Program Office: Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education
CFDA Number: 84.116L Program Type: Discretionary/Competitive Grants
The Digital Learning Infrastructure and IT Modernization Pilot provides grants to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges or Universities (TCUs), and other eligible minority-serving institutions (MSIs) to support IT modernization, and to enable them to provide support and technical assistance to expand their digital learning infrastructure.
Who May Apply: (by category) Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs)
Who May Apply: (specifically) HBCUs, TCUs, MSIs
Timeline
Application Available: October 25, 2022 Application Deadline: November 25, 2022
Federal Register Notice
- Notice Inviting Applications for New Awards for FY 2022 dated October 25, 2022 | PDF
All applicants are required to submit an application online through Grants.gov.
Through Grants.gov you will be able to download a copy of the application package, complete it offline, and then upload and submit your application. You must search for the downloadable application package for ED-GRANTS-073018-002. If you experience problems submitting your application through Grants.gov, refer to the Support page and/or contact the Grants.gov Support Desk, toll free, at 1-800-518-4726. For program-specific questions, contact the program officer below.
If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) or a text telephone (TTY), call the Federal Relay Service (FRS), toll free, at 1-800-877-8339. Individuals with disabilities can obtain this document and a copy of the application package in an accessible format (e.g., braille, large print, audiotape, or compact disc) on request to one of the program contact persons listed below.
Webinar Information
Digital Learning Infrastructure and IT Modernization Pilot
Technical Assistance Workshop
Thursday, November 3, 2022
3:00PM - 4:00PM
Click here to view the Webinar presentation
Pearson Owens, (202) 453-7997, pearson.owens@ed.gov
U.S. Department of Education, OPE
400 Maryland Avenue, S.W., Room 250-72
Washington, DC 20202
FY 2022 Abstracts
Fort Lewis College (FLC) is an accredited (Higher Learning Commission), public, four- year, undergraduate liberal arts college located in the rural, southwest corner of Colorado. FLC is one of two public, four-year colleges to grant tuition waivers to Native American students. Currently, 44% of the student body receives a Native American tuition waiver. Our student body is comprised of 58% students of color, 34% Pell grant-eligible students, and 46% first generation students. FLC has a unique opportunity to transform student learning and success through high[1]quality distance education. To address equity gaps in 100- and 200-level general education courses for our Indigenous students, FLC will expand flexible course offerings through high[1]quality course design, high-touch instruction, and student support that includes distance learning orientation and increased access to tutoring and tech support. This project will combine flexible course offerings and student support with access to distance learning technology to ensure that all students have access to low-cost laptop rentals, remote labs, and off-campus access to reliable internet. Faculty will engage in professional development to incorporate equitable, inclusive teaching practices in all of their courses, particularly in digital learning spaces. Distance learning is an essential strategy for FLC to support our unique student population, helping our students succeed, graduate, and realize their potential. FLC's grant initiatives are aligned with the Digital Learning Infrastructure and IT Modernization Pilot initiatives. • Initiative A (Leadership). Create an institutional digital learning strategy with key leaders and faculty, strategically expanding hybrid course offerings and measuring their impact on student success. • Initiative B (Human Capacity). Implement a summer institute and faculty learning community focusing on inclusive hybrid course design and delivery. • Initiative C (Approach to Networks and Infrastructure). Expand equitable access to IT support and learning technologies for all students from anywhere at any time. • Initiative D (Content, Instruction, and Assessment). Bring student success systems and support into the classroom. • Initiative E (Coordination and Collaboration). Leverage regional partnerships to close equity gaps. Enacting the set of five integrated academic success initiatives outlined above will result in measurable outcomes that will achieve FLC's retention, graduation, equity, and access goals: • Goal #1: Increase digital learning courses and student supports to reduce equity gaps in key first-year courses. • Goal #2: Increase access to technology that supports digital learning access for students. This distance learning equity project will directly address the needs of FLC's Indigenous students. If we can support students in their first year through academic support, flexibility, and increased access to technology, we can help them persist toward their degree.
Institutional Context. Established in 1849, Pacific University is a diverse learning community with four campuses in Oregon offering undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs across five colleges—Arts & Sciences, Business, Education, Health Professions, Optometry—with natural pathways for undergraduate students to pursue graduate and professional education and careers. With 3,439 total students (FTE), of which 1,597 are undergraduate and 1,842 graduate/professional students, Pacific draws approximately 90% of its undergraduate students from the Pacific Northwest, Hawaii, Alaska, and California, and ranks as one of the most diverse among regional private and public liberal arts universities, supporting its Minority Serving Institution designation as an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution.
Proposed Objectives. The overarching goal of the proposed Pacific University Inclusive and Accessible Digital Learning project is to improve Pacific's capacity—both human and technological—to provide flexible, high quality remote learning options that equitably engage all in-person and remote learners, whether as part of planned course design or in response to individual student need. Based on needs identified over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, this overall goal will be addressed through three interrelated objectives: (a) to improve classroom audiovisual technology to better accommodate remote learning; (b) to improve resources available to support faculty in integrating remote learning options into their classes; and (c) to improve technology available to students who don't have the resources needed to learn remotely.
Project Activities. In service of the proposed objectives, Pacific will engage in an integrated set of activities designed both to create immediate benefit for students and faculty and to lay the foundation for institutionalized support for inclusive and accessible digital learning: (1) strategic, equity-based analysis of classroom and student technology needs; (2) prioritized support for high-use spaces, high-enrollment courses, and active learning curriculum; (3) adopting the latest standards for technology to support active learning; (4) assessing technology vendors and products; (5) coordinating procurement and deployment of classroom and student technology; (6) collaborating with wireless carriers to improve campus wireless and to provide high-speed internet hotspots for student use; (7) developing a comprehensive suite of faculty support services; (8) increasing awareness of student technology among students, faculty, and student support staff; (9) and communicating with regional higher education peers to share best practices for creating and sustaining inclusive digital learning environments.
Intended Outcomes. As a result of the project's planned activities, Pacific expects to realize the following, measurable outcomes: (a) an increase in teaching activities supported by accessible and inclusive learning technology; (b) an increase in capacity-building activities for faculty related to classroom learning technology; (c) high faculty satisfaction and comfort with inclusive teaching and learning technology; and (d) an increase in availability of, and student comfort with, remote learning technology. Pacific's multi-year proposed project is designed to create sustainable, institutionalized access to a shared, high quality, inclusive learning experience by improving our available technology and increasing the capacity of our faculty to teach in flexible online environments that provide engaging, active learning opportunities. The project has strong institutional support and the university, and its leadership are committed to providing the staffing and financial support necessary to ensure that the project is successful in achieving its intended outcomes.
Institution: Albizu University is a private, independent, non-profit institution of higher education, founded in 1966 in Puerto Rico with a Carnegie classification as Special Focus Four-Year: Other Health Professions Schools. The institution's mission is to educate professionals in behavioral sciences, speech pathology, and other disciplines, committed to research, to improve quality of life, and to serve diverse communities. The institution has an enrollment of 3,210 and offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in psychology, speech and language pathology, speech therapy, education, criminal justice, and business administration The University expanded from the original main campus in San Juan, Puerto Rico to a branch campus in Miami, Florida in 1980 and to a satellite of the San Juan Campus, Puerto Rico in 2015. The university also operates three Albizu Clinics which provide 10,000 unduplicated services annually. Albizu University has been accredited by the Middle States Commission since 1974. It is licensed by the Puerto Rico Junta de Instituciones Postsecundarias and the Commission for Independent Education in Florida. The University is considered a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) by the USDE.
Need: Albizu University has been a later adopter of technology and digital learning. The San Juan Campus began in Fall 2022 offering its first online academic program: the M.S. in Science in Neuropsychology. In Fall 2022, out of 233 courses offered, only 7 (3%) were hybrid and 32 (14%) were online. Albizu course conversion to online/hybrid format has followed a "build-as-you-go" approach as a result to a series of events. COVID-19 pandemic, the most recent event, has affected the way AU students expect access to higher education. Emergency online education has opened the door for long-term adoption of online/hybrid education, but AU has limited capacity to provide online/hybrid instruction. Today, most of AU's online/hybrid courses were rapidly created early in the pandemic using limited institutional resources. They do not follow quality standards, and they do not incorporate use of new tools and technologies to facilitate high-quality remote instruction. Up until the pandemic, resistance to change was persistent at the individual and organizational levels. Adapting to a new way of teaching and learning anywhere, anytime planted the seed for a cultural change but also increased support. Services and support for students are also underdeveloped and inadequate to meet student needs. AU does not provide targeted support for the unique needs of online or hybrid students, and AU students have requested support services be more accessible.
Proposed Project: AU has designed this project to address gaps and weaknesses that hinder the University from adequately serving the needs of Hispanic and low-income students. To this end, AU's proposed activity includes two initiatives: Initiative 1: Develop the digital learning infrastructure- focusing on establishing a governance structure and creating policies, procedures, and protocols to provide culturally sensitive faculty and student training and support; establishment of the Next Generation Digital Learning Environments Laboratory. Initiative 2: Modernize information technology — to eliminate power disruptions from failures related to Puerto Rico's weak electric infrastructure, the structural limitations of a historic building that cannot hold a generator, and the instability of Internet Services Providers in Old San Juan and Mayaguez.
Hampton University, a private Historically Black College and University, in response to Digital Learning Infrastructure and IT Modernization Pilot CFDA # 84.116L, submits the project entitled "IT Modernization and Technical Certification Pilot Program" led by the Dr. Alissa Harrison, Vice President of Information Technology. Our project addresses the Absolute Priority to improve the institution's digital learning infrastructure. Our goal is to empower and prepare historically marginalized students for a global workforce by enhancing our physical, virtual, human, and social assets related to the sustainable dissemination and adoption of our digital technologies through faculty and instructor training, collaboration, and engaged exchanges of information. We seek to attain this goal through four objectives: (1) Establish online training program that offers Cisco and Microsoft Certifications Exams that focuses technical learning and increases the number of students obtaining certifications by 10%; (2) Increase the number of technology certified instructors by 50%; (3) Establish a Community of Practice that connects HBCUs for the purpose of extending program recruitment for online learning, increasing the number of technical certifications, supporting knowledge transfer, and improving the transmission and expansion of knowledge and expertise in technology for faculty and staff professional development; and (4) Increase the network infrastructure to support improving the bandwidth by 20%. Our strategies to reach these outcomes include: developing a technology certificate and certification program, growing the certificate program for Middle and High School agreed student awareness of STEM industry certifications, growing the certificate program of online participants through industry partners, growing the number of credentialed instructors qualified to teach Cisco and Microsoft for the university, creating a Community of Practice that promotes engagement activities with Fisk University, another private Historically Black College and University, and increasing the Bandwidth HU Online location. Through these strategies and their accompanying activities we intend to improve and then institutionalize our instructional practices around digital learning and technology certifications. To develop a sustainable model that has potential for other HBCUs to replicate, we will collaborate with Fisk University who is submitting their own response to FIPSE CFDA # 84.116L, Stanly Community College, Cox Communications, and World Wide Technology. In three years, our projected outcomes include being able to demonstrate (a) The number of courses— added or enhanced—supported by this program that support digital learning; (b) The number and percentage of students enrolled in such courses disaggregated by race of students; (c) The percentage of grantees that attain or exceed the targets for the outcome indicators for their projects; (d) The percentage of grantees that report an increase in faculty, staff, and students engaged in digital learning efforts; and (e) The number of capacity building activities offered by the institution (e.g., trainings, technical assistance) in areas related to the digital learning infrastructure plan. In response to the Absolute Priority, our project explains how we will progress toward digital learning adoption with leadership support, our plan to develop our human capacity in this area, our approach to maximize our approach to networks and infrastructure, our evaluative process for determining content, instruction, and assessment, and our systematic approach to coordinating and collaborating with other IHEs to address access and training of technology personnel.
FY 2022
Number of New Awards: TBA
Average of New Awards: $TBA
Total New Awards Funded: $TBA
- Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1138-1138d; the Explanatory Statement accompanying Division H of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022 (Pub. L. 117-103).
- There are no program-specific regulations.
- Education Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR), 34 CFR Parts 74, 75, 77, 79, 80, 82, 84, 85, 86, 97, 98, and 99
- eCFR :: 2 CFR Part 200 -- Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards
At the end of the project period, grantees must submit a final performance report, including financial information, as directed by the Secretary. The Secretary may also require more frequent performance reports under 34 CFR 75.720(c).
Key Staff
Division Director:
James Laws, (202) 453-7348
Program Officer:
Lead Program Officer - Pearson Owens, (202) 453-7997
pearson.owens@ed.gov
Mailing address:
U.S. Department of Education, OPE
Digital Learning Infrastructure and IT Modernization Pilot
400 Maryland Avenue, S.W.
Washington, DC 20202