Faculty of Education, Humanities, Law and Theology Awards for Excellence in Teaching

Policy and Guidelines

University Excellence in Teaching Awards serve the purposes of:

• recognising and rewarding teaching excellence
• encouraging teaching excellence through this recognition
• ensuring staff development activities relating to teaching
• and promoting to both the Flinders and outside community that this university is proud of its academic staff and that they perform at national and international standards.

The Faculty of Education, Humanities, Law and Theology Awards for Excellence in Teaching are designed to reward staff for excellence in teaching within the faculty, and to encourage winners to apply for the Vice Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching later in the year and possibly Australian Teaching and Learning Council (formerly Carrick) Awards in the next year.

Up to five awards will be made each year. These awards will be made to teams of staff (headed by an academic) and/or to individual academic staff. Award winners will receive a certificate of Excellence in Teaching and a prize of $3000 (shared in the case of teams) which may be used for such purposes as conference attendance, purchase of resources to assist in preparation and delivery of teaching and learning materials, or purchase of books, journals etc.

Applicants should send one hard copy and an electronic copy of their application to the Secretary, Teaching and Learning Committee, Faculty of EHLT.

Eligibility

Team Applications: Teams should consist of at least three members and be headed by an academic member of staff (defined as tenured or on contract of greater than 12 months duration, with full-time equivalence of at least 0.4). Teams may include casual or part-time academic staff, and non-academic and support staff. Team applicants will be responsible for a project, achievement, change or development in a module, strand, topic, year level program, or course judged to be outstanding.

Individual Applications: Individual awards will be awarded to academic staff judged to be outstanding teachers. Where possible, one of the individual awards may be made to an academic staff member with no more than seven years experience teaching in a higher education setting. [This should be interpreted as seven calendar years and includes all tutoring, part-time teaching, and teaching at other higher education institutions]. All members of the academic staff, tenured or on contract of greater than 12 months duration, with full-time equivalence of at least 0.4, are eligible for an award. Recipients must have been employed in a teaching post for at least three years within the University.

Staff from Yunggorendi First Nations Centre for Higher Education and Research are eligible to apply on the basis of their teaching within Education and Australian Studies. The application will need to be endorsed by the Dean of Education and / or Humanities depending on the topics referred to in the application.

Award winners will not be eligible for re-nomination within the same category for three years.

Nominations

Nomination can come from four sources – self, peer, head of school, or student(s). Student nominators must have completed the nominee’s topic. The nominator and nominee are required to complete the nomination form (attached). All nominations must be endorsed by the Head of AOU. Once a nominated applicant has agreed to apply he or she must prepare his or her application according to the guidelines below.

Award Criteria

Applicants must make a case which addresses up to three of the following five criteria. This section of the application should not exceed three pages in total (see presentation guidelines below).

1. Approaches to teaching that influence, motivate and inspire students to learn

This may include, but is not limited to: fostering student development by stimulating curiosity and independence in learning; contribution to the development of students’ critical thinking skills, analytical skills and scholarly values; encouraging student engagement through the enthusiasm shown for learning and teaching; inspiring and motivating students through high-level communication, presentation and interpersonal skills.

2. Development of curricula and resources that reflect a command of the field

This may include, but is not limited to: developing and presenting coherent and imaginative resources for student learning; implementing research-led approaches to learning and teaching; demonstrating up-to-date knowledge of the field of study in the design of the curriculum and the creation of resources for learning; communicating clear objectives and expectations for student learning; providing innovative and flexible approaches to learning and teaching.

3. Approaches to assessment and feedback that foster independent learning

This may include, but is not limited to: integrating assessment strategies with the specific aims and objectives for student learning; providing timely, worthwhile feedback to students on their learning; using a variety of assessment and feedback strategies; implementing both formative and summative assessment; adapting assessment methods to different contexts and diverse student needs.

4. Respect and support for the development of students as individuals

This may include, but is not limited to: participating in the effective and empathetic guidance and advising of students; assisting students from equity and other demographic subgroups to participate and achieve success in their courses; influencing the overall academic, social and cultural experience of higher education.

5. Scholarly activities that have influenced and/or enhanced learning and teaching

This may include, but is not limited to: showing advanced skills in evaluation and reflective practice; participating in and contributing to professional activities related to learning and teaching; coordination, management and leadership of courses and student learning; conducting and publishing research related to teaching; demonstrating leadership through activities that have broad influence on the profession; examples of particular teaching challenges that you confronted during the year and the way in which you chose to tackle these challenges.

Application Content and Presentation Guidelines

Applicants must:

• Complete and sign the application form and checklist attached.
• Include a 10 to 20 word citation that summarises their claim to excellence
• Include a half page personal biography. This will be used to promote the teaching success of the winners of the Awards within the Faculty, and should be written accordingly
• Write a statement (limited to half an A4 page) that provides a summary of their teaching and learning context (e.g., courses and topics taught, student numbers, modes of delivery)
• Address up to three of the selection criteria in not more than a total of three A4 pages (single spaced, minimum 11 point font, 2.5 cm margin all around). Applicants need to provide evidence to support their claims against these criteria.
• Attach a statement of support / endorsement from the Head of School.
• Attach a summary of mean teaching scores from student evaluations of teaching and topics (limited to two pages – see Attachment 3 from Form C, Application for Promotion).

Other Supporting Material
Applicants may send one copy of materials labeled as Supportive Teaching Material that provide evidence to support claims against the selection criteria, e.g., study guides, learning guides.

Assessment of Applications

Applications will be assessed by a sub-committee of the Faculty Teaching and Learning Committee. Where possible, this sub-committee will include representation from each school and one of the two student representatives. Applications should be submitted electronically to the Executive Officer, EHLT Teaching and Learning Committee, (Colleen.Bregantic@flinders.edu.au), by the 31 July 2008.

Attachments can be downloaded

• Nomination form
• Application form and checklist