Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory
Improvement (CCLI)
Transforming Undergraduate Education in Science,
Technology, Engineering and Mathematics
PROGRAM SOLICITATION NSF 09-529
CCLI Vision and Scope
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Vision: Excellent STEM education for all
undergraduate students
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Supports efforts that
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Bring advances in STEM disciplinary knowledge into curriculum
Create or adapt learning materials and teaching strategies
Develop faculty expertise
Promote widespread implementation of educational innovations
Prepare future K-12 teachers
Enhance our understanding of how students learn STEM topics
Enhance our understanding how faculty adopt instructional
approaches
Build capacity for assessment and evaluation
Further the work of the program itself
CCLI Vision and Scope (Cont)
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Program especially encourages projects that:
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Have potential to transform undergraduate STEM education
Produce widespread adoption of classroom practices based on
how students learn
Explore cyberlearning
PROJECT COMPONENTS
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Creating Learning Materials and Strategies
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Implementing New Instructional Strategies
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Incorporate ideas from research on teaching and learning
Incorporate scientific advances in disciplines
Implement proven or promising techniques in ways that
encourage widespread adoption
Add knowledge about transfer of strategies and impact on
learning
Developing Faculty Expertise
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Increase instructor’s knowledge and skills on curricula and
teaching practices
Involve diverse group of faculty
PROJECT COMPONENTS (cont)
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Assessing and Evaluating Student Achievement
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Conducting Research on Undergraduate STEM
Education
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Develop and disseminate valid and reliable tests of STEM
knowledge and skills
Collect, synthesize, and interpret information about students
Explore how undergraduate STEM students learn
Explore how practices have diffused and how faculty and
programs implement changes
NOTE: Instrumentation and equipment requests are
appropriate -- based on learning impact
Important Project Features
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Quality, Relevance, and Impact
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Student Focus
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Demonstrate reasonable expectation of persistent effects
Expected Measurable Outcomes
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Interact with others in the STEM education community
Sustainability
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Build on existing work & disseminate new finding and results
STEM Education Community-Building
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Link activities and improvements in STEM learning
Knowledge about STEM Education:
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Describe a recognized need or opportunity and an innovative
approach
Describe goals & expected measurable outcomes
Project Evaluation
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Monitor progress toward expected outcomes and success in
achieving them
Type 1 Projects
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70 to 75 awards expected
Total budget up to $200,000 for 2 to 3 years
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250,000 when 4-year and 2-year schools collaborate
Typically involve a single institution & one
program component
Contribute to the understanding of
undergraduate STEM education
Type 2 Projects
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20 to 25 awards expected
Total budget up to $600,000 for 2 to 4 years.
Deadline January 13, 2010
Typically involve multiple institutions & several
program components – but exceptions
Typically based on prior work with results
explicitly described – but exceptions
Produce evidence on the effectiveness
Institutionalize at the participating schools
Type 3 Projects
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3 to 5 awards expected
Budget negotiable, but not to exceed $5,000,000 over 5
years.
Large scale efforts
Typically based on prior work with results explicitly
described – but exceptions
Produce evidence of student learning in a broad
population
Describe impact of the work on the prevailing models
Describe strategies for implementation in new contexts
CCLI Central Resource Projects
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1 to 3 awards expected
Budget negotiable, depending on the scope and scale of
the activity
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Small focused workshop projects -- 1 to 2 years & up to $100,000
Large scale projects -- 3 to 5 years & $300,000 to $3,000,000
Implement activities to sustain the STEM community
Increase the capabilities of and communications in the
STEM community
Increase and document the impact of CCLI projects
NSF Merit Review Criteria``
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Standard intellectual merit and the broader impacts
review criteria
Additional intellectual merit review criteria
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Produce exemplary material, processes, or models that enhance
student learning
Yield important findings related to student learning
Build on existing knowledge about STEM education
State expected outcomes & integrate them into evaluation plan
Describe evaluation plan that is likely to produce useful
information
Additional broader impacts review criteria
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Contribute to the understanding of STEM education
Help build the STEM education community
Have a broad impact on recognized need or opportunity
Have the potential to contribute to transformative change