IDEAS Award

All current Tufts School of Medicine faculty, including those based at Tufts Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and affiliated hospitals, are eligible. Junior faculty and faculty seeking promotion are strongly encouraged to apply.

Proposal Due January 17, 2024

Awards will be announced in March 2024 for the funding period to begin July 1, 2024.

Guidelines and submission details for the LOI and full proposal follow in the sections below.

Grants of up to $10,000 per proposal will be awarded for a 12 to 18-month period. Funds will be dispersed semi-annually, beginning July 1 with each installment contingent upon appropriate progress according to the proposal's timeline. Awardees are expected to submit quarterly reports outlining the progress of their project. The final installment will be dispersed upon submission and acceptance of the final project report.

Full Proposal – Due January 17, 2024

Your project narrative should follow the format outlined below (including page limits) to ensure that all the review criteria of the Selection Committee are addressed. Your entire proposal with all supporting documents should not exceed 15 pages.

A complete proposal includes the following:

• Proposal summary (250 words)
• Proposal narrative including budget justification (3-5 pages maximum)
• Budget
• Letter of support from Department Chair(s) or other supervisor (1 page each)
• Curriculum Vitae of Principal Investigator
• Timeline
• Other supporting material — limit of 2 additional attachments (5 page maximum)
• Full proposal must not exceed 15 pages, including attachments
• Please adhere to the content and formatting guidelines that follow

Project Summary (250 words or less)

Summarize your proposed project, including the need for the teaching innovation, key participants and audience(s), the project design and methods, anticipated outcomes and evaluation methods, and final product or “deliverable.”

Project Narrative (3-5 pages including budget narrative)

• Goals and Statement of Need - Outline the educational goals and specific objectives of your project, the educational needs that are being addressed for your audience(s), and how it enhances and supports the educational mission and strategic plan of Tufts School of Medicine and/or the Tufts Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.
• Educational Design and Methods - Describe the innovation in content, instructional methods, and/or evaluation that is being designed, and the educational methods that will address the goals and needs identified in the Grant Overview. Innovations that integrate or cross disciplines, departments, curriculum years, etc., are strongly encouraged. Describe plans for the development and implementation of a final educational product. This tangible product (e.g. on-line module on the Tufts University Sciences Knowledgebase, standardized patient case, new evaluation tool, etc.) is due at the conclusion of the grant period.
• Evaluation - Address each project goal and objective with a clear evaluation method/tool to assess whether it has been met. Describe your plan to assess the effectiveness and impact of the innovation design and methods on the target audience(s).

Address each project component in terms of: a) the resources available/necessary to achieve the component’s short- and long-term outcomes; b) the specific activity and/or planned implementation necessary to achieve the component’s outcome; c) the expected, quantifiable output of the component’s activity and/or implementation; d) the short-term outcome(s) of the component with specific instruments and evaluation tools listed; and e) the component’s long-term outcome with specific instruments and evaluation tools listed. Additionally, you should include a project-specific timeline with your evaluation plan outline.

Use the following example to guide your evaluation outline in order to achieve the Innovations in Diversity Education Award’s submission objectives.

Short-Term Outcome

• What immediate outcomes do you expect? A seminar example may include the expectation that participants’ post-test scores will be significantly greater than participants’ pre-test scores on a seminar-specific, knowledge-based exam.
• What instrument(s) do you plan to employ to measure achievement of your short-term outcome(s)

Long-Term Outcome

• What long-term outcomes do you expect? Again, a seminar example may expect that, on a 12-month follow-up survey, seminar participants will report increased or sustained levels of understanding or implementation of a seminar-based skill and/or concept, etc.
• What instrument(s) do you plan to employ to measure achievement of your long-term outcome(s)

Examples of Instrument Methods

• Attitudes, Perceptions, and Skills are most typically measured by a pre-/post-intervention strategies. Measures may be obtained via objective instruments, focus groups guided by rubric-based instruments, and performance-based or behavioral checklists.
• Knowledge is most often measured via a pre-/post-intervention instrument (e.g. and objective test) or a retro-pre test based on the assumption that entry-level knowledge may serve as a pre-measure.
• Long-Term Outcomes often require a longitudinal instrument aimed at garnering attitudes, perceptions, knowledge, and skills over time.
• Attempt to draw conclusions about program, intervention, or project effectiveness via control group comparisons. In short, what outcome would you expect from an individual who did not participate in your program, intervention, or project? How do participants differ from non-participants and what methods to you have in place to garner such comparisons?

Impact
Note the constituents who will directly and indirectly benefit from this project and how it will address their needs, as well as the larger Tufts School of Medicine educational agenda and mission.

Timeline and Feasibility
Outline how the project can be implemented and evaluated within the 12 to 18-month period. Detail the process and milestones using the Timeline Form. Describe plans for sustainability of this innovation, e.g. the potential for this project to be developed into a viable proposal for outside funding or other support.

Budget and Budget Justification
Include a budget for all proposed expenses using the Budget Form. The budget justification should be included in the above project narrative text and justify each budget line item. Include the name(s) and role of key personnel (e.g. faculty, project/administrative manager, etc.), and identify the budget officer from your department. The budget narrative should also disclose any other ongoing, pending or recently completed (within the past 3 years) funding related to this project proposal including total award amount, your role, and percent of time on the project.

Budget items typically include:

• Staff (administrative support, student interns, local consultants)
• Materials and printing
• Computer or other technical equipment

With rare exceptions the following will not be funded:

• Travel (including to meetings to present results of the grant)
• Use of outside (non-Tufts School of Medicine) consultants

Letter of Support
Your department chair(s) or supervisor should provide a letter of support for your project affirming your leadership, the need for and impact of this project, his/her support of your time and effort, the feasibility of the project, and sustainability after the grant period.

Interim and Final Reports
Grant recipients must agree to submit:

• Interim quarterly progress reports to verify progress on the proposed timeline.
• A final report and educational product within 30 days of the completion of the funding cycle.*

*Note: Grant funds will be dispersed quarterly following receipt of an acceptable progress report. The final balance of the grant funds will be released within four weeks of receipt of the final report and product as approved by the Selection Committee.

Special Requirements

For proposals that may involve research subjects, proposals must comply with all requirements of the Tufts Institutional Review Board.

Formatting

To ensure uniform submissions and fair evaluation of all proposals, please adhere to the text formatting below when composing your Letter of Intent and proposal documents:

• Black ink; 12-point font (Arial or Times New Roman)
• Single-spaced with double-spacing between sections and paragraphs
• One-inch margins
• Label in bold all section headings specified in the Proposal Outline (Goals and Statement of Need, Educational Design and Methods, etc.)
• Name all attachments as follows: "Principal Investigator's Last Name, Type of Document”. For example, "Jones Budget", "Jones CV", "Jones Letter of Intent". If there are multiple supporting documents, please number accordingly (e.g. Jones Attachment 1, Jones Attachment 2)

Submission
Please combine all parts of the proposal into a single document and send it as an email attachment to ideas_grant@tufts.edu.

Proposals will be reviewed by a Selection Committee consisting of faculty and administrators from Tufts School of Medicine, including the Tufts Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and representatives from the affiliated hospitals. Proposals will be assessed by the Selection Committee based on the criteria below:

• Clarity of goals and statement of need
• Degree of innovation in content, instruction, or evaluation
• Adequacy of evaluation methods for assessing outcomes and impact
• Feasibility of proposed development and implementation timeline
• Appropriateness of budget allocations
• Sustainability after grant period
• Extent of impact on Tufts School of Medicine’s constituencies, curriculum, and mission
• Potential for outside funding

The Dean of the School of Medicine will approve final grant recipients.

The program will be administratively managed by the Medical Dean’s Office under the direction of the Dean for Multicultural Affairs and Global Health.

For more information, please email ideas_grant@tufts.edu.