The Award for Excellence in Online Teaching recognizes instructors who have demonstrated a passion for, and commitment to, online teaching; instructors who have designed particularly creative and engaging online courses; and instructors who have found effective online teaching strategies to help students learn. All instructors teaching online courses who have taught at least one online course in the past calendar year are eligible. Self-nominations are not accepted. This award can only be received once; previous recipients are ineligible for nomination.
Note: Only instructors of Trent WEB registered courses are eligible to win this award. If you are not sure if a course is web registered, please review the list of Online Courses at Trent or contact us at teachingcommons@trentu.ca.
Award Criteria
To have (a) candidate(s) considered for this Award, please address the following criteria:
Trent recognizes that the instruction of online courses may involve a collaborative effort and submissions for this award can be for either individuals or teams.
In addition to providing students with timely, helpful feedback and leadership to support and strengthen learning, the nominee(s) distinguish themselves by excelling in the following practices:
- Imaginative Approach: The nominee(s) have implemented a creative approach to one or more emerging instructional challenges.
- Quality of Course Materials and Instructional Strategies: The nominee(s) have created well-designed course materials and utilized effective instructional strategies.
- Learner Satisfaction: The nominee(s) have demonstrated rapport and ongoing engagement with learners as well as other course participants.
- Effective Learning Outcomes: The nominee(s) have demonstrated effectiveness in enabling students to achieve desired learning outcomes in the online course.
Eligibility
All instructors who have taught at least one online WEB registered Trent University course in the past calendar year are eligible to win this award. Trent recognizes that the instruction of online courses may involve a collaborative effort and submissions for this award can be for either individuals or teams. Self-nominations are not accepted. This award can only be received once; previous recipients are ineligible for nomination.
How to Nominate:
Nominations will be accepted for a window at the conclusion of each academic term:
Nomination Window 1: April 9-25, 2025
Nomination Window 2: August 12-26, 2025
Nomination Window 3: December 18, 2025-January 12, 2026
» Award for Excellence in Online Teaching nomination form
What should your nomination include?
Tell the story! Complete the "Nominator Information" and the "Candidate Information" sections on the Nomination Form.
Make sure to review our list of previous award winners as individuals are only eligible to win the award once.
For helpful information on writing strong nominations, including exemplars, please see the Trent Teaching Commons' "How to Write a Strong Nomination for a Teaching Award" page.
How is the Award Determined?
The recipient of this award is determined by the Online Teaching Award Selection Committee based solely on the information that nominators provide. The strongest nominations provide specific details about how the candidate fulfills each of the award criteria.
The award has a monetary value of $750 and is accompanied by a framed certificate. The award is presented at the Celebration of Faculty Excellence in Teaching and Research in late April each year.
Timeline
April-Early January: Nominations are cumulatively collected during three nomination windows open in the winter, summer, and fall terms (nomination windows are listed above).
Early January: Nominations close.
Mid-January: Trent Teaching Commons prepares nomination packages.
Late January: Collated nominations packages are circulated to Online Teaching Award Selection Committee members for review and scoring.
Early February: Deadline for all committee members to submit scores to Trent Teaching Commons.
Mid-late February: Trent Teaching Commons sends finalized shortlist to committee members.
Late February: Meeting to deliberate and decide award.
March: Award recipient, finalists, and nominees are notified.
April: Award recipient is awarded their certificate and prize at the annual Celebration of Faculty Excellence in Teaching and Research.
Previous Recipients
- 2024-2025 Dr. George Kovacs (Ancient Greek and Roman Studies)
- 2023-2024 Dr. Else Marie Knudsen (Social Work)
- 2022-2023 Dr. Erick Laming (Sociology)
- 2021-2022 David King (Chanie Wenjack School for Indigenous Studies)
- 2020-2021 Brent Bellamy (Cultural Studies and English)
- 2019-2020 Kim English (Nursing)
- 2018-2019 Susan Yates (Biology)
- 2017-2018 Paula Sherman (Indigenous Studies)