Learning & Teaching Grant Program (LTG)
The Learning and Teaching Grant Program (LTG), funded by the Office of the Provost and Vice-President, Academic, reflects the University’s continuing commitment to teaching excellence and pedagogical leadership, along with our community’s ongoing dedication to equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in the classroom.
On this page
We encourage proposals that explore new methods for modifying the University curriculum to improve the student learning experience, and to address EDI inside and outside the lecture hall, classroom, lab, studio, and online. The goal of this internal grant program is to support the integration of research and evaluation into teaching practice and to disseminate the results of successful projects to the University teaching community.
The LTG program focuses on fostering projects that are implementing evidence-informed pedagogical methods that will have a long-term impact on the undergraduate and graduate student experience. We expect the projects will raise the University’s reputation as an educational leader nationally and internationally.
These projects should enhance student learning through the development of new strategies or course materials. As well, they should demonstrate potential for long-term impact on student learning and show potential for integration into complementary programs and courses. Within each grant, there must be a clear demonstration of the prospect of sustainability beyond the grant.
The 2022-2023 Learning and Teaching Grants Program will focus on pedagogical practices that create engaging student-centred learning opportunities. Projects should focus on one or more of the following:
The Student Experience
- Fostering teaching approaches that encourage active learning methods.
- Addressing student engagement through the effective use of digital tools.*
- Exploring blended learning through the integration between traditional face-to-face and online learning to create a cohesive learning experience.
Experiential Learning
- Expanding the implementation of experiential learning opportunities, meaningful partnership development, equity driven approaches and/or a focus on competency focused outcomesCreating or adapting assessment practices that engage students in reflective and integrative learning or involve community partners as co-creators.
Mental Health and Well-being
- Developing pedagogical strategies and assessment methods to support student mental health and well-being.
Anti-Racist Teaching
- Incorporating an anti-racist pedagogy into course content.
- Integrating strategies that address anti-racism and allyship in the classroom.
Inclusive Teaching
- Expanding the implementation of projects that support the integration of open educational resources or practices into the curriculum.
- Adapting course design and teaching techniques using Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and flexible learning strategies to create more inclusive learning experiences.
Advancing Indigenous Initiatives and Decolonization
- Building relationships with Indigenous communities and students to create an educational environment that embraces and supports Indigenous knowledges, perspectives, and experiences, and builds community with Indigenous peoples.
The funding range is $5,000 to $12,000 CAD, and the grant duration is 12 months.
Principal Investigator: Ryerson Faculty Association (RFA) faculty with active contracts for the entirety of the grant cycle are eligible to apply as a Principal Investigator.
Grant Participants: Faculty, contract lecturers, staff, and students are eligible to be listed as co-investigators on grants.
| Action | Timeline |
| Call for Proposals | Opens November 3, 2021 and closes January 31, 2022 at 4:00 PM EST |
| Information Session | The information session provided a short overview of the focus areas, application process, and adjudication process, followed by an opportunity for questions. December 13, 2021 from 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM EST | Watch the recording , external link |
| Awarded Funds | Funds will be made available to successful projects in May 2022, after the recipients attend an introductory grant kick-off session. Funds must be expended no later than mid-April, 2023. |
Budget Justification
Funding requests must conform to the rates and regulations of the University, Funding requests must conform to the rates and regulations of the University, and must be fully justified in terms of the needs of the project. PIs must provide a detailed explanation in the budget justification form as to how the funds will be used to achieve the project objectives.
The adjudication committee may deem your application less competitive if they find that you are requesting non-essential funding or ineligible activities, and may require budget revisions. Committee members will take into account the quality of your overall financial planning and the justification of requested expenditures. Additional funding and in-kind contributions should be clearly stated and will be taken into account.
Applications requesting to develop new technologies, software, or databases are subject to the adjudication committee requesting a consultation with the University legal in addition to the standard application requirements. If your proposal includes the use or creation of a third party software, please include a justification of why you should use these over already existing/supported software.
Timeline
Each application must be accompanied by a clear timeline for monthly goals and activities to demonstrate proposal feasibility within the one-year timeframe.
Eligible Expenses
Please review the list of eligible expenses below:
| Eligible Expenses | Description |
| Student and non-student salaries and benefits |
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| Professional/consulting services |
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| Travel and dissemination costs |
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| Materials and Supplies cost |
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| Funds from other sources |
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Additional Notes and Ineligible Expenses:
- All non-consumable items purchased with the awarded funds will remain the property of the University.
- Faculty course release cannot not be funded by an LTG.
- Wages for faculty, regularly assigned teaching assistants, or staff members who would normally be employed by the university, are considered ineligible expenses.
- Principal Investigators or co-applicants may not pay themselves with funds.
- Funds may not be used for capital expenditures (e.g., renovations).
Proposals will be vetted and ranked by a committee led by the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching. Members of the committee will include previous grant holders, faculty from across disciplines, and colleagues from partner units on campus (e.g., the Library). The committee will use the published rubric for scoring. The results of this process will be communicated to Principal Investigators.
Evaluation Criteria
The applications will be evaluated using the google docEvaluation Rubric, external link
2022/2023 Adjudication Committee
- Idil Abdillahi
- Tetyana Antimirova
- Dave Colangelo
- Michelle Delcourt
- Michael Dick
- Avik Ghoshdastidar
- Chris Gibbs
- Tom Griffin
- Vincent Hui
- Stefania Impellizzeri
- Catherine Jenkins
- Don Kinder
- Bryan Koivisto
- Angela Lee
- Saber Moradi
- Jennifer Poole
- Fatih Sekercioglu
- Yukari Seko
- Lahoma Thomas
- Magdalena Ugarte
| Requirements | Details |
| Awarded funds | Funds will be made available in May 2022, after the recipients attend an introductory grant kick-off session. Funds must be expended no later than mid-April, 2023. |
| Administration of funds | The administration of funds and initiation of HR contracts will take place through the Teaching Development unit in the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching, on behalf of the Principal Investigator. |
| Intellectual property | Intellectual property will be governed by the provisions of the collective agreement between the University and the Faculty Association. |
| Authorization | Proposals require authorization of the department or school chair. |
| Ethics | All research involving humans, conducted by or with faculty, staff or students affiliated with the University must be reviewed and approved by the Research Ethics Board (REB) prior to commencement of the study. |
As recipients of LTG project funding, PIs must comply with the following requirements:
| Reporting Requirement | Details |
| Monthly Meetings | Attend monthly community practice meetings |
| Mid-term report | Submit a mid-term report: due on or before November 1st, 2022 and attend the mid-term check in meeting. |
| Summary report or video interview | Submit a brief summary report or video interview to be published and archived on the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching website: due on or before May 31st, 2023. |
| Ryerson Learning and Teaching Conference | Present findings at the Learning and Teaching Conference to be held in May 2023. |
| Credit Guidelines | Credit the LTG in any publications, conference proceedings, or media appearances resulting from the funded project. |
At Ryerson, we believe in the importance of Open Educational Resources (OER) — teaching, learning, and research materials that are published under an open license to permit their sharing and reuse by others. We require you to publish your grant output under an open license. Learn more about open licenses, external link
Guides & Resources
Accessibility simply means providing all people the opportunity to participate fully, regardless of ability. Ryerson has guides and resources available to all students, staff and faculty with the intent of equipping the community to help make Ryerson a barrier-free environment. Please ensure all materials meet Ryerson's accessibility guidelines.
Captioning
Please ensure all videos have closed captioning, or any audio has a transcript. This is a mandatory requirement for any public facing content as stipulated by the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA).
Accurate captioning of at least 99% accuracy is the only way to ensure that people who are D/deaf or hard of hearing can understand audio content. Automatic captions should never be used as a substitute for captions. It is recommended to budget around $1.75 CAD per minute for professional third-party captions.
Learn how to caption videos or contact accessibility@ryerson.ca for a list of recommended vendors.
google docStep 1: Complete the application form, external link
Fill out all 6 sections of the application form, including the 7 questions in Section 3.
google sheetStep 2: Complete the budget justification form and timeline form, external link
Provide a detailed excel file using the budget and eligible expenses guidelines below
Step 4: Submit the complete forms to the application portal, external link
The completed forms should be saved as a PDF and attached to your application when prompted.
2022-2023:
- Costin Antonescu | Expanding Opportunities in Undergraduate Biomedical Science Research
- Andrew Laursen | Connecting First-Year Biology Students to Their Departmental Research Using Infographic Creation as An Active Learning Tool
- Krystal Nunes | Fostering resilient learners: developing evidence-informed classroom interventions to help students embrace and bounce back from failure
- Ehsan Rezazadeh Azar | Enriching the Project Management Curriculum with Experiential Learning
- Charlene Ryan | Challenging Ableism in Creative Arts and Music Curriculum
- Karline Wilson-Mitchell | Black Childbearing Course
- Kourosh Zareinia | Usability study of a Teleoperated Control Laboratory for Remote Experiential Learning
A reminder:
- The final report must link the awarded funds to achieved LTG goals
- Grant holders must present their outcome(s) at the Annual Faculty Conference in May.
- Grant recipients are required to credit the LTG in any publications, conference proceedings or media appearances that resulted from the funded project.
Additional reporting information for the 2021-2022 cohort is coming soon.
Contact
For technical assistance submitting an application, email teachingcentre@ryerson.ca
For budget and eligible expense questions, email Syeda Shah, Administrative Coordinator syeda.z.shah@ryerson.ca
For help with your research idea, email Sara Mazrouei, Educational Developer smazrouei@ryerson.ca