Large Teaching and Learning Innovation Projects (L-TLIP)

Call for Expression of Interest (EOI) - Fall 2025

Introduction

Generative AI is reshaping the way students learn, teachers teach, and universities assess achievement. Building on a three-pillar vision -- Pedagogic Innovation; Scholarship of Teaching and Learning; Inter-disciplinary Collaboration -- we are launching a Large Teaching and Learning Innovation Projects (L-TLIP) funding stream to help the HKUST community experiment, evaluate, and scale evidence-based AI pedagogy. This new L-TLIP funding scheme emphasises cross-departmental collaboration, AI Future Playground support, and ethical GenAI use for funded teams.

Each L-TLIP award funds a cross-disciplinary team of faculty and students-as-partners to design, build, and pilot a concrete AI-driven teaching solution that tackles a clearly defined HKUST learning challenge. By the end of the three-year project, the team must deliver a functioning, classroom-ready tool or practice that is used in multiple courses spanning at least two academic departments or discipline domains, together with rigorous evidence that it improves one or more of the following:

1. Cognitive outcomes: gains in understanding, application, or knowledge transfer;
2. Affective outcomes: shifts in motivation, confidence, belonging, or well-being;
3. Assessment practices: improves in the validity, integrity, or efficiency of grading and feedback.

The solution must employ generative-AI technologies, large-language models, multimodal systems, and/or agent frameworks, as authentic pedagogical instruments, embedding ethical and privacy-conscious design from day one. Scholarly output is expected, but the primary deliverable is a scalable, evidence-based tool or practice demonstrably beneficial across disciplines at HKUST.

If you want to know more about the following active learning strategies:

• AR/VR in Teaching
• Blended Learning
• Experiential Learning
• Gamified & Game-based Learning
• Generative AI

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Funding

Up to HK$800,000 per project, with a required minimum one-fourth matching contribution from the department/division, which must be provided in addition to the awarded amount. (Priority will be given to projects with department/division matching.)  Funding awarded can be only used for the purposes such as:

• hiring support staff (for example, project/instructional assistant/teaching associate/research assistant); and
• with department/division head’s agreement, hiring temporary staff to partially release the project leader from regular commitments to work on the project.
• subscription/purchase of AI services and software licenses (e.g. generative AI APIs, cloud compute, institutional/site licenses) for project use, subject to department/division head approval and compliance with university procurement, licensing, data‑protection and academic‑integrity policies; such purchases should be time‑limited to the project period, cost‑effective and specifically justified in the project budget.

The following expenses are NOT normally covered by the funding:

• equipment and teaching material expenses, which should be covered by the relevant school/department/division
• using the funding as a PGS or hiring full-time research student at HKUST to support the project
• conference attendance, publications in journals, and traveling outside Hong Kong; and
• refreshment for functions/events; and provision of incentives to students (for example, coupons or allowance) for taking part in the study.

Funding Committee

The Teaching and Learning Innovation Projects Sub-committee (TLIP) is a part of the Committee on Teaching and Learning Innovation (CTLI), chaired by the Director of the Center for Education Innovation (CEI). L-TLIP consists of members from each school, the AIS, and CLE to evaluate project proposals that promote active learning and make funding decisions.

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Eligibility and Support

The Principal Investigator must be a member of HKUST faculty. Every team must include at least one co-PI from a different department and at least one undergraduate or postgraduate student in a substantive co-design role. Partnerships with industry or external institutions are welcome where they extend expertise or implementation reach.

Awardees will have priority access to CEI’s Advanced Learning Hub (ALH) and its secure AI Future Playground for rapid prototyping. CEI learning designers will provide ongoing advice on instructional design, ethics, accessibility, and data-management planning, helping each project progress smoothly from proof-of-concept to classroom-ready practice and, when warranted by the evidence, to wider roll-out across the University.

Student Partnership Guidelines

The call should specify what constitutes meaningful student partnership, including:

• Minimum time commitment expectations for student partners
• Training and support provisions for student co-investigators
• Decision-making authority levels for student partners
• Authentic collaboration versus tokenistic involvement

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Application process

The competition follows a two-stage process:

Stage 1 – Expression of Interest (EOI). A concise (~1,100-word) EOI lays out the teaching challenge, the AI-enabled intervention, intended impacts, collaboration map, evaluation plan, AI Future Playground needs, budget/match summary, and sustainability pathway.

Stage 2 – Full Proposal. Short-listed teams will be invited to submit a detailed project plan, risk analysis, data-management protocol, and timeline. CEI learning designers will offer consultation clinics between stages.

All proposals must be written for an informed but non-specialist audience.

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Key Selection Criteria

Priority will be given to applicants who secure a minimum one-fourth matching contribution from their department/division, which must be provided in addition to the awarded amount.

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Important Dates

Project length is up to 3 years

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Application Procedures

1 | Fill out the L-TLIP Expression of Interest (EOI) Template by 31 December 2025. It will guide you to complete the key information needed.

2 | Preliminary proposal: Email to angellu@ust.hk by the specified deadline. Upon receiving your submission, CEI will contact you to discuss your idea and to provide advice to shape up the proposal.

3 | Final proposal: Email to angellu@ust.hk by the specified deadline. Late submissions will only be considered if accompanied by a strong, documented justification and approved by CEI. Please ensure that the proposal is endorsed and signed by relevant parties and mail the endorsed hardcopy to CEI (Room 6401), c/o Ms Angel Lu.

4 | Pitch your ideas: Submit a 3-5 minute short video with an accompanying slide deck of your final proposal. The presentation is suggested to cover the following:

• Significant implications of the pedagogy you have adopted into your course design, potential reach across disciplines and how it promotes active learning
• Problems or opportunities to be addressed
• Target audience and number of beneficiaries
• Feasibility of the project timeline
• Plans for maintaining and sustaining the developed course(s) beyond funding period
• Knowledge transfer of lessons learned within/across department
• Potential future/long-term use of the pedagogy adopted

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Project Workflow

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Reporting and Dissemination Requirement

Funding will be allocated on the basis of competitive bidding. Only high-quality proposals meeting the evaluation criteria will be funded.

• An annual progress report will have to be submitted by the project leader to describe and evaluate the progress in implementing the approved projects.
• A final report should be submitted upon the completion of the project.The project team will be required to disseminate the project outcomes (e.g. findings, deliverables, experiences) by presenting their work to the University community in the form of workshop/symposium organized by CEI.

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Enquiries

For enquiries about application procedures and advice on strengthening the project ideas, please contact Ms Angel Lu of CEI at angellu@ust.hk or ext. 3484.