University of Cincinnati

Excellence in Teaching Award for Graduate Assistants

2008 Eligibility and Criteria

Eligibility

Graduate students with direct contact with students for instructional purposes during the 2007-2008 academic year are eligible for the award. This includes graduate students who are involved in direct classroom instruction, leading discussion groups, managing tutorials/private lessons, and running laboratory sections during 2007-2008.

Criteria

The following criteria suggest selected qualities of teaching to which the award committee will be sensitive when evaluating a candidate for the award. Candidates should have documentation of demonstrating as many of these qualities as possible, but it is understood that not every candidate will meet all of the criteria.

• Enthusiasm:   The instructor is energetic, engaging, and intellectually stimulating, embracing a positive attitude and conveying that teaching is an enjoyable activity.


• Rapport with Students:   The instructor has an outstanding professional relationship with students. His or her students feel encouraged to ask questions and to discuss course-related material. The instructor is attentive to what students have to say.


• Organization and Clarity:   Class and/or laboratory sessions are planned, well-organized, and oriented towards accomplishing specific objectives.


• Interactions between Instructor and Individual Students:   The instructor is approachable. He or she is interested in students and treats them with respect


• Respect for Students as Individual Learners:   The instructor recognizes that people learn in diverse ways and attempts to account for such differences.


• Sensitivity to Issues of Diversity:   Gender and cultural diversity are important dimensions of the college environment. The instructor presents material and conducts classes and/or laboratory sessions in ways that take such differences into account.


• Knowledge of Content Area:   The instructor has thorough understanding of the information taught and is perceived by students as a knowledgeable person. The instructor is able to present and discuss a variety of ideas and to illustrate the relationship among them in order to enhance the ability of students to understand the material.


• Innovation and Creativity:   The instructor teaches in an engaging manner and attempts to be innovative and creative in his or her approach to instruction..


• Availability to Students:   The instructor is accessible to students outside of class time to answer questions and to discuss course or laboratory material.

University of Cincinnati

Excellence in Teaching Award for Graduate Assistants

2008 Submission Guidelines

1. Graduate Assistants can be self-nominated or nominated by faculty, peers, or undergraduate students at the departmental level.


2. The nomination package:
   • Candidates for the award must submit a brief written statement of their teaching philosophy. This statement should include the assumptions about teaching and learning reflected in their instruction as well as a self-evaluation of how their teaching meets the criteria for this award.
   
   
   • Other evidence should be provided to illustrate how the criteria for the award are met. This evidence might include, but is not limited to, the following:  student, peer, and/or faculty supervisor letters of support; student ratings; peer and/or faculty observations of their teaching; evidence of classroom and/or laboratory materials developed by the candidate; brief video or audio tape segments of the candidate teaching a class or laboratory.
   
   
   • A faculty member in the best position to know of the nominee’s teaching effectiveness must provide a letter of endorsement.
   
   
   • All information, with the exception of audio or videotapes, should be placed in a portfolio that summarizes the evidence gathered on the candidate’s abilities as an instructor, totaling not more than 10 pages.Thus, a summary of the letters written by students and faculty would be included, with at least one entire letter included in the portfolio. Similarly, other evaluations of teaching would be summarized, including creative and innovative materials and procedures developed by the candidate.
   
   
3. The departments send their nominations with a transmittal letter to their college by March 14, 2008.


4. Each college recognizes the students nominated by its departments and sends its college-level nomination (chosen from the department-generated pool) to the Graduate Award Committee through the Associate University Dean of the Graduate School by April 11, 2008. The nomination must include the candidate’s nomination package together with the departmental transmittal letter and a transmittal letter from the college.

Five (5) copies of the nomination package must accompany the original (a total of 6).

Summary of Deadline Dates