The Center for Applied Research and Design in Transformative Education (CARADITE) at Duke Learning Innovation and Lifetime Education (LILE) is delighted to announce recipients in the second cohort of the LILE Emerging Pedagogies Research Grants.
The LILE Emerging Pedagogies Research Grants program supports and facilitates Duke faculty who are conducting early-stage research projects about emerging pedagogies and related student learning practices. Research projects accepted into the program receive financial support, with participating researchers further supported by CARADITE’s comprehensive suite of consultative and technical assistance services. By sponsoring and supporting a second cohort, CARADITE is cultivating a more connected and robust community of Duke researchers exploring teaching excellence and pedagogical innovation.
CARADITE received 17 Ideation Proposals in the fall of 2024 in response to a call for proposals; ultimately, five projects (led by 10 participating researchers) were awarded funding and comprise the second cohort. The cohort’s research will commence during the 2025-2026 academic year.
The second cohort of Emerging Pedagogies Research Grants includes:
Jennifer Ahern-Dodson: “Teaching in the AI Age: Fostering Pedagogies of Curiosity, Collaboration, and Experimentation”
The “Teaching in the Age of AI” faculty learning community (FLC) invites faculty to learn as students, with students, and for students. Faculty—many of whom already are experiencing the culture of speed and feeling behind on AI even as students are surging ahead—will explore generative AI in their fields and in their own work as faculty (writing, research, mentoring, e.g.) and consider thoughtfully the implications for their teaching. In a multidisciplinary cohort, faculty will commit to developing or redesigning an assignment or learning experience for their spring 2026 course that is informed by their own learning about generative AI in the fall. They will design their pedagogical experiment in the fall, implement and assess it in the spring in collaboration with students and a project researcher, and share the related teaching artifact (assignment, AI policy, syllabus) and their reflection on generative AI in their classroom context with their departments or programs.
Faculty will convene for three immersive retreats at the beginning, middle, and end of the project, and will meet monthly during the academic year (September – April). During these meetings participants will study AI in context: The state of AI in higher education and their own fields, what we are learning from students, what we are learning at Duke. They will learn from guest speakers, develop, describe and assess their pedagogical decisions and practices, share their assignments or other generative AI pedagogical experiments with the cohort for feedback, share successes and challenges, and pose questions. This FLC aims to empower faculty as they explore generative AI, make and communicate concrete pedagogical plans, and learn in a supported, collegial environment.
This learning community is currently accepting applications to join – apply by August 15.
Sarah Jean Barton and Raheleh Ghasseminia: “Unpacking Ungrading: Assessment, Inclusion, and Belonging in Graduate Professional Classrooms”
This project examines how learners in graduate professional education programs perceive their learning experiences in courses utilizing an ungrading approach to assessment. This project will specifically explore how ungrading relates to inclusive teaching and learning environments for graduate professional learners, as well as their sense of belonging in the classroom. The research team will involve both faculty and graduate research assistants.
Using a mixed-methods convergent parallel study design, the project team will recruit student participants from Duke Divinity School and Duke’s Occupational Therapy Doctorate program who have completed at least one course using an ungrading approach to assessment. Thestudy design builds on previous work on learner experiences of ungrading, utilizing an existing survey with both closed and open-ended items (Hasinoff et al., 2024).
Data from the closed end survey responses will be analyzed using descriptive statistics and Pearson correlations to explore relationships between survey items. Qualitative data from the open-ended survey responses will be thematically analyzed, utilizing a process of iterative, inductive coding across the research team. Both quantitative and qualitative analysis will explore how learner experiences of ungrading both align and differ across various demographic identities, as well as professional school contexts (Divinity and Occupational Therapy).
Steven Grambow, Ada Gregory, Jeffrey Hoder, and Catherine Hart: “Restorative Practices Across Learning Environments: A New Pedagogical Approach”
This project investigates how restorative practices (RP)—a relational, community-centered framework—can strengthen learning experiences across varied educational settings. The project’s interdisciplinary team will pilot RP-based approaches in online graduate courses, immersive student programs, clinical training environments, and doctoral-level instruction in health professions. Grounded in structured dialogue, mutual accountability, and peer-supported learning, RP creates conditions that support open communication, reduce barriers to participation, and promote personal and professional growth. Faculty and staff participants will implement RP tools such as small-group agreements, reflective check-ins, and facilitated discussions designed to encourage deeper engagement and collaborative problem-solving. Using a mixed-methods design, the project team will collect survey data, conduct focus groups, and analyze reflections to understand how these practices shape learner experience and teaching effectiveness. By adapting RP to different learning environments, the project will identify practical strategies that enhance psychological safety and group cohesion. Deliverables will include faculty training materials, an implementation guide, and foundational data for future research and external grant applications. Ultimately, this work seeks to offer instructors actionable tools that support learner development, strengthen interpersonal dynamics, and foster respectful, high-trust educational settings.
Rhiannon Scharnhorst and Linda Daniel: “Collaborative Frameworks: Transforming Information Literacy Instruction Through Structured Writing-Library Partnerships”
This project aims to develop a sustainable model for structured collaborations between Writing 101 instructors and librarians at Duke University to transform information literacy instruction. While ad-hoc partnerships between writing instructors and librarians exist, thisresearch addresses the lack of systematic frameworks that can be institutionalized beyond individual relationships. The project team will implement and study formalized collaborative processes, documenting how they enhance teaching approaches and address student research challenges in today’s complex information environment. Using collaborative action research and constructivist grounded theory analysis, the team will identify essential components of effective partnerships and develop resources including co-created instructional materials, faculty-librarian workshops, and implementation recommendations. By involving undergraduate research partners, this project will incorporate valuable student perspectives while creating multi-level educational opportunities. This initiative responds to the critical need for structured approaches to teaching information literacy at a time when students face unprecedented challenges navigating misinformation and using AI tools effectively. Project findings will provide a framework that can strengthen cross-disciplinary faculty collaborations not only at Duke but at other institutions seeking to enhance information literacy instruction.
Rebecca Vidra: “Fostering a Sense of Purpose in the Nicholas School’s Masters of Environmental Management Students”
This project is inspired by the tagline of the Nicholas School of the Environment (NSoE): more than a degree, a purpose. This project will investigate the ways in which Duke’s Masters of Environmental Management (MEM) students currently explore their purpose and identify innovative strategies for further integrating purpose work, which can also have character and civil discourse components, into our curriculum. Through focus groups and an alumni survey, the project will ask: (1) Can students articulate how their graduate school training is helping them to craft their sense of purpose?; (2) In what ways, avenues, classes, and conversations are students currently reflecting on purpose; and (3) How did the MEM program help shape our alumni’s thinking about purpose? This project also supports the development of a rich assessment strategy for a new course – Engaging with Complexity: Ethics and Dialogue in Environmental Management – to better understand how deeper reflection on purpose can be integrated into coursework. This project is part of a larger effort, supported by the Kenan Institute for Ethics and Wake Forest’s Educating Character Initiative, to develop a proposal for a strategic and relevant character education program for the Nicholas School.
