Grants Program for Regional and Affinity Outreach Promoting the Learning Sciences 2020

Many researchers in the Learning Sciences come from around the world to present their research at the annual conferences hosted by the International Society of the Learning Sciences (ISLS) and participate in critical discussions around the state-of-the-art of the field. However, as a society, we recognize that our Learning Sciences community is wider than those who attend annual meetings. This program grows out of many requests that the society has received to support regional or affinity group activities.

The ISLS Regional and Affinity Outreach Grants Program seeks to support the growth of regional communities of learning scientists and communities of scholars who are engaging in research that is germane and synergistic to the Learning Sciences but are currently underrepresented in ISLS. Through this grants program, we seek to provide opportunities for community building, knowledge sharing and consolidation, collaboration and cross-pollination. We seek to increase mutual awareness between ISLS and other communities with synergistic interests and expertise.

This is a call for proposals to receive support for regional and affinity outreach activities that will take place in 2020. It is our hope that the accepted projects will lead to sustainable collaborations and research in future years. Preference will be given to new proposals. Proposal due on December 30th, 2019.

Guidelines for applicants for funds to support ISLS 2020 regional and affinity outreach projects are as follows:

1. Proposal: Clearly but briefly state your plans in NO MORE THAN two single-spaced pages.
2. Provide the following information in your proposals (Bullet points): (1) A statement arguing for addressing the vision of this program, as stated above, by your regional or affinity outreach activity. This should clarify the activity’s potential to include underrepresented groups with specific emphasis on regional and affinity inclusion, while addressing the ISLS scientific interests; (2) An accounting of the recent activities of the proposers within the Learning Sciences community; (3) A description of the planned regional or affinity outreach activities that will be conducted with the funding; (4) The plans and milestones for completing the planning and running of the activity once funding has been granted; (5) A plan of assessing success and impact. The applicants should submit any supporting evidence in favour of the strength of their proposal within their application materials. This might include activity programs or proceedings they have run or participated in within the recent years.
3. Amounts requested may be up to US$5,000. Include a short justification for the use of the funds. Indicate any additional matching funds and include letters of commitment from collaborating partners.
4. A list of program organizers and their affiliation should be provided in the proposal together with the recent academic publications of each member. There should be at least three current registered members and active participants of the ISLS conference in the past 6 years ISLS in the list, but also a few non-members. If fewer than 3, the proposal must address why this criterion cannot be met, e.g. financial reasons, travel possibilities to main conferences, etc. All parties in the list must be part of the proposal preparation group before submission.
5. By the end of June, 2020, the funded groups are required to submit a report (in two single-spaced pages) of the outcomes of regional or affinity events to the Grant Program Committee .
6. Send your application by email attachment (subject heading ‘ISLS Regional & Affinity Outreach 2020’) to Dimitra Tsovaltzi ([email protected]) and Jun Oshima ([email protected]) no later than December 30th, 2019.

Applications will be ranked by the Grant Program Committee working group according to the following criteria:

1. To what extent does the proposed activity address to this outreach program and the ISLS community;
2. Clarity and quality of the proposed activity;
3. Expected impact in terms of reaching a critical or broad audience;
4. Evidence of feasibility, in the form of matching funds (monetary or in kind);
5. Evidence of feasibility, in the form of verifying participation in the preparation of the proposal;
6. Evidence of ISLS membership;
7. Indication as to how the project might lead to new or ongoing successful outreach collaborations.

We expect to fund up to three applications, with announcement of awards to take place by January 31st, 2020. In 2019 the newly initiated Grants Program for Regional and Affinity Outreach & Engagement Promoting the Learning Sciences funded three programs. Information about them can be found here.

We are looking forward to your applications!

Sincerely,
Dimitra Tsovaltzi and Jun Oshima, Grant Program Committee, on behalf of the ISLS Membership Committee