Announcing the Educational IT Innovation Grant Awards for 2023
February 24, 2023
The Educational IT Committee, a part of the University of Rochester's IT Governance structure, promotes the use of technologies to support instructional innovation throughout the University of Rochester. By encouraging and supporting faculty and staff efforts in this area we hope to enhance learner experiences and outcomes. We also seek opportunities that lead to the broad applicability of educational IT innovations across multiple schools in order to maximize the potential impact.
To support these aims, our Innovation Grant program provides funding through a proposal process to support faculty and staff in adopting new technologies to their teaching. This program also includes mentorship, support, and connection to existing resources in the institution through the committee. We are excited to announce the grant awards for 2023.
Leveling Up Hy-Flex teaching and Learning – This project is a continuation of the 2022 grant award Personalizing the Hy-Flex Experience. We have continued to increase our hy-flex knowledge base at the University and there is further interest to continue exploring and supporting hy-flex teaching and learning. This project maintains the existing work and will expand in two ways: 1) enact a systematic dissemination strategy that supports increased engagement in hy-flex at the University and 2) expand technical support outside of the Warner School to two additional graduate schools and a fellowship.
Playposit – This project is a pilot of PlayPosit, which is a tool used to create activities within video content. The goal of the project is to leverage PlayPosit to enhance student learning activities. PlayPosit can be used synchronously or asynchronously and facilitates dynamic, engaging learning experiences by incorporating various activities (8 different question types or “build your own template”) into the assignment. PlayPosit provides an opportunity for a university license and is easy to use. Faculty could potentially create their own interactions within video content with minimal assistance.
Harmonize – This project is a pilot of Harmonize, which is a new discussion board platform that provides a modern, engaging experience. It offers the capability of incorporating text, images, and multimedia within posts seamlessly, including the ability to annotate images as part of the discussion. In addition to providing a discussion board that is more sophisticated, Harmonize offers capabilities that could possibly eliminate the need to support other platforms at the University. This pilot will allow faculty and staff to see how well it performs in those areas and the potential to reduce technology fatigue among both faculty and students.