Ideas-to-Action Program for AY 2024-2025

The Ideas-to-Action program led by the Center for Teaching Excellence is designed to help academic units develop actionable plans for curricular improvements that promote student growth, discovery, and success. Department teams will use novel sources of data – such as student success and learning analytic data drawn from institutional sources and student narratives drawn from focus groups – to explore challenges and opportunities in their programs and develop a responsive vision for course and curricular revisions. Our goal is to empower faculty to pose their own questions about students’ experiences, answer those questions with evidence, and then use these answers to guide improvements in student learning, engagement, and success. 

2024-2025 Program Summary 

Ideas to Action is a team endeavor. Departments will identify a team of faculty to develop questions about their students or their curriculum, explore evidence and opportunities related to their questions, and develop plans based on the results. This year, we are particularly interested in helping teams explore how they can “close the loop” of (a) posing an inquiry about student learning and success, (b) gathering evidence, (c) making sense of the evidence, (d) developing and implementing plans informed by this new knowledge, and then (e) identifying a fresh set of questions. The program will support exploration, ideation, and planning around this theme by providing access to data, tools, guidance, funding, and community. Department teams will have opportunities to explore questions with existing available evidence (e.g., patterns of student retention and progression, data on where in the curriculum students are getting stalled or leaving the program, student responses on the National Survey of Student Engagement). We will also be keen to help teams gather additional evidence and information to support further inquiry and problem-solving, especially student-reported data (e.g., student focus groups, surveys, or exit interviews). 

What Will You Do in Ideas-to-Action? 

Department teams will: 

1. Have two or more team members participate in three program meetings, scheduled for Friday, October 4; Friday, February 7; and Friday, March 28 all from 10:00 AM until 12:00 PM at CTE in 135 Budig Hall (we’ll provide refreshments). 
2. Meet on their own in between program meetings, to develop questions, discuss results, and envision next steps. 
3. Share their completed work with their department and the broader KU community. 

What Will Ideas-to-Action Do for You? 

To support your work, CTE will provide: 

1. Consultation, guidance, and support in defining high-impact inquiries; gathering and interpreting evidence (e.g., learning within courses, student learning analytics, evidence from the teaching and learning literature); and developing a vision for next steps.

2. Access to tools, dashboards and reports, and collaboration with data analysts in CTE and AIRE, that enable use of student learning analytics (e.g., patterns of student flow through the curriculum, grade distributions or retention data disaggregated for student subgroups), as well as surveys or focus groups with students to address inquiries. 

3. Opportunities to connect with an intellectual community of colleagues from other departments who are working toward similar goals and solving similar problems. 

4. A fund of $1500 for the team (available funds may be higher depending on the number of applicants). The fund can be used for professional expenses/small stipends for team leaders and team members, to support student assistance on the project, or for food or supplies for department meetings/retreats). 

Eligibility and Expectations 

Any KU-Lawrence or Edwards academic department is eligible to apply. Department teams should be composed of at least three faculty members who will play an active role in the activities, with demonstrated support of the department chair. “Faculty” includes multi-term lecturers, teaching specialists, and professors of teaching who have an ongoing role in their departments (teams may include other individuals as well). Department teams are expected to have at least two people attend program meetings (Friday, October 4; Friday, February 7; and Friday, March 28 all from 10:00 AM until 12:00), and share their work (questions, results, and proposed next steps) in at least one department meeting and in a poster at CTE’s annual Celebration of Teaching held in early May. 

Application Deadline

Please submit a brief application (1-2 pgs.) by 5 p.m. Monday, Sept 16 at this Submission Form. 

Applications should address the following: 

1. Faculty team and leader. Who will lead the team, and what other faculty members will participate? Why is this the right team for this work? How will you go about sharing your work with other department colleagues? 

2. Goals. What are your goals for participating? What sorts of questions are you interested in exploring and why? What types of actions might your team/department consider taking in response to the evidence you explore during Ideas-to-Action? 

3. Other Efforts. How would the project connect with prior or current department efforts to support effective teaching and learning? 

4. Availability. Will at least two team members be able to attend the three working group meetings? Note that all members are welcome to attend. 

5. Only if your dept has previously participated in I2A. What action steps did your department take in response to your results from the last iteration of Ideas to Action? How might participating a second time build upon those earlier efforts? 

Selection 

Ideas-to-Action projects should promote cooperative, integrated participation among faculty members. Preference will be given to departments that will have broad engagement by faculty and seek to explore questions with meaningful implications for the teaching and learning culture in the unit. We will notify departments of decisions by Sept 20. Funds will be available in early November. 

Questions? Contact Omar Jamil Safir or Judy Eddy.