Dr. Alan Wright Award for Exemplary Digital Teaching

• The award is open to all instructors at the University of Windsor, including full- and part-time regular faculty, Academic Ancillary Staff, sessional lecturers, sessional instructors, librarians, and staff. 

• Chairs and departments heads are eligible for nomination. 

• Winners of other teaching awards are eligible for nomination. 

• Re-nomination of unsuccessful nominees from previous rounds is encouraged. 

• Previous winners of this award are not eligible to apply again within 5 (five) years of their award. 

• Previous winners of the Brightspace Innovation Award for Teaching and Learning (https://www.stlhe.ca/awards/d2l-innovation-award-in-teaching-and-learning/) are not eligible as this award is intended, in part, to prepare individuals for the Brightspace Innovation Award and other technology-enhanced teaching awards. 

Applications

Applications should demonstrate evidence of achievement of a range the following criteria*: 

• Sustained excellent teaching in online, open, blended, hybrid, hy-flex, or other digitally enabled learning setting; 

• Digitally enabled teaching practices that promote student engagement, achieve desired learning outcomes, or meet with student satisfaction; 

• Development and/or implementation of pedagogical innovations, especially those that have influenced colleagues’ digitally enabled teaching methods and effectiveness; 

• Commitment to Indigenization, decolonization, and reconciliation in digitally enabled teaching  

• Commitment to anti-Black racism and advancement of diverse ways of knowing in digitally enabled teaching  

• Commitment to equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility in digitally enabled teaching; 

• Commitment to adopting, adapting, and creating open educational resources; 

• Incorporation of scholarly and/or creative teaching practices (e.g., experiential learning); 

• Supporting student success in digitally enabled teaching and learning contexts; 

• Commitment to continuous improvement of digitally enabled teaching practice; 

• *Note: it is expected that applicants will have varying areas of strengths, and not all criteria will be equally represented in the profile of all nominees.  

Evidence of effective digitally enabled teaching practices come from a variety of sources. Some of these may include, but are not limited to: 

• Activities that motivate and engage students in deep learning practices  

• Commitment to principles of flexibility and accessibility in teaching; 

• Approaches that encourage interaction, peer-based learning, or collaborative learning; 

• Approaches that provide experiential learning opportunities; 

• Alternative assessment methods for student learning; 

• Research- or evidence-informed teaching methods; 

• Involvement of students as partners in developing effective digital teaching and learning environments; 

• Scholarly dissemination of digital teaching and learning practices, for example at a conference, departmental seminar, publications; 

• Adoption, adaptation, or creation of open educational resources; 

• Improved student learning outcomes, student recruitment/retention, program enrollment, or students' satisfaction; 

• Positive student and/or peer feedback on pedagogical innovations; 

• Commitment to building a learning community and rapport with learners in and beyond the virtual classroom, for example, student feedback, letters of support, emails, Teams messages (with permission); 

• Evidence of how practice is being shared to help other instructors enhance their pedagogy (e.g., conferences, workshops, sharing of teaching materials); 

• Evidence of thorough preparation for digital teaching for example, syllabi, course outlines, lesson plans, modules, videos, storyboards, scripts, etc.; 

• Evidence of alignment of learning outcomes, learning activities, and assessment practices, for example, using a lesson plan or curriculum map.