Grants and External Funding
I am always searching out partners in my research. I want Southern Connecticut State University to be a central hub in the research on digital teaching and learning.
While I have applied for over 400 hundred thousand dollars in grants I have only secured just over $20,000 in funding. This needs to change. I was commended by both office of Sponsored Projects and Research and the Interim Provost Marianne Kennedy for my efforts in seeking grant funding. Yet I do not like to lose.
Teacher Quality Partnership Grant
Every year since starting at SCSU I have applied for a teacher quality partnership grant sponsored by the State of Connecticut. Every year I am denied. The first year we applied for a grant to bring in a Common Core anchor institute. The next year I applied for a grant to study disciplinary literacies and the Common Core. Last year, in conjunction with Dean Hegedus and Christine Broadbridge we applied for a grant on mathematical modeling. Denied.
Health Literacy Grants
My other big push was in conjunction with Dr. Ian O’Byrne. We applied for NIH grants connected to the Affordable Health Care Act. As part of the bill, known as Obaamcare, there was money for electronic health records.
Our theory was people, especially bilingual families where children translate for doctors, would need training in reading their electronic health records. We applied for two seperate lines. Denied.
The NExT Institute
My first grant application was a National Science Foundation grant to create professional development around argumentative writing in science (a research track I still pursue). Reviewers liked the application but felt we did not have enough experience in grant management. Denied.
Talking Through Texts
I was able, in conjunction with Dr. Dickinson, to secure to CSU research grants. We were examining how to support reading comprehension through text based discussion. My role was to create digital tools students could use. I made videos on how to storyboard and how to use puppets to retell stories.
Dr. Dickinson and I also developed a useful framework for coding students discourse. We presented our paper at the Literacy Research Association conference.
