INTRODUCTION
Teaching innovation grants are designed to give full time instructors time over the summer to develop something new in a course to be taught in Fall 2025. If selected, the grantee will be awarded $3,000 to work on their innovation over the summer semester, and implement the innovation in their course taught in Fall 2025. Innovations that can be utilized by other instructors are especially welcomed.
For the 2025-2026 academic year, the focus will be on fostering belonging.
Decades of social science and learning science research support student belongingness as central to maximizing student achievement (for more information, please see these resources). In support of creating a caring community, in which all of us are students, helping one another grow, the focus of the 2025-2026 Teaching Innovation Grants will be on fostering belongingness.
We encourage you to reflect on what student belonging might look like in your classroom and consider the resources or intentional experiences you would need to develop to create an environment where all students feel a sense of belonging—whether to one another, within the discipline, or to the university as a whole.
The grantees will be expected to:
- Attend a symposium on the UT campus in April 2025 to discuss student belonging
- Work over the summer on researching and developing resources that promote student belonging in the classroom and attend 2 Learning Communities
- Provide an end of summer report and examples of the resources
- Teach using the resources in the Fall 2025
- Reflect on the resources, how well they worked and plans for improvement
- Share results in Spring 2026.
HOW TO APPLY
Any UT instructor, individually or in teams, may submit a proposal. Applications must be submitted for review by Monday, March 17, 2025.
Access 2025-2026 the application here.
2024-2025 Grantees
Brian Anderson
Chemistry
Developing Critical Thinking Skills in Chemistry Through Gameplay
Natalie Andreas
Moody College of Communication
Masterclass Conversations: Enhancing Communication Studies Content
Stephanie Key
Nursing
Virtual reality for Mental Health Mastery
Taylor Schoberle
Biology
Using Video Walk-Throughs to Enhance Student Success in genetics
Farzana Sedillo
Design
Fast Track Innovation: Design Sprint Project
Honoria Starbuck
Art, Entertainment and Technology (AET)
Documenting Creativity: Mapping Aesthetics in Arts and Entertainment
Eric Staron
Mathematics
High-Quality Canvas Resources for Calculus Instructors
Abigail Staysa
Government
Constitutional Convention Simulation
Gesel Mason
Theater and Dance
Developing Social Justice as Embodied Practice Emphasizing Body
Diane Papillion
Nutritional Sciences
Creating a Culturally Responsive Nutrition Intervention
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