We are delighted to announce Designing Forward, a three year grant at Plymouth State University funded by the Davis Foundation to investigate the intersection of instructional design and cluster learning.
The first year of grant activity (“Season One”) will kick off at the Spring Pedagogy Institute (SPIN) on May 20-21st and run through April of 2026.
Season One Activity
The activity of year one will incorporate the Design Forward (DF) curriculum, the CoLab’s holistic faculty development program that supports a community-based exploration of the intentional design of teaching and learning. Over the summer, faculty will complete DF modules that encourage them to develop their thinking and capacity around both innovative pedagogical approaches (in particular Cluster Learning) and design practices that align with these pedagogies and the values that underpin them. In particular, participants will grapple with how to design for learning that is emergent, flexible, interdisciplinary, and open — qualities that often make teaching and learning harder to plan (and thus design) for.
Over the course of the year, participants will also meet several times to continue conversations started in the summer and further consider how to incorporate what they’ve learned into their own teaching. Participants who wish will have an opportunity to continue engaging with the grant in Season Two by proposing specific design projects; applications for these projects will be available in Spring 2026. At that time, there will also be another round of applications for faculty who want to complete the DF curriculum for those who prefer to wait.
Participation in Season One of Designing Forward will involve the following:
- Attending the Spring Pedagogy Institute (SPIN) on May 20-21 (in-person)
- Completing three Design Forward modules between late May and mid-August (online, asynchronous)
- Attending a University Days session in mid-August (in-person, date TBD)
- Attending 4-5 (total) follow-up meetings during Fall 25 and Spring 26 (format and dates TBD)
Deadlines & Awards
We anticipate accepting 30 participants in Season One; each participant will receive a $1500 award for their activity, with half paid at the end of Summer 2025 and the balance paid in Spring 2026.
We will be reviewing applications in two rounds:
Priority Deadline: March 7th
This deadline may be helpful if you would like a decision earlier for planning purposes. Decisions will be communicated by March 21st. If you aren’t accepted at this time your application will be considered again in the second round. We will not be filling the Season One cohort from this application pool, so waiting does not mean you run the risk of all spots being filled.
Final Deadline: April 23rd
Any new or remaining applications will be reviewed at this time. Decisions will be communicated by May 2nd.
As we review applications, one goal will be to balance participation across as many different AUs/programs/offices and position types. We invite anyone who teaches at PSU to apply (if you’re not sure if your teaching/work/position is a good fit, feel free to reach out!)
The Designing Forward grant was received from the Davis Educational Foundation established by Stanton and Elisabeth Davis after Mr. Davis’s retirement as chairman of Shaw’s Supermarkets, Inc.
