SPARC Award Sample Goals and Activities for the Mentored Teaching and Research Plan

The examples below are not exhaustive, but are meant to provide a general idea of the types of activities that would be appropriate. Your descriptions of the activities should provide sufficient detail and rationale to demonstrate how they would help you achieve your goals.

Part 1: Teaching Goals and Activities

Teaching goals and activities help you develop skills that are important to becoming an effective teacher in higher education.

A minimum of two teaching goals and one activity per teaching goal is required for the application.

Examples

Goal	Activity	Target Date
Develop skills in preparing, delivering, and evaluating a class lecture	Present a guest lecture under the guidance of a faculty mentor (hint: specify the course and topic and how your experience or research area prepares you to teach the topic) Record yourself teaching a topic, and evaluate your performance (hint: specify how you’ll measure your performance)	11/20/YYYY
Increase knowledge of evidence-based teaching methods	Attend a seminar on teaching in higher education (hint: specify the title of the seminar and the presenter/organization providing the seminar) Research and summarize relevant information from three published articles on flipped classrooms (hint: specify how you would discuss applying this information)	3/30/YYYY
Engage in community outreach to learn about teaching methods	Organize and present a local event to community members about topics relevant to the group (e.g., language development for parents, the signs of stroke for older adults, etc.) Collect feedback from the group to evaluate your performance (hint: specify what type of feedback)	5/31/YYYY

In addition to the teaching goals, include the expected type and frequency of interaction with your mentor(s).

Example:

I plan to meet with my entire mentoring team in person in September to review my plan. I plan to meet with the mentoring team remotely to review the progress on my goals at least three times: January, May, and August. I will meet with my primary mentor on a bi-weekly basis for regularly scheduled 30-minute meetings. Additional interactions will be scheduled as needed

Part 2: Research Goals and Activities

Research goals and activities help you develop skills that are important to becoming an effective researcher in the discipline of communications sciences and disorders (CSD).

A minimum of two research goals and one activity per research goal is required for the application.

Examples

Goal	Activity	Target Date
Gain skills in research project development and data collection	Develop a research question based on the current research of my mentor Complete participant recruitment and data collection for the research project (note: it’s fine if the data has already been collected as part of your mentor’s research) Perform data analyses and develop hypotheses to explain the results	5/31/20YY
Develop skills in disseminating research findings	Submit a poster presentation relating to your ongoing research project to the 20YY ASHA Convention (hint: specify the topic area of your research) Present your research findings in an oral session or seminar to a research or clinical conference or meeting (e.g., a conference focused on your research area, state Speech-Language-Hearing Association, institution program) Prepare and submit a manuscript of the research project to XX journal.	7/01/20YY
Gain knowledge about opportunities in academic-research careers	Interview three faculty members at different institutions with positions that represent a variety of career options, including tenure-track faculty-researchers, clinical supervisors, and research scientists. Attend poster and oral sessions on topics related to your research interests at the ASHA Convention and talk to presenters about what they like and what they find challenging about conducting research. Meet with current doctoral students at XX University to discuss questions about the doctoral degree and process. Meet with three potential PhD advisors and ask questions developed in collaboration with your mentor about the possibility of completing a research doctorate with them.	11/30/20YY

In addition to the research goals, include the expected type and frequency of interaction with your mentor(s).

Example:

I plan to meet with my entire mentoring team in person in September to review my plan. I plan to meet with the mentoring team remotely to review the progress on my goals at least three times: in January, May, and August. I will meet with my primary mentor on a bi-weekly basis for regularly scheduled 30-minute meetings. Additional interactions will be scheduled as needed.

For each person on the mentoring team, list