[Federal Register: January 26, 1999 (Volume 64, Number 16)]
[Notices]
[Page 4025-4027]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr26ja99-148]
[[Page 4025]]
_______________________________________________________________________
Part III
Department of Education
_______________________________________________________________________
Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education--Learning Anytime
Anywhere Partnerships (LAAP) (Preapplications and Applications); Notice
Inviting Applications for New Awards for Fiscal Year (FY) 1999; Notice
[[Page 4026]]
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
[CFDA Nos. 84.339A; 84.339B]
Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education--Learning
Anytime Anywhere Partnerships (LAAP) (Preapplications and
Applications); Notice Inviting Applications for New Awards for Fiscal
Year (FY) 1999
Purpose of Program: To provide grants or enter into contracts or
cooperative agreements to enhance the delivery, quality, and
accountability of postsecondary education and career-oriented lifelong
learning through technology and related innovations.
For fiscal year (FY) 1999, the Secretary encourages applicants to
design projects that focus on the invitational priorities summarized in
the invitational priorities section of this application notice.
Eligible Applicants: Partnerships consisting of two or more
independent agencies, organizations, or institutions, including
institutions of higher education, community organizations, and other
public and private institutions, agencies, and organizations.
Note: A nonprofit organization must serve as the fiscal agent
for a funded partnership.
Applications Available: January 26, 1999.
Deadline for Transmittal of Preapplications: April 2, 1999.
Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: June 18, 1999.
Note: All applicants must submit a preapplication to be eligible
to submit a final application.
Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: August 17, 1999.
Available Funds: $10,000,000.
Note: Federal funds available under this competition provide not
more than 50 percent of the cost of a project. The non-Federal share
of project costs may be in cash or in kind, fairly evaluated,
including services, supplies, or equipment.
Estimated Range of Awards: $100,000 to $500,000 per year.
Estimated Average Size of Awards: $333,333 per year.
Estimated Number of Awards: 25-30.
Note: The Department is not bound by any estimates in this
notice.
Project Period: Up to 60 months.
Applicable Regulations: (a) The Education Department General
Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) in 34 CFR parts 74, 75, 77, 79, 80,
82, 85, and 86.
Authorized Activities
Funds awarded to an eligible partnership must be used to conduct
one or more of the following activities:
(a) Develop and assess model distance learning programs or
innovative educational software.
(b) Develop methodologies for the identification and measurement of
skill competencies.
(c) Develop and assess innovative student support services.
(d) Support other activities consistent with the statutory purpose
of this program.
Invitational Priorities
The Secretary is particularly interested in applications that meet
one or more of the following invitational priorities. However, an
application that meets one or more of these invitational priorities
does not receive competitive or absolute preference over other
applications (34 CFR 75.105(c)(1)).
Invitational Priority 1--Projects to address the need to ensure
that significant development costs can be justified by wide-scale
applicability and long-term sustainability of technology-mediated
distance education, and the need to find new ways to overcome the
barriers that may inhibit faculty across institutions from working
collectively.
Invitational Priority 2--Projects to address the proper balance of
interactivity, flexibility, and cost in order to ensure that
educational opportunities are as convenient as possible but still
instructionally effective and affordable.
Invitational Priority 3--Projects to develop high quality,
interactive courseware that can be implemented to achieve the scale
necessary to recoup large investments, but is modular and sufficiently
flexible for faculty to shape and modify academic content.
Invitational Priority 4--Projects to package courses and programs
to assist students who wish to draw from the offerings of multiple
providers and to assist institutions to cooperate and share resources.
Invitational Priority 5--Projects to use skill competencies and
learning outcomes in order to measure student progress and achievement
in technology-mediated distance learning programs.
Invitational Priority 6--Projects to improve quality and
accountability of technology-mediated distance education to ensure that
credentials are meaningful, that educational providers are accountable,
and that courses meet high standards.
Invitational Priority 7--Projects to create new technology-mediated
education opportunities for underserved learners, especially those who
have not always been well served by traditional campus-based education
or common forms of distance education, including: individuals with
disabilities; individuals who have lost their jobs; individuals making
the transition from welfare to the workforce; and individuals seeking
basic or technical skills or their first postsecondary education
experience.
Invitational Priority 8--Projects to improve support services for
students seeking technology-mediated distance education to ensure that
they have complete and convenient access to needed services such as
registration, financial aid, advising, assessment, counseling,
libraries, and many others.
Selection Criteria
The Secretary selects from the criteria in 34 CFR 75.210 to
evaluate preapplications and applications for this competition. Under
34 CFR 75.201, the Secretary announces in the application package the
selection criteria and factors, if any, for this competition and the
maximum weight assigned to each criterion.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION OR APPLICATIONS: The Fund for the Improvement
of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), U.S. Department of Education, 400
Maryland Avenue, SW, Room 3100, ROB-3, Washington, DC 20202-5175.
Telephone: (202) 358-3041 to order applications; or (202) 708-5750,
between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Eastern time, Monday through
Friday, for information. Individuals may also request applications by
submitting the name of the competition, their name, and postal mailing
address to the e-mail address LAAP@ED.GOV. Individuals may obtain the
application text from Internet address http://www.ed.gov/offices/OPE/
FIPSE/. Individuals who use a telecommunications device for the deaf
(TDD) may call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-
877-8339, between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., Eastern time, Monday through
Friday.
Individuals with disabilities may obtain this document in an
alternate format (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, or computer
diskette) on request to the contact office listed in the preceding
paragraph.
Electronic Access to This Document
Anyone may view this document, as well as all other Department of
Education documents published in the Federal Register, in text or
portable document format (pdf) via Internet at either of the following
sites:
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http://ocfo.ed.gov/fedreg.htm
http://www.ed.gov/news.html
To use the pdf you must have the Adobe Acrobat Reader Program with
Search, which is available free at either of the previous sites. If you
have questions about using the pdf, call the U.S. Government Printing
Office at (202) 512-1530 or, toll free, at 1-888-293-6498.
Anyone may also view these documents in text copy only on an
electronic bulletin board of the Department. Telephone: (202) 219-1511
or, toll free, 1-800-222-4922. The documents are located under Option
G--Files/Announcements, Bulletins and Press Releases.
Note: The official version of a document is the document
published in the Federal Register.
Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1070f et seq.
Dated: January 20, 1999.
David A. Longanecker,
Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education.
[FR Doc. 99-1720 Filed 1-25-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P