Grants for Curriculum Innovation
The use of grants to fund curriculum development in education has for many years served as an impetus for the development of many institutions of education as well as the development of many fields of study. This is mainly because there is no burden of payment of the funds by those benefiting from the grants. Grants help to bring good ideas into fruition and in the context of this paper; good curricula are being developed all around the world due to finding accessed through grants.
One such grant is the federally (PCIP) funded grants given to the University of Saskatchewan for the development of curricula. This grant avails two hundred and fifty thousand dollars every year and is targeted at the innovation and development of curricula as well as the improvement of existing curricula at the university. The fund will be issued for four consecutive years (201202016) and will be under strict supervisions and administration by the Gwenna Moss Centre for Teaching Effectiveness (GMCTE).This particular grant requires that the funds be used for the innovation of new courses where the themes, and content of those particular courses will be expected to be relevant to the market and to bridge existing needs in education.
The developed curricula will be expected to deal with all aspects of the courses they are developed for, including courses specializations and teaching requirements. New technologies, experiential learning innovative use of teaching and learning technologies will be expected to be incorporated in the curriculum so as to generally increase improve learner experience. The funding will cater for all bills expected to be incurred in the innovation and development of the new curricula, such as consultation, design and purchase of resources required, whether human or otherwise. Other costs associated with curriculum development would include transport costs for various consultants and stakeholders, research costs and other costs associated with preparation of data for the new courses.
Such a grant would be useful to my organization by the fact that it provides the much needed financial resource top start curriculum development. It will facilitate consultations with the best professionals in different fields towards curriculum development and provide for the hiring of excellent faculty towards the same end. The grant would lead to the development of many new courses and programs as a result of new developed curricula and would even lead to the development of new professions due to the new curricula. The development of the new curricula will impact the content and technique of learning which is ultimately aimed to improve learner experience. A large grant such as this would make it is possible to invest in quality resources, both human and other physical and educational resources required in the curriculum development and launch. The grant would also help to market the new curriculum to existing student sand faculty and potential students as well as faculty.
Communication of the new curricula would be done through print and mass media advertising, educational journals, professional journals in curriculum-related professional fields, institution catalogues and magazines as well as through talks and seminars.
However, there are some disadvantages of accepting grants to fund curriculum development include the fact that funds, even if in excess may not be directed towards other educational or institutional endeavors. They must remain focused on the reason why the grant was granted. Grant funds also require very meticulous administration procedures and the application process for the grant is also rigorous and time consuming and many times expensive in it.
References
University of Saskatchewan (2012).Curriculum Innovation Grants.
Retrieved from, http://www.usask.ca/gmcte/awards/curriculumfund.
