Queen's University Teaching Awards 2024

The Teaching Awards Scheme for 2024 is now closed.  Details of the Teaching Awards 2025 will be posted here in due course.

The Teaching Awards scheme is open to full members of University staff and was established to encourage and reward the development of learning and teaching practices and learning support practices that have led to particularly effective/worthwhile learning.  The Teaching Awards Scheme is a competitive process and normally up to 10 Teaching Awards are available.  A prize of £1000 will be awarded to each successful individual or team.  The prize will be paid into a dedicated School account for the exclusive use of the winning team or individual for professional development purposes. 

The application forms and Notes for Guidance for Teaching Awards 2024 are provided below.  

The closing date for receipt of applications is 4 pm on Monday 25 March 2024.  Further information is provided in the Notes for Guidance 2024.

When preparing your application, you should consider the following:

• What did you do? Provide a concise (selective) description of engagement including own role – remember the descriptive element should be brief, and only a small part of the word count. 
• How did you do it? Explanation of approach/methodology employed – here you should draw on literature, university policy, your own learning (in CPD, networks etc.) for the methodology choices – also talk about time frame, context, students / audience to show you have made appropriate choices. Include reference to any challenges etc..
• Why did you do it that way? Evidence and rationale for choices of approach and decisions made:  Here you should draw on literature, university policy, sector documentation, subject discipline approaches etc. and your own learning (in CPD, networks etc.) for a clear rationale about the decisions you made about what / how / why etc..
• What difference did it make? How do you evaluate the effectiveness of what you do (explain the kinds of ‘information’ you use to review and evaluate your work including the impact this has on your students’ learning); Impact on learners/teachers/ self/institution – you need to use both qualitative and quantitative approaches to gathering and demonstrating impact (along with data – see below) – don’t just say it worked well . . . what specific, concrete and measurable changes can you identify as a result of the actions you took? 
• and how can you tell it had impact? Explain the kinds of ‘information’ you use to review and evaluate your work including the impact this has on your learners. What data can you use to illustrate the impact of your activity?  Does it show more than just feedback? i.e. is there clear evidence of IMPACT – e.g. improved outcomes, better employability stats, wider adoption of your approach amongst your colleagues (and outcomes for their students), reputational gains for the university, publication recognition etc. 
• So what? What changes have you made as a result of evaluating your effectiveness (for example, you might have revised the assessment strategy for a module in response to student / peer feedback and then evaluated the effectiveness of the change you implemented);  How are you ensuring that you continue to develop and enhance your practice; for example, engaging in peer review, developing your evidence-base or engaging in professional development, etc. and applying this learning to enhance your practice (use examples to illustrate).

 Please contact Liz McDowell with any queries about the Queen's University Teaching Awards scheme.

Application forms

1.  Rising Stars (Open to individual academic and learning support colleagues teaching/supporting learning for fewer than 9 years)

2.  Sustained Excellence (Open to individual academic and learning support colleagues teaching or supporting learning 9 years and over.

3.  Excellence in Teaching or Learning Support by a Team (Open to teams of academic and learning support colleagues.)