Awards for Excellence in Teaching
In 2017/18 the University is inviting members of staff to nominate themselves in the Excellence in Teaching Awards. There will be up ten awards available which will be decided by a Teaching Awards Panel. The categories of award are as follows:
- Outstanding or Innovative Undergraduate Teaching
- Outstanding or Innovative Postgraduate Teaching
- Outstanding or Innovative Assessment and Feedback
- Outstanding Support for the Learning Experience of Students
- Outstanding Professional Services Support for the Learning Experience of Students
Up to ten awards will be granted each year across the five categories of award in any combination.
£3,000 funding is available for each award. We are also exploring the feasibility of certificates for these awards to be presented at summer graduation.
The funding is to be used to develop teaching and support teaching projects that have a quantifiable benefit or impact for students. Funds may also be used for pedagogic research including attending and presenting at conferences to raise the profile of excellence in teaching and to develop excellence in line with National Teaching Fellowship criteria.
Criteria for award
Nominees will be judged against the criteria used for the National Teaching Fellowship Scheme (NTFS) as follows:
- Individual excellence: evidence of enhancing and transforming the student learning experience comensurate with the individual's context and the opportunities afforded by it.
- Raising the profile of excellence: evidence of supporting colleagues and influencing support for student learning; demonstrating impact and engagement beyond the nominee's immediate academic or professional role.
- Developing excellence: evidence of the nominee's commitment to his/her on-going professional development with regard to teaching and learning and/or learning support.
For these awards the first criterion is mandatory and either the second or the third criteria should be met.
Submission and decision process
Any member of staff who teaches, or supports the learning process can nominate themselves for an award by completing the Excellence in Teaching Awards Nomination Form [DOCX 29.60KB]. Nominations can be submitted individually or as a team/group. If there is a member or group pf staff that you think should put themselves forward, please encourage them to do so.
The nomination form asks for a reflective statement of no more than 2,000 words giving examples of the teaching and/or supporting learning activities that a member or group of staff are involved in, and how they align to the criteria for the awards. Staff may wish to reflect back to the previous academic year in writing their statement.
The first criteria is mandatory and nominees should focus on their contribution to enhancement of the student experience at Sussex. Activities which may be covered in the statement could include:
- Innovative design and/or delivery of a course or modules at an undergraduate or postgraduate level
- Innovation in assessment and feedback
- Technology Enhanced Learning
- Academic support for students
- Embedding employability skills
- Inclusive teaching, learning and assessment
- Strengthening student engagement
You may find the Guidance for Excellence in Teaching Statement [DOCX 27.46KB] document a useful resource. Professional services staff should refer to Guidance for Professional Services for Teaching Awards Statement [DOCX 28.22KB].
No appendices containing additional evidence will be permitted. Instead, as with the NTF process, nominees will need to select evidence that supports their nomination from a range of sources that may be appropriate and incorporate this within the 2000 word statement. It is a requirement that student feedback be included in the statement (as anonymised extracts from formal or informal feedback or data from course and module evaluations). Nominees may also wish to incorporate feedback arising from observations of their work and/or evidence such as screen shots of Study Direct sites.
Also within the nomination form, the Head of School/Head of Professional Services Division must write a supportive statement of no more than 500 words. Nominations can be made on an individual or team basis.
Once complete, the nomination form should be submitted to teachingawards@sussex.ac.uk by Tuesday 19 December 2017.
A Teaching Awards Panel Chaired by the PVC Teaching and Learning (or nominee) will review the nominations and make a shortlist. The shortlist will be invited to give a short presentation to the awards panel on their work and answer any questions. This will enable the Teaching Awards Panel to agree winners and determine the appropriate category of the award to be given.
Key deadlines for 2017/18
The deadline for submitting a nomination form for the Awards for Excellence in Teaching is Tuesday 19 December 2017. Shortlisting will take place throughout January. The shortlist will be invited to present to the Panel in February. Winners will be announced as soon as possible following the Panel meeting.