About the Program
The Faculty Innovation in Teaching (FIT) program is part of a larger distributed learning initiative supported by the President and the Provost. The program is designed to allow faculty to develop innovative instructional technology projects that have the potential to improve the educational process.The program provides faculty with the technical staff and other resources necessary to plan and implement their projects, thus allowing faculty to focus on their pedagogical objectives.
The Selection Process
The program currently allows twenty projects to be awarded during each proposal cycle. Sixteen projects will be awarded by the Deans within the colleges, based on criteria established by selection committees within those colleges. Four projects will be awarded by the Faculty Advisory Board on Information Technologies (FABIT) for multi-college, collaborative projects and/or for projects that fall outside of the traditional departmental/college curriculum.
Project Support
The Provost has funded a number of staff within CIT’s Academic Technologies & Media Services division whose explicit focus is to support these innovation projects. Project support comes primarily in the form of the development services required to turn faculty ideas into reality. These services are coordinated by CIT’s Academic Technologies & Media Services staff in collaboration with campus partners, such as the Library and the Center for Learning and Teaching. Funds have also been made available for the purchase of hardware, software, and other technical services and assistance that might be required. Support is also available for faculty release time.
Cornell Community of Practice
It is a goal of the Faculty Innovation in Teaching program to support the cycle of innovation beyond implementation of individual projects. Faculty will be encouraged to participate in program activities that promote scholarly discussion of the relationship between pedagogy and technology, and to share information with the larger Cornell teaching community. Scheduled Special Interest Groups and other avenues of communication are intended to support faculty in identifying best practices and technology solutions that merit further exploration. These and other forums will be available for faculty to share their experiences, explore evaluation findings and make recommendations regarding the future direction of instructional technology at Cornell.
More Information
Email us at innovprojects@cornell.edu with questions about the program.