2024 EdTech Innovations Mini-Grant Program

EdTech is excited to announce a request for proposals for our 2024 EdTech Innovations Mini-Grant Program for Stanford Medicine faculty, students, and staff.

• We are offering up to 6 grants of up to 10-20K each, depending on the grants awarded.
• Preference will be given to proposals specifically impacting several of EdTech’s strategic objectives and values, including but not limited to the below:
  • Undergraduate medical education (UME) at Stanford
  • Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility in healthcare and education
  • Exploratory and innovative uses of media in the classroom, including mixed reality (XR, VR, AR), podcasts, 3D printing, and 360 video
  • Augmenting our teaching and learning with AI-driven methods
• Funding can be used for hardware, software licenses, equipment, and vendor/consultation/development fees
• We will accept proposals until midnight on Monday, October 21, 2024. 
• Funds must be spend by July 31, 2025 and final reports are due December 31, 2025
   

The Educational Technology (EdTech) team applies technology solutions that facilitate a positive learning experience for students, and empowers faculty to integrate high-quality, efficient, and effective teaching. Our vision is to transform  Stanford  Medicine  by  acting  as  a catalyst  for  the  adoption  of  emerging,  evidence-based educational  technology. We  strive  to  be  leaders  in  the  academic community by sharing our best practices.

For this 2024 mini-grant program, EdTech will support your Stanford Medicine project by:

• Providing an initial consultation with your project team

• Signing-off on your detailed project plan

• Approving all project expenses

• Staff assistance on project implementation

• Meeting with your project team quarterly to review progress

• Providing ways to showcase your completed project (website, newsletter, twitter, etc.)

EdTech seeks proposals from Stanford Medicine faculty, staff, and students that promote innovation in the classroom using educational technology. We are looking for projects that explore or enhance learning in medical education with effective and appropriate uses of technology.  Proposals will be evaluated against these criteria:

• Potential for impact: How will this project impact Stanford Medicine learners?  How can this effort be used as a model to inform teaching and learning at other schools of medicine? Is there potential for global impact?

• Innovation: How is this effort novel and interesting? How does it advance pedagogy in ways not previously explored?

• Assessment/Evaluation: What can Stanford Medicine learn from this effort? How will you gather and analyze data to continually improve this effort and substantiate whether goals or desired learning outcomes are being met?

• Sustainability: What funding structures are in place to support this project beyond the timeline of the grant? EdTech and its Stanford Medicine partners may consider longitudinal funding models for compelling multi-year projects. 

• Alignment with department and school priorities: How does this project serve the mission of your department and Stanford Medicine?

• Call published: September 9, 2024

• Proposals due: October 21, 2024

• Finalist interviews: Week of October 21, 2024

• Decisions announced: Week of November 4, 2024

• Mini Grant kickoff meetings: Week of December 2, 2024

• Funding spent: by July 31, 2025

• Final reports due: by December 31, 2025

Your proposal submission should include:

• Abstract: A 100–150 word abstract suitable for websites and news articles

• Goals: A description of the learning problem and how your proposed solution addresses the problem.  Please address the Funding Criteria above, describing the potential for impact at Stanford Medicine and beyond.

• Timeline: A clear timeline for the project, including milestones and intermediary objectives. Plan to spend out all grant funds by July 31, 2025. Please detail how faculty teaching/research/clinical responsibilities will accommodate the time required to successfully complete the project within the stated timeline.

• Implementation plan: A plan to implement the project and sustain its innovations after the EdTech mini grant

• Evaluation plan: A description of the criteria that will indicate the success of your project and how you will judge this success

• Personnel: A list of faculty, staff, and students undertaking the project.  Please provide a one-sentence description of each person's qualifications as relevant to the project.

• Budget: Provide a brief description and itemization of costs associated with achieving the project goals.  See section below for further details.

• Letter of faculty support (for student and staff submissions): This statement should address the importance of this project and an assessment of the options for long-term support for the project after the term of the mini grant

The budget may include line items for staff, instructional materials, equipment and other services needed to complete the project. Budgets can include the following expenses:

• To recognize faculty efforts, a request can be made for discretionary funds of up to $2,500

• Research Assistants to find, curate, and create relevant materials for a variety of learning experiences and to assist with project evaluation

• Teaching Assistants or Course Assistants to help with your implementation. (Please note that if the TAs/CAs are essential to the ongoing success of a course or innovation, the grant should address how TAs/CAs will be supported at the conclusion of the funding.)

• Support for relevant staff to focus on the project for a set period of time

• Funds for edtech apps, software and equipment

• Incentives for participants, within the terms of these guidelines

Additional budget guidelines:

• All expenses are to be paid up front by the sponsoring department, and then reimbursed by EdTech

• Equipment purchases may not total over $5,000 for any individual item

• Please account for sales tax for any equipment or license purchase

• Any student salaries need to be paid through the sponsoring department

Here are some examples of the type of projects we might be looking for.  This short list is by no means all inclusive.  We are excited to see your creativity in whatever area drives your edtech passion!

• Developing new educational tools using AI or machine learning

• Piloting new classroom technologies in SoM learning spaces

• Evaluating and updating course materials to ensure that they are fully accessible to screen readers and other accessible technologies

• Developing learning materials that improve inclusivity, belonging or safety

• Exploring new technologies for making in-person and hyflex learning experiences and resources more interactive

• Curating existing online materials as an alternative to textbooks, to reduce course costs for students

• Evaluating more interactive, effective, and authentic assessments types , beyond multiple choice (in person or digital)

• Evaluating the value of virtual reality in medical education

• 2018 EdTech Minigrant Awardees
• 2020 EdTech Minigrant Awardees