Seed Grants for
New Distance Learning Initiatives

The Graduate School Distance Learning Office can provide Seed Grants to programs or groups of faculty who are interested in starting new, larger-scale initiatives in graduate-level distance-learning programming. The maximum award is $1,500. Programs may apply at any time in the year prior to March 31,of that calendar year.

The fundamental purpose of these grants is to assist programs or groups of faculty with the expenses incurred in investigating, designing, and implementing new initiatives in the distance-learning delivery of a complete or nearly complete graduate certificate or degree program. Support for the expenses involved in a faculty member’s conversion of an isolated course or two over to distance-learning technology is not provided in this program. This is done in a different Graduate School funding program, “Faculty Grants for
Distance Learning Course Preparation."

Some examples of the acceptable purposes for which Seed Grant funds may be used are:

• Conducting a needs-assessment survey to estimate the true demand for the initiative
• Operational expenses – appropriate postage, telephone, printing, and duplicating costs
• Advertising and marketing expenses
• Necessary travel to a site or sites that are targeted for delivery of the program
• A stipend for a graduate assistant to help in the project
• Salary release for a faculty member to develop or implement the project

Interested programs or groups of faculty are asked to submit a short proposal (4 pages maximum, plus any appended letters of support) that includes the following:

1. A description of the new distance-learning initiative
2. Some rationale for the importance of or demand for the program
3. An estimated budget for the entire project indicating the purposes for which the Seed Grant funds will be used (Note: The full budget described could be substantially greater than the $1,500 funding limit if support from several sources is being sought)
4. An account (account number and object code) into which to transfer the funds (and a position number if it is to be used for salary and/or benefits)
5. A letter of support from one or more appropriate Directors of Graduate Studies

Further information on these requirements and on other graduate distance learning activities can be found on the Web at <www.research.uky.edu/gs/extcampuspgms.html>.

Questions?

Direct questions to grad.webmaster@email.uky.edu
Last updated September 27, 2005