• Cost sharing and a 1:1 match on equipment is no longer required. 
• A Letter of Intent to submit a proposal is not required for either track . 
• Assessment of Student Achievement (ASA) has been added as a fourth track in the CCLI program.        
• The anticipated funding amount has been reduced from $24 million in FY03 to approximately $18 million in FY04.        
• The deadline dates have been updated. 
• Sections titled Research Basis of Efforts and Tagging Products for Dissemination and Retrieval have been added under the Full Development section of the Program Description.        
• An increased emphasis is placed on making use of the research that is the basis for all efforts proposed and on encouraging projects to contribute to the research base, by highlighting this perspective in the Synopsis and adding a section to the Program Description. The importance of a sound research base is further emphasized by placing this section at the start of the Program Description.   
• The phrase "including indirect costs" has been added to the Award Information section for clarification purposes.        
• The phrase "including projects carried out by collaborating institutions" has been added to the Award Information section for clarification purposes.

Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement (CCLI)
Educational Materials Development (EMD) and National Dissemination (ND) Tracks

The Course, Curriculum and Laboratory Improvement (CCLI) program seeks to improve the quality of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education for all students, based on research concerning the needs and opportunities that exist and effective ways to address them. It targets activities affecting learning environments, course content, curricula, and educational practices, with the aim of contributing to the relevant research base. The program has four tracks:

1. Educational Materials Development (CCLI-EMD) 

Projects are expected to produce innovative materials that incorporate effective educational practices to improve student learning of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Projects to develop textbooks, software, or laboratory materials for commercial distribution are appropriate. Two types of EMD projects will be supported: a) those that intend to demonstrate the scientific and educational feasibility of an idea, a "proof-of-concept" or prototype, and b) those based on prior experience with a prototype that intend to fully develop and test the product or practice, a "Full Development" project.  Such materials are expected to be disseminated nationally for adoption and adaptation. 

2. National Dissemination (CCLI-ND) 

Projects are expected to provide faculty with professional development opportunities to enable them to introduce new content into undergraduate courses and laboratories, and to explore effective educational practices to improve the effectiveness of their teaching. Projects should be designed to offer workshops, short courses, or similar activities on a national scale in single or multiple disciplines.

3. Adaptation and Implementation (CCLI-A&I) 

Projects are expected to result in improved education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics at academic institutions through adaptation and implementation of exemplary materials, laboratory experiences, and/or educational practices that have been developed and tested at other institutions. Proposals may request funds in any budget category supported by NSF, or may request funds to purchase only instrumentation. This track will be described in detail in a separate solicitation to be released in the summer of 2003. A November or December 2003 proposal deadline is anticipated.

4. Assessment of Student Achievement in Undergraduate Education (ASA) 

This track supports the development and dissemination of assessment practices, materials (tools), and measures to guide efforts that improve the effectiveness of courses, curricula, programs of study, and academic institutions in promoting student learning in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology. ASA also promotes the full integration of assessment with these educational efforts. It supports projects in three areas:

1. New Development: developing new assessment materials (tools) and practices for use in single or multiple undergraduate disciplines.   
2. Adaptation: adapting assessment materials and practices that have proven effective for one setting or audience for use in a new setting or with a different audience.   
3. Dissemination: efforts to spread the use of effective assessment practices through workshops or Web-based materials that are thoroughly documented with detailed instructions.

This track will be described in detail in a separate solicitation to be released in the summer of 2003. A September 2003 proposal deadline is anticipated.

Undergraduate education is central to the National Science Foundation's mission in human resource development. Whether preparing students to participate as citizens in a technological society, to enter the workforce with two- or four-year degrees, to continue their formal education in graduate school, or to further their education in response to new career goals or workplace expectations, undergraduate education provides the critical link between the Nation's secondary schools and a society increasingly dependent upon science and technology. 

The CCLI program has four tracks that emphasize, respectively, the development of new educational materials and practices for a national audience, the adaptation and implementation into an institution of previously developed exemplary materials and practices, the national dissemination of exemplary materials and/or practices, and the assessment of student achievement. Projects may address the needs of a single discipline or cut across disciplinary boundaries. Abstracts of previously funded projects can be found at http://www.ehr.nsf.gov/pirs_prs_web/search/. This program announcement describes the Educational Materials Development and the National Dissemination Tracks. Proposers must identify on the Cover Sheet and on the Project Data Form (Form 1295) the track in which they wish their project to be reviewed. Separate announcements describing the characteristics of the Adaptation and Implementation Track and the Assessment of Student Achievement Track will be available at a later date.

RATIONALE FOR CCLI PROGRAM

The challenge that CCLI seeks to meet is multi-faceted. Knowledge is advancing about effective instructional practices and how students learn. (See, for example, J.D. Bransford, A.L. Brown, and R.R. Cocking, editors, How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School--Expanded Edition [NAS Press, 2000].) Educational technology has made large gains that have not been fully explored. Research knowledge is advancing at a rapid pace and modern technology has made it possible for researchers and students to gain access to data and information reflecting those advances. As a consequence, there is an ever present opportunity and need to develop new undergraduate modules, courses, curricula, and instructional methods, supported by modern technology, and to evaluate the impact of these innovations on student learning and achievement. CCLI invites proposals to the Educational Materials Development (EMD) track to support this needed innovation. These proposals may range from proof-of-concept explorations to full scale development efforts. In all cases, they are expected to be innovative, promising, and supported by beta testing in other institutions and careful evaluation, and contribute to the research base that others can use and build on.

EMD innovation and the evaluation of its early impact occurs within the context of a single project, and is therefore only a starting point. The other three tracks of CCLI are designed to encourage further research on innovative materials and practices, and to support effective dissemination of new courses, curricula, and instructional methods, whether developed under the EMD track or through other means. The Assessment of Student Achievement track (ASA) invites projects to develop tools to measure learning achievement. This track supports assessment at a variety of levels, starting with classroom assessment in individual STEM disciplines. One of its goals is to provide STEM faculty with classroom assessment tools that they can use to evaluate existing and new materials, instructional practices and technology. A number of existing ASA projects have been inspired by evaluation issues from earlier CCLI-EMD projects by the same principal investigator.

Through the Adaptation and Implementation (A&I) track, CCLI supports and encourages faculty, departments, and institutions to use innovative materials and practices of demonstrated effectiveness in their own courses and curricula. This track has been designed to increase the pace of innovation diffusion and address the "not invented here" syndrome that is often mentioned as a retardant to the diffusion of innovation. Successful A&I proposals must provide research evidence that innovative materials and practices have been effective on other campuses and provide realistic implementation plans. Successful proposals on this track must also include a strong evaluation plan. Through this requirement, we seek to build the base of our research knowledge about effective practices and materials, and lead into the next cycle of innovation. The A&I track is prepared to support educational improvement efforts at the departmental and even the institutional level. It is our vehicle for supporting major efforts at reform.

The National Dissemination (ND) track provides STEM faculty with professional development opportunities, and is both a complement and stimulant to the A&I track. ND projects are required to be offered at the national level, open to all faculty in the disciplines covered, and focused on offering knowledge about new courses, laboratory practices, and instructional methods that have been used and evaluated to the point where they can be considered proven. The logic of ND is to provide faculty with enough information about new effective materials and practices so that they can make informed decisions about their own courses and teaching activities, and become part of a national network of faculty working to institute modern teaching methods in their departments. These networks offer support beyond the technical support that many of the ND projects provide their participants. One hallmark of a successful ND project is that a high percentage of its graduates implement effective new methods, or apply for A&I grants to support this implementation. Another is shown in the evaluation of ND projects that demonstrate that faculty implement these materials in their classes.

CCLI's components and leadership efforts reflect the recommendations made in the National Research Council Reports From Analysis to Action: Undergraduate Education in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology (NRC, National Academy Press, 1996), http://www.nap.edu/catalog/9128.html and Transforming Undergraduate Education in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology (NRC, National Academy Press, 1999), http://www.nap.edu/catalog/6453.html. These reports reflect the informed opinions of faculty from science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines; presidents and other academic administrators; employers in business and industry; students; and parents. More recently, the National Panel Report of the Association of American Colleges and Universities reiterated the need for positive change in Greater Expectations, A New Vision for Learning as a Nation Goes to College (AAC&U, 2002). This report concluded that "change is urgently needed. ... the college experience is a revolving door for millions of students, while the college years are poorly spent by many others. Broad, meaningful reform in higher education is long overdue." (page vii).

These reports underscore the importance of quality science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education for all undergraduate students, including:

• STEM majors                               
• Students preparing for the technological workplace                               
• All students, as citizens in a society increasingly dependent upon science and technology                               
• Prospective pre-Kindergarten through grade 12 (preK-12) teachers

Although prospective teachers are not the primary focus of the CCLI program, they may, nevertheless, be included as target populations in CCLI proposals. The Teacher Professional Continuum (TPC) program more specifically addresses issues related to teacher education, including the development of professional education materials.

Faculty members who creatively combine teaching with research are essential to the improvement of undergraduate STEM education. This NSF program seeks to stimulate and motivate faculty members so that creative teaching and pedagogical scholarship become a part of the "faculty culture" at all institutions.

In Project Kaleidoscope's Report on Reports 2002 Recommendations for Action in Support of Undergraduate Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, http://www.pkal.org/template2.cfm?c_id=387, a consistent vision was noted over 17 years of reports. "The vision is of an environment in which all American undergraduates have access to learning experience that motivate them to persist in their studies and consider careers in their fields; it is of an environment that brings undergraduates to an understanding of the role of science and technology in their world. It is a vision that calls for attention to practices and policies that affect shaping the curriculum and building the human and physical infrastructure to sustain programs. It is a vision that calls for collective action." The CCLI program was designed in response to this and other national reports.

In Shaping the Future, New Expectations for Undergraduate Education in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology (NSF 96-139, 1996), https://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/getpub?nsf96139, the Advisory Committee to the NSF Directorate for Education and Human Resources recommended that "NSF should put emphasis on implementation of what is known to work, on genuine institutional change, on propagation of validated good practices, and on sustainability of hard-won improvements" (Pg 69). They also recognized that implementing valuable reforms would be impeded by rising costs and growing financial constraints: "Public finances for higher education have become constrained for a variety of reasons (e.g. reduced growth in state tax revenues; competing demands from other areas, particularly K-12 education, the penal system, and delivery of health services), and there has been growing resistance to increases in tuition charges that exceed the rise in the Consumer Price Index." (Pg 29).

The CCLI program is well-positioned to support improvements in STEM education in this environment because it is designed to facilitate change within the existing organizational structure of colleges, universities, and current financial constraints. It provides opportunities for faculty professional development directly through its National Dissemination track and indirectly through its other tracks. CCLI encourages departments and faculty to make local improvements in STEM curricula and instructional methods through its Adaptation and Implementation track. It provides opportunities for faculty to build on promising innovative practices at the national level in its Educational Materials Development track and at the institutional level in its Adaptation and Implementation track. CCLI also supports the use of evaluation and assessment tools to measure the impact of various educational practices in all its tracks, and supports the development and dissemination of assessment tools in its Assessment of Student Achievement track. Projects supported under all CCLI tracks must meet a requirement for documented evidence of effectiveness of the underlying educational materials and practices.

The opportunity for faculty and their institutions to have a major impact on undergraduate education is greater than ever. Increased national recognition of the importance of STEM education, coupled with rapid growth in new teaching and learning technologies, innovations in preK-12 education, increased understanding of how students learn, and successful interdisciplinary approaches, creates new opportunities for improving undergraduate education. These developments provide the foundation for systemic reform, i.e., the totality of effort required of institutions to achieve excellence in STEM undergraduate education for all students.

RESEARCH BASIS OF EFFORTS

The EMD and ND tracks of the CCLI program aim to support the development and dissemination of educational materials that are based on research documenting their effectiveness and impact on enhancing student learning. Thus, the most competitive proposals will be those that either refer to an existing research base or provide credible plans to a) research the needs and opportunities that exist, b) assess the impact on student learning, and c) study how best to prepare faculty to use the materials effectively. Proposals may include, for example, research on how best to test the impact of new educational materials on student learning and achievement; the impact on learning of an educational technology, research experiences, and pedagogical innovations; how students choose courses and majors, or how best to disseminate knowledge about measuring student learning. For additional support for research projects relevant to the goals of CCLI see the NSF program Research on Learning and Education (ROLE). Projects that aim to focus on the development of new assessment tools, or the adaptation of existing assessment tools to a new environment, should consider submitting a proposal to the ASA track of CCLI. One source of information about DUE-funded projects is the Project Information Resource System (PIRS), https://www.ehr.nsf.gov/pirs_prs_web/search/.

TRACK 1: EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT (CCLI-EMD)

The objective of the CCLI-EMD track is to support the development of educational materials that incorporate practices that are effective in improving learning of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics by undergraduates with diverse backgrounds and career aspirations. Projects are expected to address national needs and/or opportunities in undergraduate STEM education and to produce innovative materials of a quality and significance appropriate for national distribution, adoption, adaptation, and implementation. Projects to develop new materials may be particularly appropriate for incorporating technology, global perspectives, research, and innovative pedagogy to enhance learning of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. 

Because it is the aim of the EMD program track to foster the development of materials that have the potential of being used by and impacting the largest number and diversity of students enrolled at different types of institutions, it is recommended that the individuals involved in materials development demonstrate a knowledge of the needs and background of such students, and involve faculty as appropriate from diverse institutions. 

The CCLI-EMD track invites two types of proposals that aim to achieve these goals:

• those that intend to establish a "proof of concept" or a prototype that would be responsive to a national need, and
• those that intend to fully develop a product or practice for national dissemination. 

Proof of Concept
A "proof-of-concept" project is expected to demonstrate the scientific and the educational feasibility of an idea. 

The outcomes expected of a CCLI-EMD Proof-of-Concept project shall include all of the following:

• A prototype that addresses a nationally recognized need and is based upon sound, effective pedagogy;

• A pilot test that provides a credible evaluation of the prototype;

• A report of the results of the evaluation; and

• Dissemination to the professional community about the prototype.

The Project Description portion of the proposal should describe the plans to achieve these outcomes.

If development of the prototype proves successful, the project would be expected to move to full-scale development of the materials. In this case, the final report for the proof-of-concept project should include an outline of a plan for the following:

• Developing the prototype into the full project, including beta testing and evaluation of the product at diverse types of institutions and with diverse student populations, and
• Commercial or other self-sustained distribution of a fully developed product or practice.  

If the team developing a prototype involves a collaboration between two-year colleges and four-year colleges/universities see the paragraph below about collaborations for potential budget implications.

Full Development
A full development project is expected to produce and evaluate significant new educational materials and pedagogical practices, and to promote their dissemination and effective implementation nationally. 

The outcomes expected of the funded projects include all of the following:

• The full development of innovative materials that incorporate effective teaching and learning strategies, and that are based upon prior experience with a prototype;

• A credible evaluation of the effectiveness of the materials or practices at different types of institutions serving students with diverse backgrounds and career goals;

• Faculty at test sites and other potential users who are prepared to use the materials or practice;

• Dissemination of information about the developed materials; and

• Self-sustaining national distribution (for example, distribution through a commercial publisher or discipline-based professional society).

The Project Description portion of the proposal should describe the plans to achieve these outcomes.

Tagging Products for Dissemination and Retrieval
Project products and materials should be described using standard metadata elements and tags, to ensure the resources can be indexed and cataloged within the appropriate collections of the National Science Digital Library (NSDL); see www.nsdl.org. This is particularly important for materials that are originally in digital form and web-based. However, for other materials intended for analog distribution (e.g. print or CD), it is also important that web pages that provide information about these resources are suitably tagged with descriptive metadata. For further information about metadata standards please see the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative at http://dublincore.org and the NSDL Metadata Primer at http://metamanagement.comm.nsdlib.org/outline.html.

Budget Considerations
Full development proposals may include a request for funds to conduct workshops or other forms of faculty development to enhance the impact of materials and products developed by the project. Alternatively, when a project is at a stage where materials are ready for use and their effectiveness has been demonstrated, the project PI may submit a request for a supplement to the grant to fund such activities. The request for the supplement must be justified on the basis of the quality of materials developed and the potential value of the proposed activities. PIs interested in supplemental funds should contact the NSF Program Director assigned to the project.

Collaborations between Two-Year Colleges and Four-Year Colleges/Universities:  In addition to individual submissions by colleges and universities, in FY04 the Educational Materials Development track also encourages proposals from two-year colleges in collaboration with four-year colleges/universities. The goal is to encourage faculty members from different institutions to jointly design, develop, and test innovative educational materials for the lower-division undergraduate courses, particularly those for which students seek transfer credit. It is hoped that meeting this goal will foster sustainable relationships by leveraging the strengths of all involved institutions. These proposals may be submitted by either a two- or four-year institution but must involve both two- and four-year faculty in the design, development, and testing of materials. If appropriate, activities leading to seamless articulation between two- and four-year institutions may be included. To encourage jointly developed proposals in the "proof-of-concept" category, an additional $25,000 may be requested for a maximum of $100,000. NSF also encourages submission of Full Development proposals developed jointly by two- and four year institutions that build on either "proof-of-concept" collaborative activities or other prior work.

TRACK 2: NATIONAL DISSEMINATION (CCLI-ND)

This track supports the national dissemination of exemplary materials and practices by providing current and future faculty with professional development activities. (Eligible activities are not restricted to the dissemination of results from NSF-funded projects). Projects are invited from organizations that propose to provide faculty professional development opportunities on a national scale. Such organizations should be able to provide efficient administrative support to manage the logistics of these activities at multiple sites. Although it is expected that the primary mechanisms will be workshops, short courses, and distance learning opportunities, other means of dissemination are also encouraged.

These professional development opportunities are expected to enable faculty to introduce new content into undergraduate courses and laboratories, and to explore effective educational practices, thereby improving the effectiveness of their teaching. The new content may be scientific and technical knowledge, laboratory practices, or reformatted and synthesized content that supports new modes of learning. It is expected that the format will provide interaction with experts at a level deep enough to promote and achieve significant gains by participating faculty. 

Successful proposals must aim to provide faculty professional development in a variety of disciplines or broadly within one of the following disciplines: behavioral sciences, biological sciences, chemistry, computer and information sciences, engineering, earth sciences, mathematical sciences, physics and astronomy, or social sciences. 

Scientific societies may submit proposals to the national dissemination track. Proposals from scientific societies should clearly identify the value that would be added to the current set of activities sponsored by their organization(s) in support of faculty professional development. Scientific societies in the same discipline are urged to work together rather than separately in developing proposals.

The outcomes expected of funded CCLI-ND projects include all of the following:

• Sets of materials for use by attending faculty that are appropriate for their needs.

• Participation by faculty representative of the national demographic and institutional diversity within the included disciplines. [This may require proactive recruitment.]

• Follow-up activities to sustain faculty who participated in the professional development activities. 

• A network of faculty actively using the disseminated best practices in their courses and classrooms. 

• Evaluation protocols to assess the effectiveness of professional development activities and to improve their effectiveness. [Mature projects are expected to assess the success of efforts by participating faculty to deploy these exemplary materials and practices in their teaching.] 

The following outcomes, although not required, would represent outstanding achievement:

• A cadre of faculty who participated in professional development activities who have subsequently become actively involved in further efforts to disseminate information about these practices to others. 

• Success in attracting other sponsors or co-sponsors to sustain further professional development and dissemination activities.

Eligible Fields and Disciplines
Proposals may be submitted for support of projects in any field of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics ordinarily supported by NSF. Projects involving fundamental scientific, mathematical, or engineering concepts within technical, professional, or pre-professional programs are appropriate. Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary proposals are especially encouraged.

Specifically excluded are projects that address clinical fields such as medicine, nursing, clinical psychology, and physical education, and those that primarily involve social work, home economics, the arts, and the humanities.

Eligible Institutions and Individuals
Proposals are invited from organizations in the United States and its territories: two-year colleges, four-year colleges, universities, professional societies, consortia of institutions, and nonprofit and for-profit organizations. Proposals from a formal consortium should be submitted by the consortium; proposals from an informal consortium or coalition may be submitted by one of the member institutions. Projects may involve a single organization, a collaboration with business and industrial partners, or a collaboration among several organizations. For example, projects may include collaborative efforts that improve the transition of students between collaborating educational institutions, such as transfer between two- and four-year institutions.

An individual may serve as lead Principal Investigator (PI) on either one EMD or ND proposal, one ASA proposal, and one A&I proposal submitted in the same fiscal year. There is no restriction on the number of proposals for which a person may serve as a Co-PI.

The number and size of awards will depend on the quality of the proposals received and the availability of funds. Grant duration for both EMD and ND awards is typically 2-3 years, but support may be requested for up to five years. The expected range of total NSF/DUE support over the lifetime of a project for CCLI projects, including indirect costs, is as follows:

• Educational Materials Development 
  • Proof-of-Concept: up to $75,000 per project. An additional $25,000 may be requested for projects that involve the collaboration of faculty from two- and four-year institutions, for a total of $100,000. 
  • Full Development: up to $500,000 per project. This includes projects carried out by collaborating institutions.
• National Dissemination: up to $1,000,000 per year.

The following programs might also be of interest.

• EHR/DUE - Advanced Technological Education (ATE)   
• EHR/DUE - Computer Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Scholarships (CSEMS)   
• EHR/DUE - Federal Cyber Service: Scholarship for Service (SFS)   
• EHR/DUE - National Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education Digital Library (NSDL)   
• EHR/DUE - NSF Director's Award for Distinguished Teaching Scholars (DTS)   
• EHR/DUE - Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Talent Expansion Program (STEP)   
• EHR/ESIE and EHR/DUE - Teacher Professional Continuum (TPC)   
• EHR/DGE - NSF Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12 Education (GK-12)   
• EHR/HRD - Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP)   
• EHR/HRD - The Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation Program (LSAMP)   
• EHR/HRD - Program for Gender Equity in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology (GSDE)   
• EHR/HRD - Program for Persons with Disabilities (PPD)       
• EHR/HRD - Tribal Colleges and Universities Program (TCUP)   
• EHR/REC - Research on Learning and Education (ROLE)                 
• CISE/EIA - Minority Institutions Infrastructure Program                         
• ENG/EEC - Engineering Education Coalitions                     
• GEO - Geoscience Education                       
• MPS/DMS - Vertical Integration of Research and Education in Mathematical Sciences (VIGRE)   
• NSF-wide - Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU)