Faculty of Arts CSL Instructor Teaching Award

Terms of Reference:

Each year the Faculty of Arts awards instructor teaching awards to either Faculty (Assistant Professors, Associate Professors and Professors) or Contract Instructors who have employed Community Service-Learning in their courses, in order to encourage and recognize excellence in Community Service-Learning and community-engaged teaching pedagogies.

Eligibility:

1. For Faculty:

Any individual who has completed a minimum of five years of teaching at the University of Alberta as a full-time continuing member of the academic teaching staff (Categories A1.1 or A1.5), and taught three courses involving CSL pedagogy that were registered with the CSL office, is eligible. Five years is defined as five full years of teaching exclusive of leaves and duties which constitute absence from teaching. (Note: The University of Alberta Academic Year is counted from July 1 to June 30). Nominees must have been teaching within the last 24 months of the date of the nomination. A previous winner of this award is not eligible to be nominated a second time.

2. For Contract Instructors:

Temporary academic staff (Categories A2.1 and A2.2 and part-time (continuing) academic staff (Category A1.6)) are eligible for this award if they have at least three years teaching experience (at least 18 credits) at the University of Alberta, including three courses with a CSL pedagogy that were registered with the CSL office. Three years is defined as contracts in three different academic years. (Note: The University of Alberta Academic Year is counted from July 1 to June 30.) Nominees must have been teaching within the last 24 months of the date of nomination. Full-time graduate students are not eligible for this award.

Note: Although this is not a long-service award CSL teaching excellence demonstrated in a large number of assignments will add to the strength of the nomination compared to nominations for contract instructors who have a shorter teaching record in the Faculty.

Note: If an eligible individual takes on a full-time position (Categories A1.1 or A1.5), that individual will remain eligible for nomination for 24 months after their reclassification.

Criteria:

The adjudication criteria for the CSL Instructor Teaching Award are set out below (not necessarily in order of importance) and nominations and documents should address these criteria as much as possible:

a) Exhibits a consistently superior command of the subject matter and how this relates to community problems and community desired outcomes.
b) Demonstrates excellent planning and organization in course outlines and aligning academic and community learning objectives, reading and CSL assignments, handouts, projects, grading schemes, examinations and all other material associated with undergraduate courses.
c) Demonstrates consistent and diverse critical reflection strategies to integrate community work with classroom-based learning.
d) Instills vital interest in and enthusiasm for the subject on the part of students.
e) Strongly encourages and fosters independent study and civic engagement.
f) Generates a desire for continued learning.
g) Strongly encourages students to be critical, to think independently and to actively engage in projects designed to meet community-identified need.
h) Presents the subject matter at an appropriate level of rigor.
i) Demands that students have a comprehensive, coherent understanding of the subject matter.
j) Consistently demonstrates a concern for student progress and is available and approachable for out-of-classroom consultation.
k) Consistently demonstrates a concern for community partners, and values their role as co-educators of students.
l) Is a valuable resource for both students, colleagues and community partners.
m) Contributes to curriculum development for the program.
n) Promotes and contributes to excellence in teaching by collaborating with others within the University (e.g. CSL staff) and with CSL community partners.

Documentation:

A nomination package must include the following:

  1. Nomination letter (up to 2 pages)
  2. Nominee's reflections on CSL teaching (up to 1 page)
  3. Nominee's CSL Instructor Evaluation Summary (from CSL Office) and Student Perspectives of Teaching (SPOT) evaluations
  4. Comments from current and past students (up to 3 pages)
  5. Peer assessments (up to 2 pages)
  6. Community Partner comments (up to 2 pages)
  7. CV of publications and relevant experience (up to 4 pages)

Limit: 15 pages (in a 12-point font). Please note that only the first 15 pages of any dossier will be considered.

Number of Awards: Two awards annually, one to be given to a Faculty member and one to a Contract Instructor.

Nature of Awards: A certificate of recognition, awarded with due publicity, will be presented at the CSLelebration event held in late April, in addition to the Celebration of Excellence in the Facuty of Arts Night in May.

Application Deadline: Last Friday in January

Nominations can be submitted via the application form

Announcement: March