Peer to Peer Pedagogical Partnership Grants

P4 Houston - 2018

The Peer to Peer Pedagogical Partnerships program launched in Houston on March 22, 2019, with a day of presentations and collaboration at Rice University. The event involved thirty-five political science faculty members representing nine community colleges and universities in the Houston area.

The day began with presentations on cutting-edge research on race, ethnicity and gender in U.S. and Texas politics. Following these presentations, pedagogical experts presented on best practices and innovative methods for student engagement. This was followed by breakout sessions where faculty from across institutions formed teams and developed plans for production of new teaching resources.

In the months since, teams have been hard at work sharing best practices for teaching and learning, and developing new teaching resources based on cutting-edge research. Each team is made up of faculty from at least one community college and at least one regional public, liberal arts, or research institution. Their teaching resources include simulations, active learning modules, and guided discussions, and will be made available to political scientists in Houston and beyond through APSA’s new teaching and learning website in Fall 2020.

The P4 program helped us to strengthen our teaching and better serve our community. We had the opportunity to share research with peers who teach thousands more students every year than we do, increasing the exposure of cutting edge political science research to students in our region. We built connections with other local political scientists that we hope will lead to continued collaboration. Rice got everything we hoped for out of this experience.

Ashley Leeds

Professor and Chair of Political Science, Rice University

There is so much that community college and university political scientists share in common, but often we lack occasions to collaborate. P4 is a unique opportunity to bring us together, to build on our strengths as teachers and researchers, and to create new ways to connect our discipline to today's college students. P4 is not only something practical; it is also joyful!

Cammy Shay

Professor and Chair of Political Science, Houston Community College

P4 Application Guidelines

Peer to Peer Pedagogical Partnership grants have four inter-related aims:

To create partnerships among colleagues at different kinds of higher education institutions.
To support colleagues in generating cutting-edge teaching materials based on recent research.
To assist faculty at more research-intensive institutions in teaching and mentoring first-generation, under-represented minority, and economically disadvantaged students in ways they might not otherwise have done.
To enable colleagues at more teaching-intensive institutions to teach materials that they would not otherwise have the time or inclination to teach.

P4 applications must include the following components:

Project Abstract (1 page single spaced maximum)
APSA members number for PI or Co-PI’s.
PI CV(s)
P4 Project Proposal
Budget (1 page)
Institutionalization Plan

Frequently Asked Questions

What should be included in our project proposal?

Identify a theme or content area for pedagogical products.
Specification of proposed participants. Propose a group of three or more local institutions from whom you would recruit members. This group should reflect the full institutional diversity in your region and will ideally include at least one community college, one research-intensive institution, and one liberal arts college or regional public institution. If there are no liberal arts or regional public institutions in your area please note that in your application (note that “region” is somewhat flexible and may be larger for applicants in less populous areas). If possible, applications should also identify at least one political science faculty member from each of the local institutions from which you will recruit who has committed to participating in P4 events (not necessarily a PI).
Schedule of Events and Work Flow. P4 grants support political science faculty working across institutions to develop cutting-edge teaching materials and share best practices for teaching historically under-represented students. We expect that this work will be conducted through events that bring all participants together to collaborate and share resources, as well as through less formal meetings among P4 team members between events. Proposals should specify the number, timing, and purpose of funded activities. These events can include dissemination or follow-up events held after teaching resources have been produced.
The Centennial Center’s Teaching Symposia offer an example of what a collaborative teaching and learning workshop might look like: Sample workshop schedules available here.
Inclusivity Statement (1-page maximum). Include a statement describing how its selection of topics and personnel demonstrates a commitment to ensuring an inclusive conversation that reflects the diversity of the Association and our profession

What can be included in our budget?

Travel and meeting costs for 2-3 face-to-face meetings involving all P4 participants. One of these events can include the presentation of P4 materials to broader audiences (beyond P4 participants).
Honoraria to participants to compensate them for their work (no more than 25% of total budget).
Honoraria to organizers for their work (no more than 5% of the budget).
P4 grants may not be used for overhead costs.

Do you have any examples of P4 projects?

The P4 pilot program was held in Houston, Texas, in 2019. You can read more about their launch event here. Currently, teams of faculty from across higher education institutions are holding regular group meetings to develop their teaching resources, which will be completed in Fall 2019.

Interested in applying?

We strongly encourage interested members to get in touch with any questions or for more information!