Research on Innovative Technologies for Enhanced Learning | 23 624

Opportunity Information: Apply for 23 624

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Research on Innovative Technologies for Enhanced Learning (RITEL) program funds early-stage, exploratory research aimed at creating and studying new technologies that can meaningfully improve teaching and/or learning in real educational settings. The emphasis is on forward-looking work that responds to pressing needs in authentic environments, meaning projects should be grounded in realistic contexts such as classrooms, informal learning spaces, workplace training, or other settings where learning actually occurs, rather than purely hypothetical or lab-only scenarios.

RITEL is centered on emerging and potentially transformative technologies for education. While the program explicitly includes areas like artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and immersive or augmenting technologies (such as VR/AR), it is not limited to those examples. Proposals may focus on learning, on teaching, or on the intersection of both, and the topic areas are intentionally broad. RITEL supports research connected to STEM education as well as foundational capabilities that underpin success in STEM and beyond, such as self-regulation, literacy, communication, collaboration, creativity, and social-emotional skills. This broad scope signals that NSF is not only interested in teaching specific content, but also in developing technologies that strengthen the underlying skills learners need to engage, persist, and succeed across disciplines.

A defining feature of RITEL is its requirement that projects advance knowledge on two fronts at once: they must contribute to research on learning and/or teaching while also advancing the technology itself. In other words, the program is not intended for building an educational tool without a strong research contribution, nor for studying learning without a meaningful technology innovation. Successful projects typically integrate both, using rigorous research methods to generate insights about how people learn and how technology can be designed to support that learning, while also pushing the technological capabilities beyond current practice.

RITEL strongly encourages interdisciplinary and convergent research, bringing together perspectives from multiple fields. The solicitation highlights synthesis across areas such as the learning sciences, discipline-based education research, computer and information science and engineering, design, and the cognitive, behavioral, and social sciences. This convergence expectation reflects the reality that impactful educational technologies usually require both strong technical development and deep understanding of learners, educators, contexts, and the social factors that shape educational outcomes.

The program also places special interest on serving diverse learner and educator populations and on creating solutions that can work in resource-constrained environments. In practical terms, this means proposals that explicitly address equity, accessibility, and real-world constraints are a strong fit, especially when technologies are designed to be cost-effective and feasible for budget-limited school districts, colleges, and universities. RITEL supports research across all learner populations and learning contexts, so projects can target different age groups, abilities, backgrounds, and settings, as long as the work is grounded in authentic needs and produces research contributions in both education and technology.

From the funding opportunity details provided, this is an NSF discretionary grant opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number 23-624) in the science and technology research and development category, associated with CFDA numbers 47.041, 47.070, 47.075, and 47.076. The award ceiling is $900,000, with an expected 25 awards. The opportunity was created on September 27, 2023, and originally closed on January 24, 2024. Eligibility is listed as "Others" with clarification in the solicitation, indicating that applicants should consult the detailed eligibility language in the full announcement to confirm organizational fit and requirements.

• The National Science Foundation in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Research on Innovative Technologies for Enhanced Learning" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 47.041, 47.070, 47.075, 47.076.
• This funding opportunity was created on Sep 27, 2023.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jan 24, 2024. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $900,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 25 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for 23 624

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: