ULTSEC Innovation Fund 2013: call for project proposals

Each year the University Learning,Teaching and Student Experience Committee makes awards to teams and/or individuals for projects designed to support the student learning experience. The ULTSEC Innovation Fund 2013 is now accepting project proposals. The closing date for proposals is 22nd January 2013.

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. It is anticipated that up to ten projects will be funded, each for up to £5k. Proposals do not have to be for the full £5k.

This document outlines the ULTSEC Innovation Fund 2013priority themesand sets out the criteria against which project proposals will be considered.

Staff, particularly those who are interested in submitting an application for the 2013 call are invited to the dissemination and welcome event onFriday 14th December 2012, 9.30am-12.30pm in the Bamburgh Room, King’s Road Centre. At this event Innovation Fund 2012 project teams will give brief presentations on what their project is/was, and their team's experiences of doing the project. Suzanne Cholerton has kindly agreed to introduce the event. An advert and booking form are online:

Priority themes for 2013

Innovation Fund 2013 will favour projects that support one of two priority themes. These priority themes areAssessment and Feedbackand Retention through Student Engagement:

  • Assessment and feedback projects should be linked to perceived areas for improvement indicated in internal or external student surveys (NSS, ISB, PTES/PRES, module evaluation, other surveys conducted by Academic Units and/or Services). Projects could focus on:

marking criteria

fairness of assessment arrangements and marking

timeliness of feedback

usefulness of feedback

clarityof assessment instructions.

  • Retention through student engagement projects should demonstrate what Academic Units and/or Services can do to help students become part of the university community.This is particularly crucial given the changes to student recruitment from 2012/13. Potential projects might be:

closely associated with their course or take a broader, extra-curricular or student experience approach

focussed on students' transition to university study and their first weeks at NU or take a longer approach to induction

focused on what student data shows us are risk periods for student withdrawals, for example before/during/after first exams and assessments or during and after university vacations. Suggestions for projects are offered in Appendix I. Some scope remains for projects that focus on any other aspect of the student experience related to learning and teaching.

Student involvement in projects

Engagement with students is central to all Innovation Fund projects. In practice, this could broadly be through partnership and/or engagement with students:

  • Projects in partnership with students

The Innovation Fund was previously open to teams of academic and/or support staff. In 2013the panel invites proposals put forward as partnerships between students and staff, withstudent members of the project team;however the Innovation Fund is not designed to support student-only project teams.

  • Projects that engage with students

This approach aims to involve students in the process of doing a project, not only as beneficiaries of a project. In practice this could include: employing student interns through Newcastle Work Experience ( student consultation to direct the scoping and execution of a project; students as ‘critical friends’ during project planning.

This focus on student involvement in projects works towards the Newcastle Offer by ‘supporting and encouraging students to be active partners in shaping their own learning, as members of the University community.’

Criteria against which proposals are considered

Proposals are collated by QuILT before consideration by a panel nominated by ULTSEC. This panel then makes recommendations to the Chair of ULTSEC based on the following fourcriteria. Please note that these criteria should be read in conjunction with the guidance notes included as Appendix IIof thisdocument.

1. Does this proposal show how the project supports one or more of the Innovation Fund 2013priority themes?

2. Does this proposal show how the project will benefit:

  • the student learning experience
  • theAcademic Units involved in the project?
  • other Academic Units at Newcastle University?
  • the institution as a whole?

3. Does the project involve students through partnership working and/or other engagement?

4. Based on this proposal, is the project feasible with the resources sought?

5. Does the proposal include consideration of how the project team will assess and show their project’s impact on the student experience/retention?

Links to further information

Information on previous years’ Innovation Fund projects is available on the QuILT website: Whilst the priority themes change every year previous projects give an indication of the aims and scale of successful Innovation Fund projects, and a list of project leads willing to share their experiences of doing projects. You are encouraged to contact these successful project teams: please contact Lydia if you would like her to suggest contacts particularly relevant to your ideas.

This call for proposals document is available on the QuILT website:

The closing date for proposals is 22ndJanuary 2013. The contact for initial queries about the Innovation Fund 2013 and for the submission of proposals is Lydia Wysocki in QuILT (, x8952). If you would like comments on your draft proposal please email it to Lydia by 15th January 2013.

Appendix I: Suggestions for projects

This page outlines the two priority themes for the Innovation Fund 2013 and suggests projects that might address these themes. These suggestions are offered in response to requests from staff, and do not imply that these projects would be prioritised over other strong proposals.Assessment and feedback projects should be linked to perceived areas for improvement indicated in internal or external student surveys (NSS, ISB, PTES/PRES, module evaluation, 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 ( or other interactive classroom assessment tools.

Retention through student engagement projects should demonstrate what Academic Units and/or Services can do to help students become part of the university community. This is particularly crucial given the changes to student recruitment from 2012/13. Potential projects might be:

closely associated with their course or take a broader, extra-curricular or student experience approach

focussed on students' transition to university study and their first weeks at NU or take a longer approach to inductionfocussed on what student data shows us are risk periods for student withdrawals, for example before/during/after first exams and assessments or during and after university vacations.

Suggestions for retention through student engagement projects include:

use of apps to aid student wellbeing, particularly using CBT techniques. These try to make support more accessible and relevant to students and could form part of a self help package as ‘homework’. More information: and

a review of how student induction activities support students to get to know each other and staff on their course, for example Jarka Glassey’s t-shirt activity (CEAM)

the use of social media/innovative uses of CRM in applicant conversion/student retention.

Appendix II: Guidance notes for preparing proposals

Previous years’ project teams have requested advice on how to structure their Innovation Fund proposals. These notes are offered as guidance on key information to include and use five subheadingsfor clarity. Teams are welcome to amend, rename or combine sections, or to use another structure to provide equivalent information.

A. Planning and rationale

This section should include the background to the project, the purpose of the project, and identify the benefits of this project. Innovation Fund proposals should:

  • 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/student access to HE
  • 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
  • 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
  • make explicit the involvement of students in the project, not just as recipients of the project’s outcomes

Pleasenote that whilst Innovation Fund projects are not a replacement for other School-level projects they can be used to expand earlier or existing projects.

B. Project management

This section should show what is involved in your project, and how and when you will do this. Innovation Fund proposals should:

  • include a preliminary month-by-month timeline for the project. This should begin after the announcement of award recipients in early February 2013 and note the Innovation Fund dissemination event on 14thDecember 2013( and any other dissemination activities you will participate in within your Academic Unit, Faculty, or other grouping. Here is an example timeline:

Feb / Mar / Apr / May / Jun / Jul / Aug / Sep / Oct / Nov / Dec
Task 1 /  / 
Task 2 /  /  / 
Task 3 /  /  / 
Task 4 /  /  /  /  / 
Project team catchups /  /  /  /  / 
Event / 
  • identifymain and secondary project leads and other named staff involved in the project. Communication from the Innovation Fund panel (through QuILT) will normally be with the two named project leads for them to discuss with their project team
  • identifywhich Academic Units’ staff are involved in the project and which staff are the intended beneficiaries. The Innovation Fund particularly welcomes projects that involve collaboration across Faculties, Schools, Institutes, Services and Units
  • identify which Academic Units’ students are involved in the project and which students are the intended beneficiaries
  • 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

C. Support and funding

This section should clarify the amount of funding requested and show how it will be used. It should also identify any other support sought from Services or from other Academic Units, and demonstrate that the relevant Head(s) of Unit(s) have approved these requests. Innovation Fund proposals should:

  • identify how much funding is sought and how the funding will be used. 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 buy-out staff time with 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 buy-out.
  • give a breakdown of costs with sufficient detail to demonstrate that the proposal has been properly costed. For example: a request for a Research Assistant’s time should show the amount of RA time multiplied by the pay grade, rather than ‘estimated £2k staff costs’. Here is an example breakdown of costs:

Item / Calculations / Line total
Staff time / Grade F £X per day x 20 days / £20X
NWE student intern / £600 for 100 hours / £600
Travel to partner schools in Northumberland / 2 days coach hire / £428
eBook to use as key text / £127 educational licence / £127
Design and print of resources (detailed in section Y of project plan) / 140 copies at 84p per copy / £117.60
Total
  • note that the panel may ask teams to review the funding and support they request in the light of the panel’s consideration
  • demonstrate that, if resources from another Academic Unit or service are needed, this has been agreed with the relevant Unit. For example: project 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.

D. Impact and dissemination

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. It should also show how you will disseminate your project internally and externally. Innovation Fund project teams should:

  • include in their project plan how they will assess and show their project’s impact on students. This is likely to include both qualitative and quantitative measures where possible, for example:

group interviews with students involved in your project

improvements in the grades or spread of grades for students taking a changed assessment; comparison of a group of students’ marks against their marks in comparable current or past assessments

a survey of students who took part in your project

  • engage in internal dissemination of their project’s outcomes through events facilitated by QuILT, including a presentation at the December 2013dissemination event
  • 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 the possibilities for publishing pedagogical research, and resources from this presentation are available on the QuILT website:
  • actively seek links with other Innovation Fund projects. Such links are supportedby networking opportunities at the December 2013 dissemination and welcome event, and the award recipients’ meeting in February 2013.

E. Administrative considerations

Innovation Fund proposals should:

  • be approved by the relevant Head(s) of Academic Unit(s). This should be shown as one or two sentences from the Head of Academic Unit either included in the proposal or emailed separately to .
  • be no longer than four sides of A4 paper.

The closing date for proposals is 22nd January 2013. Please email proposals to Lydia Wysocki in QuILT (, x8952), and contact her with any queries. If you would like comments on your draft proposal please email it to Lydia by 15th January 2013.

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