Teaching for the Future: AI Course Integration Grants

The Center for Teaching Excellence invites proposals for grants to support student-centered integration of generative artificial intelligence into courses for the Fall 2025 and Spring 2026 semesters. Building on last year’s program, we are increasing the funding levels and adding an AI literacy component for both faculty and students.

A focus on AI literacy

We are focusing this year’s grants on AI literacy. By AI literacy, we mean helping students understand how AI works, how to use it effectively, why it needs to be used carefully and skeptically, and how it is changing work and society.  Awardees must include an AI literacy plan in their proposals, outlining how students will learn about responsible, ethical, and privacy-conscious AI use. CTE has created a series of AI literacy modules in Canvas, and we encourage instructors to use or adapt those modules for their courses. Awardees will also participate in a learning community to help them develop their ideas and course materials. 

What we are looking for

We seek concrete proposals to integrate generative AI into teaching and learning in meaningful ways, provide examples that other instructors can adapt, and use approaches that can sustained over time. We are especially interested in these types of approaches:

  1. Learning reenvisioned. Empower students to learn with AI while developing core skills and critical thinking. Help students explore the strengths and weaknesses of generative AI while also learning to use it productively.
  2. Authentic assignments. Help students apply their learning beyond the classroom. Improve opportunities for students to learn through hands-on work rather than lecture.
  3. Partnering with students. Use AI to increase student ownership in course or assignment design, such as co-creating rubrics, class AI policies, or project plans, while maintaining academic integrity. Build trust among students and faculty so that everyone can focus on learning rather than detection.
  4. Conceptual clarity. Use AI to create assignments or examples that help students grasp historically difficult or abstract concepts or that make difficult concepts more relatable and engaging.
  5. Feedback and iteration. Use generative AI tools to provide formative feedback on student drafts or problem-solving processes to help students iterate and improve while stressing the importance of humanity in learning even when using technology.
  6. Addressing barriers to learning. Use generative AI tools to remove barriers and support students with diverse learning needs.
  7. Data exploration and simulation. Use AI to help students analyze datasets, explore simulations, or generate hypothetical scenarios for deeper learning.

Funding Tiers

To better support a variety of projects, applicants may select from two funding tiers:

• Seed Grants ($750): For exploratory projects or smaller pilots integrating AI.

• Innovation Grants ($1,500 – $2,000): For larger-scale projects, multi-instructor collaborations, or cross-disciplinary efforts.

Technology

We encourage instructors to use Copilot because the university’s contract with Microsoft provides an additional layer of privacy and security protection. Faculty may use funds to pay for software or other tools for students and themselves, but the proposal should explain how that process can be sustained when additional funding is no longer available. For example, we will consider proposals for experimentation with a particular tool as proof of concept that could be used to justify later department or school purchase. Plans for use of outside tools should also keep privacy policies and student access in mind.

KU budget rules make use of some outside tools difficult. All technology requests must be approved by IT security and the KU budget office, a process that can take several weeks. Keep that in mind as you create your proposal, as we expect all projects to be implemented by Spring 2026.

Eligibility and expectations

Faculty (including teaching professors, teaching specialists, and lecturers with ongoing teaching roles in their department) from any department or program at the KU Lawrence or Edwards campuses are eligible. Individual or team applications are welcome.

  • Grant awardees are expected to participate in a CTE-led faculty learning community to discuss progress and challenges. It will meet twice in Fall and once in Spring.Please mark these dates on your calendar:
    • Fall Meeting 1 will be Oct 3: 11-12 or Oct 10: 2-3 (choose one)
    • Fall Meeting 2 will be Nov 7: 11-12 or Nov 14: 2-3 (choose one).
    • Spring meeting time is TBD
  • Grant awardees are expected to present the results of their work, including a summary of student learning and other outcomes, in a poster at CTE’s annual Celebration of Teaching on the afternoon of May 8, 2026. A CTE Graduate Student Fellow will assist you in developing your poster for this event.
  • Projects that emerge from the grants may also be featured, with credit to the awardee, as examples in CTE materials related to generative AI. 

Deadline

Proposals should be submitted by 5 p.m. Monday, Sept. 23, 2025. We anticipate notifying applicants of funding decisions by Monday, Sept. 30, and funds will be available to successful applicants shortly thereafter.

Proposal guidelines

Submissions should be limited to 2 pages. Submit your application using this submission portal (you will be able to upload a document). Your proposal should include:

Course information. A brief description of the course(s) you are working on and when the transformed course(s) will be taught.
Project proposal. A clear statement of the proposed work on your course, addressing the following questions:

  • How do you plan to integrate generative AI into your course and what tools will you use? Why do you plan to use this approach?
  • How will you know if your project is effective?
  • If your project involves more than one person, what are your roles in the project?
  • How will you integrate AI literacy, including helping students understand the privacy risks of the AI tools they use?
  • Project category. Select one of the seven areas listed above.
  • How you plan to use the awarded funds.

Selection Criteria

The highest priority will be given to proposals that:

  • Provide clear goals and rationale.
  • Include a plan for assessing the impact of changes on student learning and AI literacy.
  • Support sustainable course revisions that have the potential to last beyond the funding period or have other long-lasting outcomes.
  • Show promise for use in other classes and disciplines.

Questions? Contact Doug Ward, CTE Associate Director, or Omar Safir, CTE Data and Assessment Coordinator.

Apply by Sept. 23