This request for proposals is prompted by several notions:

1. WSU Students will participate in work settings which are technologically sophisticated; therefore students should be technologically literate. This involves more than machine competency:

• it includes educating self-directed learners capable of managing their own directed inquiry (Drucker, 1994),
• skilled telecomputing involving new emerging skills associated with new forms of productivity and investigation such as word processing and Internet search and inquiry (Dede, 1995), and
• skilled dispersed asynchronous teamwork (Geber, 1995; Sproull & Kiesler, 1991).

2. WSU Faculty are high quality educators who value the opportunity to explore and utilize the most relevant pedagogic strategies at the course, program and institutional level. This includes:

• commitment to improving one's own teaching (course level),
• participation in programmatic discussions and design (department level and/or inter-college level), and
• participation in institutional quality (university level; involvement in committees such as Academic Steering, or Graduate Studies).

Combining the emerging needs of our students with the strengths of our faculty suggests that an RFP fostering faculty's professional development and course transformation, from teacher-centered synchronous format to learner-centered asynchronous format is relevant and timely.

To explore the more global aspects of the VWSU initiative, please review the Orientation Document.

Eligibility:

Proposals will be accepted from any members of the WSU Faculty and Staff. Proposals from teams involving several faculty targeting several courses within a degree or certificate program are encouraged. Proposals uniting several strands of effort addressing shifts from teacher-centered instruction to learner-centered instruction are encouraged. A letter of endorsement from the appropriate Academic Dean, Vice President or Vice Provost must accompany the proposal. Applicants are encouraged to seek assistance in the preparation of their proposal through: KCFacemyer@wsu.edu.

Scope of Projects:

Proposals should focus on the conversion of courses to a learner-centered asynchronous format using appropriate technologies. The proposed course conversion must be based on sound educational foundations. Applications should include a description of proposed strategies for:

• Identification of desirable educational outcomes,
• Production of technology-based instructional materials to support learner-centered strategies to achieve desired educational outcomes, and
• Implementation of an assessment plan to determine if desired educational outcomes have been achieved by utilizing the technology-based instructional strategies. (Assessment plans should go beyond simple comparisons of grades before technological inclusion and grades after technological inclusion. If assessment plans are designed to compare technology-based, learner-centered educational strategies to traditional methods of instruction, steps should be taken, not just to compare the graded outputs of each style of course but to assess the different levels or qualities of learning taking place in the student.)

A limited number of proposals that do not describe conversion of a specific course but address general strategies that support course conversions will be considered. Examples of these proposals include:

• The development and implementation of an assessment plan for learner-centered asynchronous courses.
• The development and implementation of a plan for quality assurance of VWSU courses.
• The development and implementation of a template for course reengineering.
• The development and implementation of a template for learner-centered asynchronous instructional material.

Funding Level:

Ten awards of up to $30,000 each are expected to be made for 1997-98. Awards will be made to the unit but will be restricted for use by the principal investigator in accordance with approved budget. Funds may be requested for faculty, staff or student salaries and wages. Because previous RFP's have focused on providing software and hardware, requests for funds for purchase of supplies and equipment should be limited.

Award Disbursement:

One half of the award will be released at the beginning of the grant period. The second half will be released only after significant progress towards achieving the goals of the grant has been demonstrated.

Selection Criteria:

Proposals will be selected based on the following criteria:

• Quality of the proposed project:
  Does the project address the goals of VWSU?
  Will the project become a regular part of University offerings?
  Will the project affect significantly student learning and faculty teaching?
  Does the project have the potential for wide dissemination and adoption at other universities?
• Feasibility of the proposed project:
  Appropriateness of the technology proposed.
  Experience of key personnel.
  Availability of necessary additional resources.
• The number of student and courses impacted by the project.

Successful proposals will have several critical features:

• A focus creating, implementing, and assessing learner-centered instructional strategies.
• Direct attention to escalating student effort toward more advanced cognitive processes such as Application, Analysis, Synthesis and Evaluation (Bloom, 1956); a shift from fact management to concept integration or even to knowledge generation.
• Attention to replicatable design cycles. (In other words, can these techniques be applied to similar courses and/or programs?)
• Specific effective assessment strategies and explicit mechanisms for cycling the assessment findings back into course and program renewal.

Application Procedure:

Applicants will complete the application form available on the WWW VWSU Electronic Application Page according to the instructions.

In general, proposals should be concise and explicit. Preliminary data demonstrating investigators' expertise and availability of adequate facilities should be included. Applicants should pay special attention to the following in the preparation of their proposal:

• Design Process
• Implementation Strategies
• Assessment Plan
• Dissemination Procedure

As you begin to think about these 4 sections refer back a set of questions which might help you prepare.

A letter of endorsement from the appropriate Academic Dean, Vice President, or Vice Provost must be submitted to:

Mahmoud M. Abdel-Monem, Ph. D.

Interim Vice Provost for Learning and Technology

French Administration Building, room 422

Campus Zip 1046

Deadline for Submission: January, 10 1997. Depending on the number of proposals submitted, and a review and turnaround time of about 3 weeks, awards could be made by the end of January 1997. Please begin crafting proposals early. If you plan to utilize the offer of consultation, plan to schedule early in order to avoid delays and in order to write based on sound information and designs. When a Review Team is created, look here for information on review timelines and procedures.

There is a Resource page of ideas, Internet links, research, and a set of questions that might help you in your proposal preparation.

Bibliography

Bloom, B. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives; the classification of educational goals, by a committee of college and university examiners. Benjamin S. Bloom, (Ed.) New York, Longmans.

Dede, C. (1995). Testimony to the U. S. Congress, House of Representatives, Joint hearing on Educational Technology in the 21st Century. 10p.

Drucker, P. (1994, November). The age of social transformation. Atlantic Monthly, 53-80.

Geber, B. (1995). Virtual teams. Training, 32 (4), 36-40.

Hammer, M & Stanton, S. (1995). The Reengineering Revolution, New York: Harper Books, p 3.

Sproull, L., & Kiesler, S. (1991). Connections: New ways of working in the networked organization. Cambridge: The MIT Press.

To RFP Resources

To RFP Electronic Application Form

To White Paper on Asynchronous Learning

To VWSU Orientation

http://www.wsu.edu/league/vwsu/RFP3.html

11/15/96