The Innovative Teaching Award celebrates an exceptional faculty member who displays a dedication to student engagement and learning by integrating one or more innovative teaching practices into one of their academic courses. This award aims to encourage the ongoing enhancement of teaching by recognizing faculty members who explore creative teaching methods and pedagogies that can contribute to the culture of innovative teaching and learning at Suffolk University. The award is presented during the annual Symposium on Innovation in Teaching & Learning.

We welcome nominations and applications that reflect a broad understanding of innovative teaching. Examples of innovative practices might include the following: 

• Developing a novel approach to teaching a concept or skill, 
• Revising a course to intentionally integrate a more diverse set of perspectives, 
• Collaborating within or across departments, or with partners outside of Suffolk, to develop a unique learning opportunity for students, 
• Adopting new strategies to cultivate a classroom climate in which all students experience a sense of belonging or inclusion, 
• Forming partnerships with students to engage them as co-creators of their learning experiences, 
• Implementing new practices to better understand and make progress toward closing equity gaps in students’ learning experiences or outcomes, 
• Integrating technology to support new opportunities for learning, to provide new forums for students to connect with each other or with broader networks, or to expand access to learning. 

All full-time and part-time faculty who are teaching for-credit courses are eligible for this award.  

Students, faculty, and staff are welcome to nominate faculty members by completing a nomination form that asks for the faculty member’s name, the course involved, and a brief explanation of how their teaching is innovative. Faculty are also welcome to self-nominate during this process. 

This form is available to the Suffolk community from late March to early April each year. The CTSE will contact faculty members who have been nominated and invite them to apply for the award. 

The award winner will be selected by a committee comprised of faculty representatives from all three schools. The selection criteria for the award are described below: 

• Innovative nature of the teaching practice – The extent to which the teaching practice is innovative within the candidate’s discipline or higher education 
• Alignment with teaching philosophy and course objectives – The extent to which the innovative teaching practice aligns with the candidate’s teaching philosophy, as well as the course learning goals or objectives 
• Impact on learning – The extent to which the innovative teaching practice demonstrates a significant and positive impact on student learning outcomes 
• Transferability – The extent to which the innovative teaching practice demonstrates potential for adoption and adaptation by other faculty members within and across disciplines and schools

Nominated faculty members will be asked to apply for the award by putting together an application packet consisting of the following documents: 

1. A cover page with a title (10-15 words) of your innovative teaching practice and a summary (max 150 words) of the practice and its impact on learning at Suffolk
2. A teaching philosophy statement (2 pages max) – Your teaching philosophy statement should articulate your most important goals and values as an educator and describe how you enact these goals and values in your teaching. The following reflective questions from Schonell et al. (2016) can be a useful starting point for drafting your statement: 
   • Why is being an educator important to you? 
   • What do you believe about teaching? 
   • What do you believe about learning? 
   • How do these beliefs play out in practice? 
3. A description of course context (1 page max) including the course number and title, the course description, and the course learning goals or objectives from the syllabus 4
4. A description of the teaching practice (2 pages max) that responds to the following questions:  
   • What did you hope to achieve by implementing this practice? How did this align with your teaching philosophy and the course learning goals? 
   • How was the practice implemented? Consider including an assignment description or a portion of the course syllabus that illustrates this.   
5. Evidence of student learning – Artifacts and reflection 
   • Provide 3-5 artifacts that show how your teaching practice positively impacted student learning. This evidence can include examples of student work, student reflections on their learning, feedback from students collected systematically, pre/post assessments or surveys. 
   • A reflective narrative (1 page max) should accompany your artifacts and address the following question: Based on the artifacts and your own reflections, observations, and insights, how do you know that this practice contributed to improved student learning? 
6. A description of the innovative nature of the practice (1 page max) – An explanation of how and why this is an innovative practice in your discipline, in the field, or in higher education
7. A concluding statement (1 page max) – A narrative of lessons learned that can be shared with other faculty within and across disciplines  

These materials should be compiled into a single PDF and submitted to the CTSE. More details about how to submit will be shared with applicants when they receive their nomination notifications.

If you are part of a team that has been nominated for the Innovative Teaching Award, the application process remains the same with the following modifications: 

• Each member of the nominated team should include their individual teaching philosophy statement in the application packet.  
• The complete application packet should be prepared and submitted as a team. 
• Letters of support should be submitted for the team, not individual members. 

In addition to the packet, applicants should provide two letters of support from their Suffolk peers who speak directly of how this practice is innovative and positively impacts student learning. These letters should be no longer than one page in length. Letters should be submitted directly to the CTSE by the authors.

Applicants are encouraged to contact the CTSE with any questions.

The award winner is expected to contribute to the culture of innovation across the campus community by 

• Serving on the next year’s award selection committee 
• Contributing to CTSE programming for the next academic year (some examples include leading a teaching and learning exchange, designing and facilitating a university-wide workshop, or developing an online resource.)