Program Design Grant

Overview

The Online Program Design Grant aims to support departmental units in developing and enhancing their online programs to maximize student experience. This grant provides funding and resources to assist departments in conducting comprehensive curriculum mapping, which ensures alignment between course objectives, program outcomes, and institutional goals. 

Through the grant, a program will have the opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness of its current online offerings, identify gaps in content delivery, and design a structured pathway that enhances student learning experiences. By focusing on aligning skills, knowledge, and competencies across courses, the grant enables online programs to create a cohesive and high-quality online curriculum that meets the needs of today’s diverse student population.

Who should participate?

Distance education coordinators, faculty who administer or teach online programs or certificates

Choose this grant if:

• You administer an online undergraduate or graduate degree program or certificate
• You want to identify the strengths and weaknesses of your program
• You want to align program outcomes with course outcomes
• You are ready to apply elements of quality online education to all core courses in the program

Award

$16,000 awarded to the program ($8,000 year 1 and year 2) DELTA staff assistance over two years

What programs are eligible?

Any pre-existing, credit-bearing online program/certificate at NC State is eligible.

Length and delivery

The Program Design Grant is a 2-year commitment: 

• The first year begins in the fall and continues through the end of the summer semester (12 months).
  • You will complete a program needs analysis and program mapping within the first year, along with DELTA staff support
  • During the first year, you will also collect baseline data for your program with DELTA support.
• The second year begins in the fall and continues through the end of the summer semester (12 months).
  • You will complete individual course maps for all core courses in the program.
  • You will work with DELTA staff to implement a rapid redesign of the core courses.
  • You will reflect on your implementation experience and assessment findings.

Services Provided

• Support for conducting a program needs analysis (year 1) and ongoing assessment (year 1, 2)
• Guidance with program mapping and alignment of goals and outcomes (year 1)
• Support for course mapping of course program courses (year 2)
• Assistance course design for core program courses (year 2)

Grant Expectations 

• Engaging throughout the grant cycle for the 2-year commitment 
• Spending funds within the current fiscal year and in accordance with all deadlines established by the university and the respective college and department. Awards are state-appropriated funds and are subject to all applicable university, college, and departmental rules. Applicants should contact their unit’s budget officer for specifics on spending. Please see the DELTA Grant Funds section on our FAQs page for more information.

Competitive Priorities

Priority consideration is given to applications that:

• All program faculty (can be listed as co-PIs)  are committed to aligning program outcomes with course outcomes and design
• Seek to improve student success as defined by the NC State Strategic Plan
• Align with the strategic goals of the college or division that the PI represents
• Demonstrate support from the department and/or college
• Include a clear plan for ongoing assessment of online program or certificate
• Faculty are familiar with the Quality Matters framework
• Courses in program have Quality Matters certification
• Indicate a flexible schedule to attend the scheduled synchronous (in-person or Zoom) meetings

Working with DELTA

I have been fortunate to work with DELTA to develop several online courses and program certification. The guidance provided by the DELTA team has greatly enhanced the overall quality of each course and the Leadership in the Public Sector Program. The time invested in developing courses and ensuring that each activity, assignment, and reading aligns with the course objectives has had a significant impact on achieving the desired learning outcomes.

Students have shared feedback with their academic advisors, and a recurring theme is that the courses designed with the help of the DELTA team are more impactful and make it easier to understand the objectives of our program. The DELTA team consistently goes above and beyond to assist instructors in implementing quality courses.