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Writing an Education Plan

A CAREER proposal must indicate the goals and objectives of the proposed education activities, how it will be integrated with the research component, and the criteria for assessing how these goals will be met. Principal investigators are strongly encouraged to describe how the impact of the educational activities will be assessed or evaluated. A helpful document for information on evaluating educational activities is the NSF publication The 2002 User-Friendly Handbook for Project Evaluation (NSF 02-057). Another is the 2006 ASEE Project Evaluation Powerpoint, provided by the NSF.

Education and Outreach Possibilities

Education and Outreach Workshop

General Guidelines for Constructing an Education Plan

1. Reviewers and program officers want to see that your education plans are as innovative as your research, and are not just activities that you are currently doing, or would be required to do anyway.

2. Education plans should be more than what is required of a normal Assistant Professor. Course development and teaching alone isn’t good enough.

3. Discuss your ideas and plans with department colleagues, and ask for their input.

4. Consider ways to expand upon existing programs at FSU, especially ones NSF is already familiar with such as the MagLab's education initiatives. Also consider leveraging existing partnerships within FSU, the local community, and also beyond.

5. Clearly describe how you will measure the impact of the education plan.

6. Create a detailed timeline for implementation.

7. Select educational activities that you are genuinely excited about doing. Your enthusiasm (or lack thereof) will show in your writing.

8. Make sure to include funding for education activities in the budget.

9. Focus on a few activities, and describe them in specific detail. Quality>Quantity.