivity
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Evaluation Plan

Provide details on tools & experimental
design
 Describe how
 Students will be “surveyed”,
 Faculty will be “asked”,
 Grades will be “compared”
 Indicate who will do these tasks
 Indicate who will analyze and interpret
the data
 Consider confounding factors
 Try to measure deeper learning
 Collect demographic data on student
populations
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Dissemination Plan
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CCLI projects need to contribute to:
 The STEM education knowledge
base
 Building the STEM education
community
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Dissemination Plan
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Target and involve a specific subpopulation – e.g., Those who teach
similar courses at other locations
 Ask them to review various products,
data, and approaches
 Work with them to organize
 Email exchanges and listserves
 Informal meeting at a conference or
on-campus
 Faculty development workshops (oncampus and at conferences)
Explore beta test sites
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Dissemination Plan
Be specific in publication efforts
 Explore commercialization
 Put material in a form suitable for
the National Science Digital Library
(NSDL)
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General Advice
Use good style (clarity,
organization, etc.)
 Reinforce your ideas
 Give examples
 Provide appropriate level of detail
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General Advice
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Pay special attention to your Project
Summary
 Summarize goals, rationale, methods,
and evaluation and dissemination plans
 Address intellectual merit and broader
impacts
 Explicitly and independently
 Three paragraphs with headings:
• “Summary”
• “Intellectual Merit”
• “Broader Impacts”
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General Advice
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Follow the solicitation and GPG
Seek advice (PO, colleagues)
Prepare credible budget
Address prior funding when appropriate
Sell your ideas but don’t over promote
Proofread the proposal
“Tell a story” and turn a good idea into a
competitive proposal
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Conclusion
Full presentation at:
http://www.subr.edu/MSIWorkshop/MSI2.htm
Read the solicitation!
Read the GPG!
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