Share your bold new idea and learn about the Call for Proposals process, upcoming information sessions, and submission deadlines.

Call for Proposals & Information Sessions

Adaptive learning technologies; gamification; 21st century skills; immersive learning; learning analytics; redesigning learning spaces; expanding access, equity and digital fluency. In seeking to advance cultures of innovative thinking, we want to collaborate with you to align BU with emergent trends in educational innovation. 

The Shipley Center funds and co-manages pilot projects that are authored by BU leadership, faculty, and staff and have the potential to positively change the way in which one or more of BU’s Schools and Colleges deliver value to students, both inside and outside the classroom. Our aspiration is to incubate projects that have lasting impact on how we do things at BU and position our university in the forefront of educational innovation.

The structure of our funded projects and related activities can take many forms. We are deliberately flexible in our approach, valuing bold initiative, collaboration and the transformative potential of thoughtful ideation.

Below, we have identified key areas that are currently impacted by rapid transformation and bold visions for the future of learning. We are also always interested in discussing any ideas that seek to align Boston University with emergent trends in educational innovation to improve the student experience.

Submission Dates

Submission deadlines for the 2024-2025 academic year are:

  • January 17, 2025
  • May 30, 2025

Resources

Current Focus Areas

Project-Based and Work-Integrated Learning

Our students expect BU to prepare them for gainful employment through meaningful learning experiences and skill development. To align with these expectations, emerging learner-centered pedagogical approaches focus on interaction, group work, and solutions to real-life challenges. Technology plays a key role in the implementation of these approaches through cloud-based services, apps, and other digital tools that promote persistent connectivity enabling students, educators, and other project collaborators to access and contribute to shared workspaces anytime, anywhere.

We are particularly interested in supporting creative uses of technology that facilitate connections between faculty/student teams and outside organizations (corporations, public agencies, etc.) for the purposes of project-based, experiential and work-integrated learning embedded in courses and programs of study.

Mentoring and Advising

In a complex world, effective student mentoring and advising are emerging as an increasingly important component of the University student experience. Developmental models of advising focus not only on student learning and educational experiences but seek to connect students’ academic interests and skills with their personal and career ambitions.

In the spirit of improving the quality of academic, career, and life mentoring/advising we offer to our students, the Shipley Center seeks to support the innovative use of digital tools or digitally-enabled processes in the context of advising. Examples of such tools include (but are not limited to) self-assessments & goal-setting exercises, predictive analytics, academic alert & nudge systems, digital guided pathways, flipped advising models, and more.

Technology-enabled Inclusive Pedagogy Initiatives 

How might novel technology-enabled experiments and interventions advance Boston University's commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion? We are particularly interested in: classroom tools for assessment, discussion, and other interactions with peers and content that enable all students to be engaged in meaningful and successful learning; designing equitable mentoring and experiential learning opportunities; developing teaching and learning simulations and other experiences to promote inclusive behaviors and perspective-broadening; analytical tools to offer transparency and track progress in support of inclusive classroom programming and goals; open educational resources, and more.

Emerging Educational Technologies

We ​provide supplemental support ​for strategic efforts led by BU Departments/Schools, aimed at the use or exploration of new and emerging technologies that are not currently in use at BU or that could lend themselves to cutting-edge applications. Projects in this area could range from virtual and augmented reality, uses of gameful learning and artificial intelligence, including generative AI to enhance the residential student experience, to novel uses of wearable technologies, robotics, and complex digital visualizations. We are also interested in receiving proposals for pilot projects involving alternative credentials and developing novel ways to keep our alumni connected to BU.

Proposal Review and Development Process

Generation of Concepts

The Shipley Center invites interested parties to request a consultation to walk through key elements of the project proposal development process. 

Submission Guidelines

Concept proposals may be submitted at any time. Initial concept pages should aim to be about two pages in length and address the selection criteria below in as much as possible. A proposal template and related guide are available for reference. Proposals selected to move to further discussion and potential development will be notified within six weeks of the submission date.

The Shipley Center is grateful for and will consider all submitted proposals. BU reserves the unconditional right to accept or reject any submitted proposal and to incorporate ideas or suggestions from any submitted proposal into projects being developed by BU or by other members of the BU community.

Selection Criteria

  • Scope: The proposed project is responsive to one of the current focus areas outlined above or otherwise seeks to align BU with emergent trends in educational innovation to improve the student experience. It describes a proposed experiment/idea, including a problem statement and a possible high-level project vision.
  • Significance: The proposed project has significant value for our students. Ideally, there is evidence of support for the proposed idea, such as market demand or availability gap.
  • Strategic Value: The proposed project has the potential of creating a strategic advantage for BU and/or enhancing the distinctive value of a BU education.
  • Sustainability: The proposed project has a) a plan for measuring its success, b) a plan for project evaluation and sustainability, and c) the potential to scale beyond a pilot phase to other classrooms, units, departments and/or schools, either directly or through providing a compelling example for adoption.
  • Support: The proposed project is strongly endorsed by participating academic unit(s), and all requisite technical and administrative support have been identified and deemed feasible. Academic units are committed to supporting the project past its incubation phase if deemed successful. If project proposals are responsive to the Emerging Educational Technologies focus area, the Shipley Center will typically consider requests for additional/matching funding to supplement existing commitments from the participating academic unit and/or from additional sources beyond BU. We welcome conversations about new ideas early on and consult BU leadership, faculty, and staff throughout the development of proposals and identification of funding sources.

Development

  • For proposals meeting the Selection Criteria, appropriate staff/support personnel will collaborate with the proposing individual/team to assess project feasibility and to identify possible resources needed for implementation (such as investigation of possible software or platform needs, infrastructure and support staff requirements, budget for seed funding, and timeline to implementation).
  • Following the above step, select concept proposals will be co-developed into project development plans, including implementation and evaluation milestones, for funding and incubation. If initial discussions regarding the feasibility of the project reveal that the concept proposal is missing significant key elements, such as an assessment of market demand or sustainability plan, we will encourage the concept’s continued development for consideration at a later date.
  • The Shipley Center reserves the right to discontinue the development of any Project, at any time in its sole discretion and without further obligation.
  • Please note that proposals for additions and modifications to Boston University’s academic programs are subject to eCAP review.

Funding & Implementation

  • Both the funding and timing of project implementation depend on the scale and requirements of the proposed idea.
  • Ideally, a proposed project will launch within 6 months of the proposal date, with a review of outcomes within a year of launch.
  • Funding for our previous projects has ranged from $5K for a single small-scale project to $200K for a multi-year, large-scale implementation efforts

Other Funding Opportunities