University of Virginia

Teaching+Technology Initiative

A partnership between the Office of the Vice President & Provost and the Office of the Vice President of Information Technology.

Applying for a TTI Fellowship

This document provides instructions for submitting a Teaching + Technology Initiative Fellowship application. The duration of each TTI Fellowship is 12 months, from September through August.

In creating your proposal, please follow the proposal format provided below. It is your responsibility to prompt your Dean or Chair to complete the Recommendation Form. The completed recommendation may be included in your proposal or sent directly by the Dean or Chair.

Download the TTI Request for Proposals as a PDF document >>

Application Procedure

Application Deadline and Processing

The deadline for applications to participate in the TTI Program for the 2008-2009 academic year is Monday, February 11, 2008.

Applications should be forwarded by email as a PDF or as a Microsoft Word attachment, to the Provost's Office, c/o TTI Fellowship Program, attention Delores Roberts (dbr7a@virginia.edu). As they are received, proposals will be sent for commentary to individual faculty and technical support staff. Those reviews will be forwarded to Chief Information Officer James Hilton and Vice Provost for Academic Programs Milton Adams, who will make final funding decisions. (Find out more about TTI selection criteria >>)

TTI Fellows will be announced by the Provost's Office by mid-May. The program will begin with a weekend retreat in September, 2008.

TTI Proposal Format

  1. Project Title and Summary Description (about 100 words)

    This information should be an "executive summary" describing the TTI project.

  2. Innovative Pedagogical Aims of Project (Three page limit)

    Please explain how your project will apply technology to enhance or replace existing methodologies for greater over-all teaching effectiveness. Is there existing research that indicates the effectiveness of this approach? What do you regard as the long-term improvements in teaching that will result from your project? Are there ways your fellowship can impact courses other than the one for which your project is designed? Is this approach new in your field, new to UVa or just emerging due to some recent technological innovation?

  3. Preparation and Feasibility (Two page limit)

    How do you visualize the stages necessary to complete your project during your fellowship year? Will the programming be done by you or will you require a student programmer? If someone other than you will be writing the programs, what plans have been made for ongoing updates and enhancements? What timetable do you envision for completion of the project? When do you anticipate implementing the results of the project in the instructional program of your school or department?

  4. Evaluation and Assessment (Two page limit)

    What criteria can be used to evaluate accomplishments during project development (the Fellowship year)? How can the pedagogical effectiveness of the project be measured? What is "success" for this project? Are there existing tools, measures, or benchmarks that could be used in the assessment and evaluation of particular aspects of the project?

  5. Collegiality in Project Development (One page limit)

    Comment on your expectations regarding interdisciplinary discussions with other TTI Fellows (retreat, monthly meetings, and informal exchanges) during the development and early implementation stages.

  6. Dissemination (One page limit)

    Include a plan to make others in your department aware of your TTI work. Do you foresee any applications for your work beyond your department? Are there professional channels (such as specific conferences, workshops, or journals) that would be effective ways to communicate the project to a larger constituency?

  7. Brief Summary of Equipment and Support Needed (One page limit)

    What sort of equipment (hardware, software, supplies) is necessary for the success of the project? Are there any anticipated training needs? If graduate assistants or other student employees will be involved, what role will they play?

  8. Budget (Two page limit)

    Provide as precise an outline of your budgetary requirements as possible, using the following guidelines. Project budgets should not exceed $20,000. Since our annual program budget is fixed, however, proposals for less than the maximum budget are encouraged in order to enable additional projects. General considerations about developing a project budget follow. Applicants are strongly encouraged to consult the TTI Instructional Technology Advisors for assistance in developing a realistic budget. They will know of existing resources and of personnel who have expertise in particular areas.

    There is no standard range for a TTI budget. Projects have varied in scope and cost. It is appropriate to request funds for hardware, software, labor support, course release, and summer stipend (capped at $5,000). Some departments have contributed in one or more of those categories, though co-funding is not a requirement. Our recent experience indicates that often the most crucial parts of the budget are funds for labor involved with: adding value to digitized materials, such as photographs, slides, sound, video, etc.; the development of interactive software components or tools; web page creation; media acquisition; programming.

Chair or Dean Recommendation Form

Please return recommendations to the Provost's Office, c/o TTI Fellowship Program, attention Delores Roberts (dbr7a@virginia.edu), by the application deadline date, February 11, 2008. Recommendations should include the following information:

  • Applicant name
  • Department and School
  • Dean/Chair providing reference

Please give a candid evaluation of this Teaching + Technology Initiative proposal. We will appreciate your assessment of:

  1. the project in terms of its importance to the instructional program in your School or Department;
  2. the applicant's ability to bring the project to completion during the fellowship period; and
  3. the likelihood of a long-term impact of the applicant's project on the teaching mission of the School or Department as a whole.

Note for Tenure-Track Professors

Any tenure-track assistant professor awarded a fellowship will have the option of delaying the tenure decision for one year. This option recognizes the significant commitment of time involved in the groundbreaking work of these fellowships. Successful applicants who wish to take this option must request it in writing to the Provost and the appropriate Dean before the start of the fellowship period.