UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Center for Online Innovation in Learning at Penn State has announced it will fund four new projects through its Research Initiation Grant Program. The goal of the COIL grant program is to provide seed money for Penn State researchers to gather preliminary evidence to pursue external funding for larger studies that enhance teaching and learning through online innovation. The core mission of COIL is to build and sustain a culture of innovation, collaboration and invention focused on improving teaching and learning.

The following four projects have received grants from COIL’s spring 2017 round of funding:

• The Development of a Computer Simulated Child Abuse Screening Tool (CSI-CAST), Melanie D. Hetzel-Riggin, professor of psychology and program coordinator for the Master of Arts in Applied Clinical Psychology, School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Penn State Behrend 
• Using Virtual Reality to Enhance Distance Education for Additive Manufacturing, Nicholas A. Meisel, Emmert H. Bashore Faculty Development Professor and assistant professor, engineering design and mechanical engineering at Penn State  
• Leveraging Robots to Enhance Student and Staff Collaboration: An Exploration of Social, Cognitive, and Emotional Presence, Sam Richards, senior lecturer in the Department of Sociology at Penn State and director of development for the World in Conversation Center for Public Diplomacy, College of the Liberal Arts at Penn State
• Using Educational Data Mining to Increase Temporal Participation in Online Courses, Hengtao Tang, doctoral student in learning design and technology, College of Education at Penn State

Brad Zdenek, innovation strategist for COIL, was part of the applicant review process and said he felt privileged to explore the innovative work being pursued across the University.

“During this round, we received 18 incredibly strong proposals offering innovative solutions to diverse learner needs,” Zdenek said.

“What emerged from our exhaustive peer-review process were four projects that exemplify the learning focused innovation COIL is working to champion at Penn State.”

COIL’s Research Initiation Grant program began in 2012, and funding has been made available to applicants each fall and spring semester.

For more information about the Research Initiation Grant program and past recipients, visit COIL online.