The Saint Mary’s University Teaching Innovation Awards encourage educational leadership relating to new developments in teaching.

Successful candidates will design and develop innovative teaching strategies that promote student engagement and academic success through vibrant, challenging and reflective learning experiences. Examples could include:

Strategies to foster active learning in a program and beyond
Meaningful academic programs for the engagement of international learners
Peer-based learning and evaluation strategies or systems
Interactive pedagogies for digital learning

Successful projects will have institutional reach and significance. Recipients are expected to play an educational leadership role in enhancing the teaching and learning environment at SMU.

Project proposals must include a workplan, a budget plan, and a plan for sharing the teaching innovation with the SMU teaching community by way of hosting of workshops, for example, or other discussion forums. Recipients must also commit to giving a presentation on their project as part of the annual “Teaching Showcase.” One year after notification of success they are required to submit a report to be published in Teaching and Learning forums at SMU.

Applications are invited from individuals with a demonstrable record in the areas of teaching excellence, innovations that have had significant positive influence on student learning, and peer collaboration or support.

Full-time faculty, including lecturer-stream faculty, are eligible to apply to the SMU Teaching Innovation Awards Program. Up to three recipients may be named each year, with a maximum of one per Faculty. The awards are for $5000 per recipient. Award recipients can apply for a new award no sooner than seven years after completion of the previous award.

Application Process

Applicants must submit the following:
(A) Proposal for teaching and learning innovation project or initiative of no more than four pages which includes:
• Rationale and description of the project or initiative
• Explanation of how the project fulfills the award criteria
• Budgetary details of how the funding will be used to carry out the teaching innovation project in combination with initiatives for sharing the experience in the SMU community
(B) A teaching dossier that includes:
• Statement of teaching philosophy (1 page, max)
• Student feedback (e.g. ICE reports, letters of support)
• Peer feedback (e.g. letters of support, previous awards, chair or coordinator recommendation)
• Evidence of innovation in teaching strategies
• Evidence of educational leadership that benefits faculty peers in their teaching

Each Faculty can bring forward applications from up to three different individuals per year. Applicants must be full-time faculty members, including lecturer-stream faculty, who are actively teaching at Saint Mary’s University. Faculties must provide an initial ranking of their candidates.

Proposals will be evaluated equally on an applicant’s record of teaching and educational leadership, the merits of the proposed project, and the plan for diffusion of the innovation. Evaluation criteria for proposals will include:

• The potential to enhance quality teaching and learning

• Originality and innovation

• Institutional reach

• Availability of practical supports (these should be addressed in the proposal)

• Strategies for peer engagement and sharing of the experience

The evaluation committee will be chaired by the AVPTL and include one representative from each Faculty who is a previous winner of any university teaching award at Saint Mary’s, and who is not a current applicant. After three years, the committee members will include faculty who have been recipients of a SMU Teaching Innovation Award.