For Wharton Faculty - Wharton Learning Lab - The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
Wharton Professor Eric Orts using Learning Lab Tragedy of the Tuna

For Wharton Faculty

Proposed projects can make use of technology, but the committee takes a broad view of innovations to learning and teaching that can include innovations that do not rely on technology. Because we are interested in fostering experimentation, we are not placing bounds on the types of activities that might prove worthwhile.

The Learning Lab website provides information on the many different pedagogical devices that have been developed to date, some of which have been demonstrated at faculty meetings. These projects have already been used successfully in the classroom. Future projects might be entirely new creations or extensions of existing applications and might or might not rely on a technology platform. Faculty interested in gaining a further understanding of the nature of the products developed to date should contact Alec Lamon. If you have questions regarding the proposal process, please contact Andrew Abel or Bob Holthausen.

The application and support process for projects has three phases: submission of a short letter of interest, selection of projects, and a review/renewal/extension phase.

  1. Submission of letter of interest:
  2. Individuals or groups of faculty who are interested in participating in a project should write a brief letter of interest (max two pages) that should contain a description of the project and address the following questions to the extent possible:

    • What is the goal of the proposed project?
    • How will the project enhance learning, either in the classroom or as preparation for students outside the classroom?
    • What faculty and/or students will be involved in the development of the project?
    • Briefly indicate the course for which this would be developed, the enrollment in the course, approximately how often the application would be used in the course, (e.g., once per term for an entire class; or 20 minutes per lecture for 12 lectures per term) and whether the application has potential uses in other settings (e.g., other courses, Exec Ed, etc.).

    For projects relying on technology, after the Learning Lab receives a letter of interest, the Learning Lab Staff will meet with the faculty who submitted the letter to refine the terms of the proposed project, including the following:

    • A more detailed specification of the project.
    • How much time and other resources are to be provided for the project?
    • What constitutes a finished product from the Learning Lab Staff

  3. Selection of projects:
  4. Based on the co-developed grant proposals, the committee will make a final selection of projects to be supported.

  5. Review/Renewal/Extension:
  6. After the initial period of development and support, the committee will evaluate each project. Some of the projects may prove to have been valuable experiments that require no further development or support beyond the initial grant. Other projects may warrant continuing support (renewals) or may warrant additional development (extensions) to fully achieve the desired outcome.

*Please submit all proposals to Jennifer O'Keefe, Dean's Office, 1000 SH-DH, or via e-mail to Andy Abel and Bob Holthausen.

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