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2008 Vice-Chancellor's Awards for Teaching Excellence

Introduction

Monash University recognises and rewards exemplary teaching through the Vice Chancellor's Awards for Teaching Excellence. The Vice-Chancellor of Monash University makes available up to four awards for teaching excellence by individuals or teams. Team nominations are required to demonstrate the value of the team and how this has influenced student learning.

Each award consists of a medallion, a permanent citation on the Records and Archives website, and a grant of $5,000 to be used at the discretion of the award winner to further his or her teaching interests. Certificates of Special Commendation may be awarded to nominees who demonstrate superior performance but who are not award winners.

To facilitate Monash University's nominations for the annual Australian Learning and Teaching Council Awards (previously known as Carrick Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education), the criteria for Monash University's Teaching Excellence Awards are identical to those of the Awards for Teaching Excellence and Citations for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning, http://www.altc.edu.au/carrick/go/home/awards.

Guidelines for nomination and selection

Nomination process

Each faculty will identify excellent teachers and submit up to three nominees, depending on the numbers of eligible academic staff (see table below). Both individual and team nominations are encouraged. Teams may be of any size. The nomination process should be based on assessment of available evidence of teaching excellence, including student evaluations and/or consideration of faculty award recipients.

Full applications must be received by no later than 5pm Wednesday 10 September 2008.

Assistance in the preparation of applications is available from the Centre for the Advancement of learning and Teaching (see later section on Nomination Instructions).

Faculty Maximum number of nominees
Art & Design, Law, Pharmacy 1
Education, Information Technology 2
Arts, Business & Economics, Engineering, Medicine, Science 3

Eligibility

Nominees must have completed one year's employment at Monash University at the time of nomination. Nominees should demonstrate systematic approaches to developing their teaching, which requires sustained teaching experience although this could be at another university prior to joining Monash University. Applications are evaluated against the criteria set out below.

Previous award winners are not eligible. Previous unsuccessful nominees can be considered.

Selection criteria

Nominees' applications will be assessed on the basis of evidence which supports their claims against the following five criteria:

  • Approaches to teaching that influence, motivate and inspire students to learn
  • Development of curricula and resources that reflect a command of the field
  • Approaches to assessment and feedback that foster independent learning
  • Respect and support for the development of students as individuals
  • Scholarly activities that have influenced and enhanced learning and teaching

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

Which may include: fostering student development by stimulating curiosity and independence in learning; contributing 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.

Be specific about what you do as a teacher to encourage student development of attributes relating to the criteria that are appropriate to your nomination, for example, through the application of research-led teaching and learning that arouses curiosity, and develops critical thinking and/or analytic skills. Specify explicit instances of what you implement as a teacher in order to motivate or facilitate quality students learning outcomes.

Evidence of your commitment to encouraging student engagement can include descriptions of ways in which you assist students to become comfortable with study, learning and teaching practices at Monash University; and/or components of the learning experience that develop independent learning, and/or develop scholarly values (such a critical inquiry, quality of argument, rigor of analysis, and adherence to ethical behaviour).

Give details of innovative delivery of course materials, for example problem or case-based learning, strategies for teaching large classes or diverse students. Provide evidence that supports your claim that your approach is innovative for the discipline or context or student cohort.

If your teaching context does not provide the opportunity to develop your own course materials, how do you ensure that your use of course materials is relevant to your students and their context?

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

Which may include: 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.

Explain how you organise teaching/course material, why you take this approach and provide evidence that this is effective in enhancing student learning. Describe how your research and/or research in your discipline feeds into your teaching (for example, have you published a textbook in the field, developed an award-winning website?).

Explain what strategies you employ to ensure you maintain currency in your field and the ways in which you incorporate this in your teaching. Provide examples.

Describe how, in developing your curriculum, you make the objectives clear to students and ensure that they underpin the resources made available and your teaching/learning activities.

Evidence can include student survey responses and peer review of course materials and teaching (see Indicators below)

Approaches to assessment and feedback that foster independent learning

Which may include: 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.

Explain how your formative and summative assessment strategies facilitate the achievement of your learning objectives, including the ways in which you encourage students to take responsibility for their learning. Examples of your innovative approaches to assessment could include: creative and/or innovative formative and summative assessment strategies targeted at particular aims and objectives and the ways in which you use them to improve student learning; the ways in which you employ a variety of assessment tasks to accommodate the diverse student body and a range of learning styles.

Illustrate the methods you use to ensure timely feedback on formative assessment tasks. Show how these assist students to identify their current performance, the learning objectives, and guide them as to what they need to do to close the 'gap' in order to achieve the desired learning outcomes.

Highlight the ways in which you both trial and evaluate innovative assessment strategies in order to increase their effectiveness in improving the quality of student learning.

If you do not have the opportunity to design your own assessment tasks, what do you do to ensure that students are prepared for the demands of assessment? How do you ensure that feedback on formal assessment tasks is informative, timely for students and contributes to their learning? What do you do to ensure the provision of on-going feedback to students about their learning that is not associated with formal assessment tasks?

Respect and support for the development of students as individuals

Which may include: 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.

This could include ways in which you: assist students' with their orientation into study at Monash University; work with students in ways that are sensitive to their individual needs and perspectives; systematically review their progress in learning your subject; support students in making use of specialist services within Monash University; and/or offer educational guidance to help students succeed at Monash University as an international and multi-campus university. You might highlight initiatives you have undertaken with student to enhance internationalisation of the curriculum and/or address internationalisation as detailed in Monash Direction 2025 , and the Monash Education Plan.

Describe the needs of particular equity groups whom you teach, how you respond to these, and how you employ inclusive pedagogical practices that take account of these differences. Demonstrate ways in which you assist students from equity groups to participate and achieve success in their courses in accordance with the Excellence and Diversity Strategic Framework 2004-2008.

You could provide practical examples of how you recognise that patterns of student participation might be influenced by cultural and background factors; and/or determine and monitor differences in how students learn and study.

Scholarly activities that have influenced and enhanced learning and teaching

Which may include: 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.

Illustrate the processes you use to evaluate your teaching such as individual self-evaluation of teaching and learning. Show how you use these as part of the Monash Quality Cycle to enhance the quality of student learning.

Explain the activities in which you engage in order to continuously improve your teaching and explain how these affect your teaching and student learning. These could include: researching and writing about your teaching innovations and publishing in relevant journals or presenting at conferences so that your academic community can use and build on this work; attendance at academic development workshops to keep abreast of the latest ideas in teaching generally and in one's discipline/field; and/or participation in the Graduate Certificate in Higher Education.

Describe your participation in professional activities and research related to teaching. This may also include involvement in professional associations related to university teaching; the provision or organisation of professional development activities in your department, school or faculty; and/or invitations as guest lecturer in your discipline to talk about your teaching innovations.

Indicators for each of the criteria

These could include:

  • MonQueST or other equivalent independent surveys of individual teaching staff. Results should be compared with faculty and university data;
  • Unit Evaluations. Results should be compared with faculty and university data. Detail the roles of yourself and others if part of a team. Highlight improved unit evaluation results;
  • peer review of teaching;
  • peer review of course/unit materials;
  • student testimonials;
  • improved academic results of students;
  • increased retention rates in the unit or course;
  • increased participation rates of students from equity groups in the unit or course;
  • participation in research on teaching;
  • participation in professional development activities related to learning and teaching.

Evaluation of nominations

In line with the Carrick Awards for Australian University Teaching (CAAUT), in evaluating nominations against the five selection criteria, the Vice-Chancellor's Teaching Excellence Awards Committee will take into account:

  • the extent to which the claims for excellence are supported by formal and informal evaluation; the extent of creativity, imagination or innovation, irrespective of whether the approach involves traditional learning environments or technology-based developments; and, the information contained in student questionnaires, references and selected teaching materials submitted by the nominee.

The Committee will also be looking for evidence that candidates are putting their teaching philosophies into practice and that this is having an effect on student learning outcomes.

Nomination Instructions

Essential documentation

Nomination form (proforma provided). pdf format (17kb) and Word format (22kb).

Written statement, including an overview and an argument addressing each of the five selection criteria;

A reference from the nominee's head of department will be sought independently by the Committee.

Nomination form

The completed nomination form

Written statement

Nominees are advised to draw on their teaching portfolio to provide documentary evidence of their outstanding contributions to teaching. The Committee will expect these applications to demonstrate the nominee's strengths against each of the criteria and within the context of Monash University's priorities.

Applications should not exceed 8 sides of A4 paper. They should be prepared using a 12 point Times Roman font, with normal character spacing and single line spacing. Margins should be a uniform 25mm all around.

Optional supporting materials

In line with ALTC Australian Awards for University Teaching, selection will be based primarily on the written statement addressing the selection criteria. However, nominees may include selected teaching materials supporting their claims against the selection criteria. The relevance of any such material must be made clear in the written statement. Supporting materials are limited to a maximum of two of:

  • website (URL)
  • CD ROM* or DVD*
  • video or audio tape
  • 10 pages of printed material

*Nominees are encouraged, where possible, to provide digital material via a single URL.

Only one copy of supporting materials should be sent.

Assistance with constructing application

Nominees are invited to contact staff from CALT (via Judith Rochecouste or Lucy Wiasak) for advice on how to compile the application and feedback on drafts. This should be done at least a month in advance of the due date for submission.

Lodgement and processing

Submission of applications

Applications should be marked 'Vice-Chancellor's Teaching Excellence Award' and posted or delivered to: Lucy Wiasak, CALT.

Receipt of applications

Receipt of all applications will be acknowledged by email to the nominee. If you do not receive an email within a week after postage please contact Lucy Wiasak by email.

Selection committee

The Vice-Chancellor's Teaching Excellence Awards Committee reviews all applications and makes recommendations. The Committee comprises the Vice-Chancellor or nominee, the Director of the Centre for the Advancement of Learning and Teaching (CALT) or nominee, one student representative nominated by the University's student unions, one staff member nominated by the Monash branch of the National Tertiary Education Union, a nominee of the Academic Board and a previous award winner.

Notification and presentation of the awards

The successful nominees will be announced by the Vice-Chancellor at the Educate 08 Vice-Chancellor's Showcase of Teaching Exceleence on Monday, 6 October 2008.

The awards will be presented at graduation ceremonies for faculties of the award winners.

Obligations of award holders

In the year following an award, the award winners and special commendation recipients will be invited to participate in workshops, seminars and presentations for the teaching staff of the University. Award winners will also be expected to consider entering for the Australian Learning and Teaching Council's Awards for Australian University Teaching. Assistance will be available for the preparation of portfolios for the ALTC Australian Awards for University Teaching.