Call for nominations for the Arqus Teaching Excellence Award: research-based teaching and enabling students

The Arqus Alliance is pleased to announce the first Arqus Teaching Excellence Award (2019-2021) in two different categories:

– The Arqus Teaching Excellence Award for enabling research-based teaching.

– The Arqus Teaching Excellence  Award for enabling students.

This pioneering award honours teachers of all disciplines at one of the Arqus Universities. The award celebrates examples that are regarded as excellent and innovative in the context of university teaching. It recognises teaching which is particularly successful in enabling students from different backgrounds and of different levels (including students of bachelor’s, master’s and diploma programmes) to learn through research and to take an active part in the research. The teaching projects should tackle relevant research questions and contribute to current societal issues – theoretically or practically – fostering gender-sensitive education and eliminating gender stereotypes.

Winners will be awarded a 5,000 Eur prize to be dedicated to the development of teaching or competence. 

1. Arqus Teaching Excellence Award for enabling research-based teaching: 

A strong connection between research and teaching can be targeted in many different ways. Courses that promote research-based teaching and learning and actively involve students as junior researchers are particularly considered as “Arqus Teaching Excellence Projects”. The Arqus Alliance is also very interested in how learning processes have been reflected during the course and how students’ feedback has been integrated and used for the improvement of learning experiences and teaching methods.

We value especially teachers who are particularly committed to the students and highly motivated to support students in achieving their learning goals. Well used methods of team-teaching and strategies for integrating an interdisciplinary approach are also considered for the teaching award.

Excellent research-based teaching should lead the students to:

– Extensive knowledge within the field of expertise.

– Methodological competence and analytical skills.

– An understanding of research as a process and self-reflection.

– Critical and ethical thinking.

– Social and communicative skills.

Selection Criteria for the Arqus Teaching Excellence Award for enabling research-based teaching: 

We especially recognize Teaching Excellence Projects which:

– Successfully foster students’ participation in the research process by promoting, for example, student-based research. Therefore, teachers give students the possibility to gain an insight into research and to actually do research in (teaching) projects that are adapted to the complexity of their course level.

– Tackle societal problems and their solutions practically and/or theoretically (e.g., contribution to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals).

– Establish and maintain cross-disciplinary connections.

– Integrate an international perspective into their courses and/or cooperate with further alliance partners.

– Integrate innovative and inclusive teaching methods and assessment techniques in an adequate way.

– Promote the use of digital technologies in an accessible, meaningful and purposeful way to help the development of the digital competence of students and to make learning and teaching more effective.

2. Arqus Teaching Excellence Award for enabling students:

The Arqus Teaching Excellence Award for enabling students directs attention to local practices that contribute to the development of teaching and learning in increasingly complex university settings. It acknowledges that subject-specific activities conducted in teaching, learning and assessment have considerable influence on how students develop as learners, thinkers and doers. It also acknowledges the value of connecting local practices across institutional, national and cultural borders.

Nominees for the award can be either individual instructors or collegial communities, who stand out by providing substantial support to develop students’ ability to cope with the challenging intellectual and academic demands they face and to develop their sophistication as learners within their academic disciplines.

We are looking for inclusive, innovative teaching and learning initiatives that enable students to:

– Develop an applicable understanding of what learning consists of, and adopting a deep and proactive approach to learning.

– Attain a higher level of education quality and a deeper societal, cultural and civic engagement.

– Connect and collaborate in a European or broader international context.

– Enhance their learning experience by promoting individual and collective professional development.

In particular, we are looking forinitiatives such as:

– Innovative and accessible teaching materials (e.g., case studies with teaching notes, textbooks, simulations, serious games, software, supporting teaching materials, etc.).

– Innovative and inclusive teaching and learning methodologies (e.g., didactic laboratories, project work, flipped classroom, inverted learning, collaborative online international learning, etc.).

– Innovative and inclusive methods of feedback and evaluation of learning, including the development of online assessment.

Nomination and Deadline: The deadline to submit a nomination is closed for the University of Padua members. For the rest, please submit the full application before 30th November, by using the nomination form.

Conferring the award and the Prize: the award will be presented at the Arqus Annual Conference in 2022 in Padua.

The award winner will also be invited to participate in the conference and to give a guest lecture or workshop for teachers of the Arqus Alliance.