[edtech] [Fwd: iCampus Request for Proposals - please forward]

[Jean Foster]

FYI:
-----Forwarded Message-----
From: Rebecca Bisbee <bianca at zurich.csail.mit.edu>
To: is&t at mit.edu
Subject: iCampus Request for Proposals - please forward
Date: Thu, 09 Sep 2004 08:49:05 -0400


September 9, 2004


To MIT faculty and other Principal Investigators:


Project iCampus, the MIT-Microsoft Alliance for research in
educational technology, is now soliciting research proposals for
2005-2006.

We envision funding a couple of projects that run for two years, each
with a budget of $200-400K per year.  Project work will be expected to
begin in January 2005.  Proposals should contain explicit milestones
for each year, and second-year funding will be contingent on a
successful project review.

Submissions are open to members of the MIT community only, and each
proposal must be submitted by a designated principal investigator who
is authorized to hold PI status on MIT research contracts.

Note on student proposals: The information here does not pertain to
iCampus student proposals.  We will be issuing a separate RFP for
student proposals later this fall.


Evaluation criteria

Proposals can address any area of educational technology as it relates
to university education.  For this funding cycle we are mostly
interested in work that can be expected to demonstrate an impact
beyond MIT.

Here are specific criteria we will be using in evaluating proposals:

1. Educational impact: The project must be designed to demonstrate
impact beyond just MIT by the end of two years, and the proposal
must address how this impact would be achieved. The project plan
must include one-year milestones that demonstrate the potential for
this impact.

2. Educational and technological innovation: The project should
demonstrate genuine innovation in pedagogy.  iCampus encourages
projects that are based on technology innovation, but technology
innovation alone does not qualify for iCampus funding.

3. Implementation plan: The project must have a plan with convincingly
paced milestones and concrete deliverables, and the key personnel
should have track records as educators and technical innovators.

4. Synergy with ongoing iCampus activities: New projects need not be
related to current iCampus initiatives (see <http://icampus.mit.edu>),
but applicants should be aware of current projects, and proposals
should discuss potential opportunities for synergy with these
initiatives when appropriate.


Open development and easy dissemination

iCampus strongly encourages projects whose results can be broadly
disseminated without restriction, in the tradition of open academic
research. In evaluating proposals for funding, we will be mindful of
potential obstacles to development or dissemination that might arise
from confidentiality requirements or from copyrights or patents.

For example, projects that require using restrictive patents (even MIT
patents) will be problematic, and project developers should try to
avoid such situations.  Similarly, projects that propose to modify
closed or proprietary source code are discouraged, since this may
impede the goal of widespread dissemination of research results, and
may also encumber students and other researchers.  We strongly
encourage software projects to disseminate their results freely and
openly, under a model like the one used for MIT's Kerberos software.


Submitting proposals

Proposals should be submitted as letters sent as email to
icampus at mit.edu.  Proposals are due by October 4, 2004.

Your letter should describe the impact and promise of the proposed
work, and it should specifically address the criteria 1-4 above, item
by item.  We are not asking for formal budgets at this stage, although
you should give an indication of the level of resources required for
the project (number of people, special resources or equipment, and so
on).  We will contact you for further details if your proposal is a
strong candidate for funding.

Please contact me, or anyone else at iCampus (see
<http://icampus.mit.edu/tools/contact.shtml>) if you would like to
discuss proposal ideas in advance of submitting a letter.


For the iCampus steering committee,




Hal Abelson
hal at mit.edu
617-253-5856

ec: iCampus Joint Steering Committee

MIT iCampus  * The MIT-Microsoft Alliance http://icampus.mit.edu
Stata 32-394  *  Cambridge,  MA  02139 * phone  617.253.0765   *


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Jean Foster <jfoster at mit.edu>