Innovative teaching and learning awards

Through this program, the CTI encourages faculty to explore new tools and technologies, approaches, and teaching strategies to enhance learning experiences at Cornell.

Program goals

One of the key values behind the project is to promote teaching and learning practices based on current education research. The awards help instructors develop innovative teaching strategies that actively engage students, create an inclusive classroom, and improve their success in the undergraduate learning environment. 

The program also encourages instructors to identify and implement new ways of creatively or critically thinking about disciplines, examine a diverse range of perspectives and processes from across disciplines, and integrate a variety of approaches to solving complex problems.

Award process

CTI publishes a call for applications each spring, and grants are awarded at the beginning of fall semester for use during the academic year. Learn more about applying for an Innovative Teaching and Learning Award.

Funded projects

2021 - 2022

Grants for 2021-2022 have been awarded, and instructors are working on their projects.

 Innovation Grant Awardees Department/College Project Title

Chelsea Specht Professor

School of Integrative Plant Science, CALS Teaching active and applied critical thinking in CALS gateway courses

Slava Paperno        Sr. Lecturer

Comparative Literature, CAS Real-life environments and asynchronous collaboration: piloting new digital learning tools with Burmese WAL
Joshua Cerra Associate Professor Landscape Architecture, CALS Building with birds: Deploying field technologies for enhanced avian habitat assessment and design innovation
Genevive Meredith Lecturer Master of Public Health, CVM Increasing active learning to foreground student competence development

2019 - 2020

Explore the projects from 2019-2020. The video to the right shows an overview of the six projects. The projects represent work being done by instructors in Landscape architecture, Biology, Neurobiology & behavior, Earth & atmospheric sciences, Science & Technology Studies and Music, as well as Ecology & evolutionary biology.


2018 - 2019

Explore the projects from 2018-2019. The video to the right, The Art of Math, is one of the projects, conducted in the Classics department. The others represent teaching being done in Communication, Neurobiology & behavior, Ecology & evolutionary biology, and Psychology.

Media coverage