Microgrants for Online Learning

Visit APS’s COVID-19 resource page.

With the migration of classes to online formats, many teachers of psychological science are facing new territory. To help APS Members make this transition, APS has undertaken a Teaching Fund initiative to support and facilitate the development or dissemination of best practices for teaching psychological science online through grants up to $1,000.

Researchers from within and outside of the United Stats may submit applications by July 3, 2020. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis and should broadly address the categories below:

• Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL): Grants in this category support high quality, potentially publishable scholarship directed at online instruction in and learning of psychological science content.
• Webinars and Virtual Meetings: Grants in this category support efforts that facilitate communication among teachers of psychological science who share common challenges related to online instruction and who would benefit from sharing ideas and resources.
• Technology and Websites: Grants in this category support projects leveraging technological resources to enhance the teaching and learning of psychological science content online, and to increase the reach and efficient dissemination of related resources.
• Support for Individual Classes: Grants in this category support teachers developing resources to conduct their classes online as a result of the Covid-19 Pandemic. Grantees will be asked to share the resources and compile lessons learned to share with the APS Membership.
• Antiracist Curricula: Grants in this category support projects that aim to eliminate racial bias in online psychological science curricula and incorporate principles of racial justice into the online teaching of  psychological science content.
• Other: The fund welcomes proposals for innovative projects to enhance the online teaching and learning of psychological science content.

To Apply

APS Members may upload proposals using the online submission system. Proposals should include the following information:

Project Title

Target Funding Category (e.g. SoTL, Meetings & Conferences, Technology & Websites, Support for Individual Classes, Other)

Project Director(s)

Institution or individual to whom the grant will be awarded. (A single grantee must be named as Principal.) A letter assuring institutional support if this is relevant to the proposed project is highly recommended.

Narrative description of project. Applications should describe concretely and succinctly (600 words or fewer) all of the following:

• The project goals and the ways these goals will be met
• The specific products and/or benefits the project will deliver
• The project’s methods, how those are sound, and how they address an issue relevant to the field (SoTL)
• How the project promotes and advances high-quality teaching in psychological science content via an online format
• What impact the project will have on its target audience
• How the project speaks to unmet needs in the teaching and learning community and possibly assists international or other under-served populations
• Other similar resources or projects and how the current proposal adds to or differs from them

Budget: Describe how grant funds will be used including an itemized budget and a clear explanation of why proposed expenditures are required. Instructor salaries, course buy-outs, or similar expenses (with the exception of graduate student time), computers, and overhead costs are not funded.

Timeframe: Describe the anticipated time course of the project.

Other Funding Sources: If seeking or anticipating funding from other sources, please identify these, including whether any other funding is committed now or will be by the time the project begins.

Sustainability: If appropriate, describe how this project will be sustained once it is launched. Will the project be able to continue without additional funding from the APS Teaching Fund?

Dissemination: Describe how the results of the project will be publicized.

Director Qualifications: Describe or attach curriculum vitae showing the qualifications of the project director(s) to conduct the project successfully.