Course (Re)Design Grants

Approximately four $1000 grants available to support development of new courses

Approximately seven $500 grants available to support substantive redesign of existing courses

Why is the curricular integration of Life Design the focus of these grants?

• 51% of students are not confident in their career path when they enroll in college[1]
• Students are overwhelmed and discouraged by failures and hurdles
• Even confident students may be uniformed about key aspects of their major and desired profession

The life design approach can address indecision and build resilience by helping students to:

• Embrace an active role in their career process with designer mindsets
• Prioritize self-knowledge (e.g., identifying values, interests, traits)
• Explore options (e.g., actively investigate majors and careers through networking, research and experiences)
• Work with a community of supporters to build a way forward, one step at a time

[1] Business Wire. (2019, October 14). New survey: Student confusion selecting majors increases higher education cost and time to degree.

How can you learn more about what Life Design looks like?

Check out resources from:

Stanford’s Life Design Lab

Life Design at Bowling Green State University

The Ten Frameworks of Life Design from Julia Lang (2024 Longwood Teaching & Learning Institute Keynote Speaker) of the Tulane University Taylor Center

Why should you participate?

• Advance curriculum-to-career programming in your academic area
• Find motivation and accountability for curriculum development
• Get feedback and support from a peer cohort and a course development coach
• Experience the value of life design principles and tools
• Benefit from investment in your professional development

What will you be asked to do?

If your proposal is approved, you are agreeing to:

• Work with your assigned course development coach, starting with a consultation in November 2024 to create a course development timeline
• Adhere to the course development timeline in spring 2025, including participation in professional development workshops and course-related data collection
• Present results of your work to the grant cohort for feedback
• Submit a course syllabus, assignment and activity materials (as applicable), and an implementation synopsis
• Participate in QEP assessment when the course is offered over the life of the QEP

What can you expect in the application?

Application Preview Course ReDesign Grant Proposals (pdf)

Applicants will be asked to:

• Provide contact information for the faculty member serving as course lead
• Indicate if the proposal is for new course creation or existing course revision
• Write a short (less than 500 words) overview of the new course or course changes and provide a rationale for the proposal that addresses the relationship between the proposed changes and both the:
  • Consider Life Design theme and;
  • Existing program-level success outcomes, program-level student learning outcomes, OR course-level student learning outcomes
• Upload supporting documentation (e.g., syllabus, assignment descriptions) in support of the project overview

Program Timeline and Expectations

A consultation with Dr. Sarai Blincoe, Director of Program Effectiveness, is highly recommended as an early step in the application process.