Innovation Fund 2014: Priority themes and guidance notes
for applicants
This document contains guidance notes for applicants and suggestions for project ideas. It
is offered as guidance on key information to include in your ULTSEC Innovation Fund 2014
proposal, and should be read in conjunction with the application form.
This document, the Innovation Fund application form, and information on past projects is
available to download from the Innovation Fund web page:
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/quilt/resources/excellence/innovationfund.htm
Information on Innovation Fund application workshops is online:


4-5pm 15th January 2014
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/quilt/about/workshops/item/innovation-fund-applicationworkshop
12-1pm, 23rd January 2014
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/quilt/about/workshops/item/innovation-fund-applicationworkshop1
The closing date for proposals is midnight on 12th February 2014. Please email completed
application forms to Lydia Wysocki in QuILT (lydia.wysocki@ncl.ac.uk, x8952), and contact
her with any queries.
Guidance notes for applicants
Key principles




Identify how the project supports the priority themes outlined in this call for
proposals, or identify which other aspects of the student learning experience the
project supports. Projects meeting this year’s Innovation Fund priority themes are
given priority, but projects outside these themes are also considered.
Be explicit about the involvement of students in the project, not just as recipients of
the project’s outcomes.
Innovation Fund awards are designed to pump-prime the development of new or
innovative approaches to learning, teaching and the student experience and to
enable their dissemination across the University.
Please note that whilst Innovation Fund projects are not a replacement for other
Academic Unit-level projects they can be used to expand earlier or existing projects.
This funding is not designed to support the further roll-out of approaches that have
already been piloted.
1
Doing your project





Identify the aims and objectives of the project, and explain why you have chosen to
do this project.
Be clear what your project will do, and why this is important in your context.
make explicit how the project will impact upon the student learning experience at
Newcastle.
Include a preliminary month-by-month timeline for the project. This should begin
after the announcement of award recipients in late February 2014 and note the
Innovation Fund dissemination event on Monday 9 December 2013
(http://www.ncl.ac.uk/quilt/about/events/item/innovation-fund-dissemination-andwelcome-event1) and any other dissemination activities you will participate in within
your Academic Unit, Faculty, or other grouping.
Through contact with Lydia Wysocki in QuILT please keep the Innovation Fund panel
updated about any issues that arise and are likely to impact upon the nature, scale,
and completion of your Innovation Fund project
Budget





It is anticipated that up to ten projects will be funded, each for up to £5k, but
projects do not have to request the maximum £5k funding.
The panel will consider all funding requests based on the rationale offered by project
teams, and may ask teams to revise their initial proposals.
With sound justification, previous projects have used funding to buy equipment, to
fund study or travel, and to buy-in research support or replacement teaching at the
appropriate hourly rate (with the agreement of the Head of Academic Unit).
It is not acceptable to include the cost of the proposers’ own time, merely the cost of
any replacement teaching or other activity.
As the Innovation Fund is an internal funding scheme it is not necessary to use Full
Economic Costings.
Impact and dissemination



Make explicit how the project will impact upon applicants’ own involvement in
teaching and learning, upon internal and external colleagues’ teaching and learning
practice, and upon the institution as a whole.
This section should show how you will identify the impact of your project on your
students, and on staff, to evaluate whether the planned benefits have been achieved
Identify likely external dissemination opportunities, including named academic
journals and conferences when appropriate. The dissemination and welcome event
in December 2011 included a presentation by Sue Robson and team from ECLS on
2
the possibilities for publishing pedagogical research, and resources from this
presentation are available on the QuILT website:
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/quilt/resources/excellence/innovationfund.htm.

Project teams are asked to actively seek links with other Innovation Fund projects.
Such links are supported by networking opportunities at the December 2013
dissemination and welcome event, and the award recipients’ meeting in early 2014.
Support for proposals


All proposals must be approved by the relevant Head of Unit/Service.
Proposals that include the use of technology (particularly eLearning technologies)
should demonstrate initial discussion about the technical feasibility of the project
with a named contact in QuILT and/or ISS, and where appropriate your Academic
Unit’s computing officer or equivalent.
Contact information


Identify your project lead and other named staff involved in the project.
Communication from the Innovation Fund panel (through QuILT) will normally be
with the named project lead for them to discuss with the project team.
Identify which units’/services’ staff are involved in the project. The Innovation Fund
particularly welcomes projects that involve collaboration across Faculties, Schools,
Institutes, Services and Units.
Suggestions for projects
This information outlines the three priority themes for the Innovation Fund 2014 and
suggests projects that might address these themes. These suggestions are offered in
response to requests from staff for such information, and do not imply that these projects
would be prioritised over other strong proposals.
Strengthening the relationship between research and teaching should be linked to the
research-informed teaching agenda at NU. Projects might choose to focus on:
 Developing schemes for students to take part in staff-led research projects
 Supporting UG students as they undertake their own research
 Reviewing and enhancing the teaching of research skills.
3
Diversifying our portfolio of programmes should think broadly about teaching provision at
NU. Projects might choose to focus on:
 Addressing needs around Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
 Converting resources from an existing module to suit distance learning
 Scoping interest in and opportunities for future developments to NU’s portfolio of
programmes.
Assessment and feedback projects should be linked to perceived areas for improvement
indicated in internal or external student surveys (NSS, ISB, PTES/PRES, and other surveys
conducted by Academic Units and/or Services). Projects might choose to focus on:





marking criteria
fairness of assessment arrangements and marking
timeliness of feedback
usefulness of feedback
clarity of assessment instructions.
Suggestions for assessment and feedback projects include:
 piloting the use of video recorded feedback to students. The developments to
ReCap now allow for far finer-grained authentication, meaning that recordings could
be restricted to individual students or groups of students and so could be used for
individual, group or generic feedback
 piloting structures that support students to reflect on feedback received and plan
how they will make use of it moving forward
piloting Learning Catalytics (https://learningcatalytics.com/) or other interactive
classroom assessment tools.
The closing date for proposals is midnight on 12th February 2014. Please email completed
application forms to Lydia Wysocki in QuILT (lydia.wysocki@ncl.ac.uk, x8952), and contact
her with any queries.
4