Deadline Extended for CODEX 2021 Summer Institute Proposals Through March 31

Posted on January 29, 2021

Ohio Five invites proposals from teams of faculty, educational technologists, librarians, and students for its Collaborative for Digital Engagement and Experience (CODEX) Summer Institute.

Planned for Monday, July 12, 2021 through Friday, July 16, 2021, the institute is supported by a generous grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation with the goal of assessing the impact of open digital pedagogy on student learning outcomes. The deadline for proposals has been extended to March 31, 2021.

The CODEX Summer Institute is a one-week institute offering space and time for faculty and their collaborators to think together about how to design or redesign courses and co-curricular projects that foster students’ critical engagement with and through technology.

During the week, teams will consider their learning goals, develop assessments, explore and prototype technologies appropriate for their projects, all while engaging in discussion with teams from other colleges and participating in workshops designed specifically for the summer’s cohort.

Due to the uncertainty wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic, Ohio Five is moving forward with a virtual format for this summer’s institute. As the situation continues to change, project directors hope to be able to introduce face-to-face components if we are able to do so safely and with the support of the members of the cohort.

The expected outcome of the institute for each team is an open and shareable curricular package that includes the following elements:

  • Clear written learning objectives and an articulation of the ways in which the digital component supports them Description of assignment(s)
  • A rubric for assessment of students’ work in the course or project
  • A prototype or roadmap for developing the digital component
  • Clearly defined roles for each member of the team and post-institute follow-up actions for each member
  • A plan for taking the course or project forward into the academic year following the summer institute

To facilitate this development process, the Institute will offer a balance of focused time for teams to work together, cohort-wide discussions, and opt-in workshops focused on course design, assessment, pedagogical digital platforms, and other special topics in response to the specifics of the selected cohort’s proposals.

Teams selected for Institute participation will receive stipends of $1,000 for each team member and a microgrant of up to $1,000 for the team’s project to support continued development following the institute.

Successful proposals should address the question, “Why digital?”
What is it about the digital component of the course or project that allows for critical engagement with the subject in ways that might be different or otherwise impossible with non-digital approaches?

Last summer’s CODEX Summer Institute offers several examples of successful proposals and projects in development. We share these examples with permission from the leads of each project.

Designing/redesigning a new or existing course:

Designing a pedagogically-centered co-curricular digital project:

PROPOSAL GUIDELINES: From the Institute Directors 

The institute is intended to promote collaboration across and between divisions, disciplines, or even institutions. Therefore, proposals are expected to come from teams, but the composition of each team may vary. One example of team composition might include a teaching faculty member, librarian, and an educational technologist. Other models might include multiple faculty members, faculty members and external colleagues, educational technologists, and librarians, and some teams may include students as collaborators.

We strongly encourage applicants to consider students as collaborators, as the experience offers students a variety of opportunities to develop collaboration and leadership skills, contribute technical expertise, and in some cases transition to peer mentors for students who ultimately participate in the course or project when launched. While interdisciplinary proposals are encouraged, interdisciplinarity is not a requirement of the proposals.

We also encourage interested applicants to consult their colleagues in educational technology, the libraries, and/or faculty administration for help in developing proposals.

Proposals should be 2-3 pages in length and submitted in PDF form to codex-proposals@ohio5.org by February 28, 2021. Please follow the outline below when developing your proposal and include the section titles in your proposal:

Project Title 

Provide a descriptive title for the proposed course or project your team intends to work on at the institute, along with the name, department, and institution of the primary contact for the team.

Description & Goals 

Provide a brief description of your course or project? In your description, be sure to discuss:

a) how the proposed digital component supports your pedagogical goals. The most important element here is to articulate the relevance of the digital component. Again, what is it about the digital nature of the course or project that facilitates student engagement in ways that are different than, enhance the learning of, or could not be accomplished with non-digital approaches? What will this work add to the student experience?

b) how the open nature of the project will impact students’ work in the course or project and how the open nature of the teaching resources you develop (e.g. syllabus, assignments, assessments, rubrics) themselves might impact colleagues across institutions?

Team Members 

Provide a description of the team that will be working together during and after the institute to help design and ultimately implement the course or project. For each team member, please include a name, position title, and expected contribution to the project, including specific duties, during and after the institute.

Timeline 

Describe the anticipated timeline for the course or project. For example, when do you anticipate teaching the course, or for co-curricular projects, what is the timeline for development and initial release? What are the project’s milestones, content deliverables, and deadlines?

Experience with the Digital Technology or Method Proposed 

Please describe any prior experience you or your team members have with the method or technology your team is considering for the digital component of the course or project.

Ethical Considerations 

Are there any ethical implications for the course or project,
particularly for open and public projects? For example, does the project involve copyrighted materials, privacy concerns, human subject research, etc.? If so, how does the team plan to address those?

Sustainability 

Describe your plan for sustaining both the labor of maintaining the course/project over time, as well as any digital artifacts produced through the process. Will subsequent courses build on the project’s initial work? What additional staff and support might you need at your college/university after the institute to sustain the course/project long-term? Where will the work be housed and who will maintain it?

Accessibility 

What steps will your team take to ensure the materials from the project will be accessible to those with disabilities? If the research is to be housed for a public website, who will continue to ensure it meets standards for disability access?

Why CODEX?

Describe why you feel it is important for the team to work on this project alongside other teams at the CODEX institute as opposed to more traditional and local modes of collaboration on your home campus. What do you hope to achieve at the institute?

REVIEW PROCESS 
Proposals will be reviewed immediately following the closing date.
The institute is limited to 10 teams so there will be an evaluation period during which a committee of representatives composed of teaching faculty, educational technologists, and librarians will review the proposals. Teams will be notified by April 21, 2021.

GENERAL QUESTIONS 
For general questions about the Ohio Five Collaborative for Digital Engagement and Experience (CODEX) Summer Institute, please feel free to contact the institute’s co-directors Ben Daigle at bldaigle@owu.edu or Heather Fitz Gibbon at hfitzgibbon@wooster.edu.

CODEX Summer Institute Co-Chairs:

Ben Daigle, Director of Consortial Library Systems for the Five Colleges of Ohio 
Heather Fitz Gibbon, Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at the College of Wooster