Funding of the ALe

With the funding line ‘Free Space for Teaching’, the Academy for Teaching Development supports teachers committed to the further development of teaching. Teachers at our University can thus be provided with additional resources for implementing specific projects in the area of academic teaching.

Further development of academic teaching may relate to:

• the development of new teaching and learning concepts, or new teaching contents;
• the conceptualization or profound re-organization of study programmes (taking into account the structural requirements for study programmes);
• the further development of the curriculum.

In this funding line, a maximum of €50,000 per year are made available. Funding is granted for up to two semesters, usually beginning in the winter following the submission of the proposal. Applications for projects with a smaller funding volume and/or a shorter duration are possible and explicitly encouraged.

The funds granted may be used for the following expenses:

• counter-financing temporary teaching load reductions / leaves of absence from teaching;
• costs for student assistants and graduate assistants;
• costs for documentation and publication of the project-specific results and findings.

All full-time members of the teaching staff at the University are eligible to apply. The projects may be carried out by individuals or by teams likewise.

When selecting projects to be funded, the decisive factor is the expected contribution to the advancement of the academic teaching. Therefore, the selection criteria are:

• added value for teaching in the respective subject, e.g. by developing reusable teaching formats and contents, or sustainable teaching materials;
• broad impact of the measure, e.g. enrichment of teaching in other subjects (encouraged by an exchange of experiences);
• potential for a sustainable integration of new teaching and learning concepts.

Would you like to apply for funding for your teaching project?

Please submit your complete application documents according to the call for applications via the Dean's Office/the Dean for Studtent Affairs! Further information on the application procedure can be found here.

The Academy for Teaching Development promotes teachers who are committed to the high quality of academic teaching at our University. That is why the funding line ‘Innovation in Teaching’ is made available to all full-time employees of the University who are involved in teaching. Projects to be funded are those which aim at:

• carrying out out an innovative teaching concept for the first time;
• expanding successfully implemented department-specific teaching concepts to other departments;
• integrating successfully tested innovative teaching concepts into the curriculum in the long term.

In the present funding line, projects may be funded with up to €15,000.
The funds granted may be used for the following expenses:

• temporary increase of working hours for a teaching associate (based on the collective agreement TV-L) to carry out the teaching project;
• fixed-term employment of graduate assistants and student assistants or tutors to support the teaching project;
• project-based material resources if they are indispensable for the implementation of the specific teaching project and are stated in the proposal accordingly;
• Conceptually based teaching assignments
• costs for the documentation and publication of project-specific results, in particular regarding the influence of the innovative teaching project and the experiences gained in the project.

The criteria, which are given special consideration when assessing the proposals, are based on the objectives of the funding line:

• Innovation: The project to be funded should be innovative. This may refer to the further development of established teaching forms and to the testing of new teaching concepts. It also implies putting a new content-related emphasis on the teaching.
• Sustainability: Firstly, the project may be of experimental nature. Provided the experiment is successful, the sustainability of the teaching innovation should, however, be guaranteed. Sustainability may be achieved, for instance, by providing a stable financial concept for the continuation of the project, through changes within the study programme, or through the development of re-usable teaching formats or teaching materials that can be used in the long term.
• Transferability: After the project phase / test phase, it should be possible to transfer the project to a larger or different group of participants, or to other departments. Furthermore, the project should advance teaching within the department or beyond.

Would you like to apply for funding for your teaching project?

Please submit your complete application documents according to the call for applications via the Dean's Office/the Dean for Studtent Affairs! Further information on the application procedure can be found here.

The Academy for Teaching Development supports the efforts of faculties, institutes, and departments to strengthen and further develop discipline-specific university teaching. The "Teaching Development in  Dialogue" funding line therefore specifically focuses on fostering discipline-specific exchange regarding teaching and learning within the faculty. Funding is available for conferences, strategy retreats, or other forms of dialogue at the faculty, institute, or department level that, for example:

• Initiate the further development of faculty-specific curricula,
• Addressing the exchange on the principles of good teaching,
• Test new exchange formats between teachers and students.

Two formats are available:

1. "Teaching Development in Dialogue – Self-Organized": The events are organized and conducted by the applicants themselves.
2. "Teaching Development in Dialogue – Tailored Support": The ALe team plans a customized teaching exchange workshop in collaboration with the applicants.

In this funding line, individual projects may be funded with up to €2,500 each. Among many other measures, the funds granted may be used, for instance, for the following event-related measures:

• expenses for student and graduate assistants;
• costs for speakers, moderators;
• costs for event materials;
• expenses for documenting and publishing project-specific results and findings.

Would you like to apply for funding for your teaching project?

Please submit your complete application documents according to the call for applications via the Dean's Office/the Dean for Student Affairs! Further information on the application procedure can be found here.

The Academy for Teaching Development supports students in strengthening and further developing subject-specific academic teaching. The funding line ‘Student Initiatives’ provides special funding for student projects that encourage the subject-specific or interdisciplinary exchange related to teaching or that focus on the promotion of academic teaching and learning.

In this funding line, individual projects may be funded with up to €2,500 each.
The funds granted may be used for the following expenses:

• personnel costs for student assistants or tutors;
• fees for speakers, moderators;
• costs for event materials;
• expenses for documenting and publishing project-related results and findings.

All enrolled students are eligible to apply for funding for a student initiative.

When assessing the proposals, the following criteria are taken into account in particular:

• The project or event is planned and carried out by students of the University of Jena.
• The project deals with a current problem related to subject-specific learning.
• The project encourages the improvement of teaching and/or learning methods.

Would you like to apply for funding for your project?

Please submit your complete application documents according to the call for applications via the Dean's Office/the Dean for Studtent Affairs! Further information on the application procedure can be found here.

In cooperation with the Ernst-Abbe-Stiftung, the Academy for Teaching Development supports the commitment of students in the area of teaching and learning at Friedrich Schiller University Jena. Individual projects organized by students, which serve the purpose of subject-related or interdisciplinary exchange on topics regarding teaching and learning, or which focus on the promotion of academic learning and teaching, are to receive special funding.

In this funding line, individual projects may be funded with up to €2,500 each.
The funds granted may be used for the following expenses:

• expenses for student assistants or tutors;
• fees for speakers, moderators;
• costs related to events;
• expenses for documenting and publishing project-related results and findings.

All enrolled students are eligible to apply for funding for a student initiative.

When assessing the proposals, the following criteria are taken into account in particular:

• The project or event is planned and carried out by students of the University of Jena.
• The project supports students’ learning also beyond study content in the narrow sense.
• The project is an existing student initiative that fulfils some of the criteria mentioned above.

Would you like to apply for funding for your project?

Please submit your complete application documents according to the call for applications via the Dean's Office/the Dean for Studtent Affairs! Further information on the application procedure can be found here.