The NCA’s Teaching and Learning Council supports and promotes disciplinary pedagogy. The Communication Pedagogy Grant (CPG) envisions a space for communication educators to explore innovative pedagogical practices, assessment design, and learning environments. The CPG will fund proposals that are most likely to (a) have a long-term impact on faculty, students, or community environments through the development of learning opportunities; (b) that support, challenge, experiment with, and/or advocate for impactful and enduring change in marginalized spaces inside or outside the classroom, such as (but not limited to) grants that foster critical thinking and deliberative engagement with social discourses; and (c) that support exploration of transferable instructional communication methodologies, practices, content, or models, that if adopted by others will create a meaningful teaching experience.
Action Required: Reset Your NCA Grant Portal Password
On January 21, the National Communication Association launched its new member portal. If you updated your NCA Member Portal login credentials on or after January 21, you must reset your Grants Portal login information to match.
If you have not logged into the NCA Member Portal since before January 21, you can use your current NCA password to log in.
The CPG seeks to benefit instructors at any career stage and to address a gap in pedagogical funding to support:
- instructors who seek to translate research findings into practice related to instructional communication methodologies, practices, models, or variables (immediacy, clarity, teacher authenticity, etc.);
- instructors who seek to explore innovative instructional communication pedagogical methodologies, practices or models focusing on inclusivity;
- instructors who seek to explore innovative instructional communication pedagogical methodologies, practices, or models to teach fundamental communication theories and concepts; and
- creation of pedagogical materials that could be used by others.
Applicants may seek support up to $15,000. Applications are due September 1 for awards given in the following calendar year.
- Applicants do not need to be a member of NCA at the time of application, but recipients must become a member for the duration of their funding (PI can use grant amount to fund membership).
- Officers, directors, trustees (the Legislative Assembly and its Executive Committee), key employees, substantial contributors, or employees thereof, or grant selection committee members are not eligible to be considered for or to receive grants from NCA.
- Priority will be given to applications for which institutional funding is not available.
- Anyone employed full or part-time as an instructor of communication at any level (e.g., K-12, community college, undergraduate and/or graduate) is welcome to apply. We particularly invite individuals from community colleges, K-12 institutions, under-represented, small/regional/less-funded and minority institutions and/or marginalized positionalities.
All funding support must apply directly and in full to pedagogical practices, assessment design, or creation of learning environments. Grant will not cover research-based efforts or those that primarily support the scholarly investigation of those pedagogical domains.
- The following items will be considered for funding: Funding expenses must be directly related to the conduct of the pedagogical practice (e.g., OWL cameras, microphone, office supplies, or other related pedagogical technology, not otherwise available institutionally). Funding can be used for travel that is essential for conducting the pedagogical practices or for dissemination of the pedagogical practices (e.g., to College Board, Advanced Placement, other K-12 organizational conferences and workshops, NCTE), subcontractual hires (e.g., NFHS), equipment essential for media/video/digital production, project computer time, programming services, software essential to the project, costs of generating materials (e.g., video production or tools associated with generation of materials and/or practices not otherwise institutionally available).
- Funding cannot be used for: conference travel or events, open access fees, computers and hardware for routine tasks like managing and tabulating data, writing or editing documents or manuscript preparation, construction and remodeling of facilities, subscriptions to journals.
- NCA will pay up to 10% of indirect costs, but the total funding amount, including both direct and indirect costs, cannot exceed the $15,000 funding limit.
- Funds are disbursed to identified university fiscal agents, not to individuals.
- No more than 25% of the total requested funds may be used for faculty salary.
- Undergraduate and graduate appointments must be on an hourly basis (if not institutionally available).
- Any materials generated through the grant become the property of NCA.
The CPG supports, and will in turn prioritize proposals that support, the following NCA Strategic Priorities:
Goal 1: Create Conditions to Support and Empower Members
- 1.1 Support excellence in Communication-related scholarship, pedagogy, and service
Goal 3: Embrace and enact inclusion, diversity, equity, and access.
- 3.1 Provide the tools for members to value and promote inclusivity, diversity, equity, and access within all disciplinary spaces and societal practices.
All CPG proposals should include the following:
1. A detailed description of:
- The pedagogical methodology, practice, or model to be explored, grounded in pedagogy research
- The importance and contributions of this project
- How this project supports excellence in communication-related pedagogy. Optionally, state how this project provides the tools for members to value and promote inclusivity, diversity, equity, and access within all disciplinary spaces and societal practices
- Specifically how the effectiveness of the pedagogical methodology, practice or model will be determined
- How the results of your project will be disseminated (e.g., conference presentation, Communication Teacher, resources for NCA website, etc.)
- The timeline for the project
2. Acknowledgment that applicant will hold an NCA membership for the duration of the funding period
3. Acknowledgment that all materials generated become the property of NCA
4. A detailed budget with a detailed budget justification sheet*
5. The applicant’s 3-page C.V. If the application is being submitted by a team of faculty, then each individual must submit their own 3-page C.V.
*For every line item in the budget, provide a narrative justifying the need for the expense. University of the Virgin Islands provides an excellent example of a budget narrative.
Preferred Criteria for Submissions:
- Projects that address and acknowledge one or more of the NCA’s Learning Outcomes in Communication
- Projects that include pedagogical practices or create resources that can be broadly adopted.
- Projects that have no internal institutional and extramural funding.
- Projects that have an enduring and broad impact.
- Projects that demonstrate an enduring disciplinary/social/community/self-reflexive student-based transformative impact and/or change.
Help for Grant Seekers
Applicants are strongly encouraged to view and utilize NCA’s resources for composing and submitting grant proposals. Click here to view these resources.
All grant recipients are required to follow the reporting requirements outlined in NCA’s Funding Assessment Protocol and follow the NCA Promotional Activities and Sponsorship Acknowledgment Policy.
Applicants should consult with their institution’s Office of Sponsored Programs (or similar grants office) to review the NCA Funding Assessment Protocol and the NCA Promotional Activities and Sponsorship Acknowledgment Policy. Failure to secure the institution’s guidance prior to submission can significantly delay, or prevent, grant awards.
While grant recipients are not required to attend NCA, conference attendance is encouraged. Grant recipients choosing to attend NCA may be offered the opportunity to engage in a panel showcasing Communication Pedagogy Grant work.
- NCA must be acknowledged as a sponsor of NCA funded events and projects. The NCA
logo must be on all official correspondence related to an NCA funded event or project as
well as any public documents, reports, or publications. - At the discretion of the Executive Committee, with advice from the Finance Board,
“National Communication Association” should be incorporated into the official title of
NCA funded events, especially when NCA is the sole or majority sponsor. - At NCA sponsored events, NCA should be acknowledged in public remarks (e.g.,
welcome remarks, keynote address introductions, luncheon) and the NCA logo should be
displayed in a prominent location(s). - NCA will work with event and project organizers to plan and execute pre- and
postevent/project promotional plans, as appropriate, which use various NCA
communications channels. - NCA will place event/project information on the NCA website (http://www.natcom.org)
if appropriate. Relevant text and graphics must be sent to NCA by event/project
organizers in a timely fashion. If a website other than the NCA website is created or used
for an NCA funded event or project, NCA will place the URL link on the NCA website.
Relevant information must be provided by the event/project organizer. If a website other
than the NCA website is created or used for an NCA funded event or project, that website
must post the NCA logo in a prominent location as well as a link to the NCA website. - Event registration materials should include information about NCA and how to join the
association as well as a cover letter on NCA letterhead from the NCA President and/or
Executive Director welcoming participants and thanking them for participating in an
NCA funded event. Please request your letter from NCA’s National Office when you are
putting together relevant materials. - Event organizers must provide NCA with contact information for event participants with
the understanding that NCA may contact them in the future to solicit a membership to
NCA. - Unless alternative arrangements are made in advance, all products, publications, and
other works or results are the property of NCA and, as such, the copyright is owned by
NCA. These items can be licensed for use by the original authors with the written
permission of NCA. - Event/project organizers must write a news-style article about the event/project once it is
completed. It should be submitted to NCA’s Director of Academic and Professional
Affairs for dissemination to members through appropriate channels. - Somewhere in the materials for an event or a project, the following language should
appear and should be made known to the participants:-
- During the course of this conference, I acknowledge that I may have my voice,
likeness and/or actions captured in photograph, video and/or audio recordings. As
a condition of my attendance at this conference, I agree to irrevocably grant to the
National Communication Association (“NCA”), its assigns, licensees and
successors the right to video, photograph, publish, record, broadcast, exhibit,
digitize, display, copyright, license, transfer, reproduce, translate, modify, edit or
otherwise use perpetually throughout the world, in all media now and hereafter
known or devised, in whole or in part, my image, likeness, voice, name and
actions in audio and video recordings, photographs and materials prepared by
and/or disseminated by NCA.
- During the course of this conference, I acknowledge that I may have my voice,
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For questions about NCA grant programs, please email the NCA Research Department.