Ever wonder what the technology access fees that students pay each semester are used for?
While most of the money goes toward sustaining computer labs and other computer services, $50,000 is used to provide grants each year to faculty who submit proposals.
John Wasileski, associate vice president of Information System Operations, and John Haddock, vice provost of Academic Affairs, get together each year and decide what direction the applications for grants should take.
This year the request for proposals states "...emphasis should be given to the development of on-line courses that use technology to support increased technology fluency in such a way that the student's comprehension of the subject matter is enhanced."
Preference will be given to courses which fit within the new Tennessee Board of Regent's on-line degree program, which will be offered this fall.
The deadline for the grant proposals, which have been offered since 1997, is Feb. 19, Wasileski said.
The grants are for $5,000 each, and 10 proposals are accepted each year.
In the past few years there have been more applications submitted then money to grant, Wasileski said, but he encourages more faculty to apply.
"There have been a number of faculty members that have done some very creative things," Wasileski said.
K.K. Fung, a business professor, received a grant last year for a free on-line journal for undergraduates economic students. Submissions, which are original honor thesis and senior seminar papers, are reviewed by an editoral board and, if accepted, are published on the website.
