The Provost Awards for Excellence in Teaching Design and Practice are intended to recognize faculty at Vancouver Island University (VIU) for excellence in teaching. The Awards celebrate and promote innovations in the design and practice of teaching, and Award recipients become leaders who can then share their innovative approaches to teaching.
These Teaching Design and Practice Awards formally recognize excellence in all facets of teaching and learning at Vancouver Island University. They are concerned with how a faculty member designs, develops, and offers learning opportunities for students across discipline-specific learning outcomes. They also recognize critical reflection on teaching and learning practice.
The awards are open to regular faculty holding full- or part-time appointments. Nominees must have completed three years of teaching at VIU and be currently employed. Nominations can be put forward in any relevant category (Early Career, Established Educator, Educational Leadership), except those where the nominee has previously been recognized.
The awards are also intended to build a community of practice around teaching and learning. Successful recipients, with the support of their departments and dean, will become leaders who contribute to systemic change in teaching and learning through ongoing knowledge sharing and dissemination processes, inspiring and supporting peers. Although “Educational Leadership” is a separate category, evidence of leadership qualities is an expectation for all nominees. Successful recipients may be asked to offer presentations within the teaching and learning community, engage in collegial mentoring, and/or involve themselves in university and higher-education committees.
Nomination packages should reveal teaching design and practice that employs innovative methods, which may be characterized by initiative, risk‐taking, inquiry, creative thinking, implementation of new ideas or programs, project-based learning, innovations with learning technologies, exemplary assessment and evaluation techniques, etc.
- The Provost Office will circulate a notice about the awards and call for nominations typically at the beginning of the year, identifying a deadline for nomination packages.
- The Centre for Innovation and Excellence in Learning (CIEL) is available for information, resources, and support in preparing the application package.
- All application packages will be submitted in digital format to the Provost Office through TeachingAwards@viu.ca. The Provost Office will acknowledge receipt of packages via electronic Memo to Nominators and will forward all packages in electronic format to the Selection Committee.
- The Selection Committee will make its determinations and advise the Nominator of each successful applicant, typically by mid-to-late spring. The Provost Office will then formally notify Nominators and the relevant Dean.
- The Provost Office will make a formal announcement confirming the successful recipients.
- The Provost Office will make arrangements for the recipient to be honoured at an annual recognition event.
- Important note regarding re-submission: Should a nomination be unsuccessful, the nominator may resubmit the nomination package the following year; however, it is strongly advised that the Nominator include aspects of feedback received from the committee prior to resubmitting the nomination package.
Award Categories
The Early Career Award category is for instructional faculty who are closer to the beginning of their teaching journey (typically within 6 years of beginning their teaching career at the post-secondary level). In most situations, this award is most suitable for individuals who are at a stage of their careers where they may be mapping the contours of their own teaching philosophies, though applications would be expected to contain reflection on work they have undertaken with others. Applicants to this category might be expected to have less experience in the classroom and, as a result, fewer concrete examples to reflect upon.
Please review the following documents:
The Established Educator Award category is for instructional faculty who have laid solid foundations for their teaching practice and are continuing to grow. This award may be applied for by one individual or by individuals who have collaborated on initiatives, thereby forming a collective body of work that will be recognized as a whole. Applicants to this category will be expected to have considerable experience in the classroom and many examples to draw upon. Their teaching philosophies should be well established, clearly articulated, and woven seamlessly through the application (revealing them to be the foundation of their practice).
Please review the following documents:
The Educational Leadership Award category is for instructional faculty who have supported their colleagues in adopting and adapting new and innovative approaches to teaching and learning. Applicants to this category would normally be expected to demonstrate sustained and ongoing leadership activities and have multiple examples of how their activities have supported their colleagues in the development and transformation of their teaching practice. This could include writing textbooks or Open Educational Resources (OER), engaging in scholarship of teaching and learning, or participating in other teaching-related pursuits not included in the list below.
Please review the following documents:
Congratulations to the 2024 Award Recipients!
Award: Established Educator Award
Recipient: Dr. Matthew Bowes, Geography (Faculty of Social Sciences)
Award: Established Educator Award
Recipient: Dr. Laurie Meijer Drees, Indigenous/Xwulmuxw Studies (Faculty of Arts and Humanities)
