The Decanal Award for Teaching Excellence in Education recognizes the use or development of profound and/or innovative methods of curriculum design, course instruction, learning materials and technologies, and/or assessment. This award honours extraordinary teaching within a particular course or a teaching project completed within the given academic year that promotes students’ critical thinking about and engagement with ideas, concepts, and practices that extend beyond the classroom and encourage deep learning and/or the innovative application of ideas.
Award Criteria
In addition to providing students with timely, helpful feedback and leadership to support and strengthen learning, the candidate has distinguished themselves by excelling in the following practices:
- Imaginative Approaches: The candidate has implemented creative approaches to course design, instructional strategy, or assessment.
- Quality of Course Materials and Instructional Strategies: The candidate has created well-designed course materials and utilized effective instructional strategies.
- Learner Satisfaction: The candidate has demonstrated rapport and ongoing engagement with learners as well as other course participants.
- Effective Learning Outcomes: The candidate has demonstrated effectiveness in enabling students to achieve desired learning outcomes in the course and promoting critical thinking and social inquiry, deep learning, student engagement, and/or, creative, logical, and persuasive expression of ideas.
Eligibility
Eligible nominees include all full-time and part-time faculty who have taught at least one half-credit course in the School of Education during the academic year in which they are nominated. Candidates can only win this award once. Please review the list of previous award recipients listed below.
How to Nominate:
Nominations will be accepted for a window at the conclusion of each academic term:
Nomination Window 1: August 12-26
Nomination Window 2: October 30-November 13, 2025
Nomination Window 3: Mid February – Mid March
To nominate an instructor, complete the online form below (online form will be live from 12AM on the first day of each nomination window to 4:00PM on the final day):
» Online Nomination Form for the Decanal Award for Teaching Excellence in Education
What should your nomination include?
Complete the "Nominator Information" and the "Candidate Information" sections on the Nomination Form.
In the section on “Candidate Qualifications,” explain what the instructor did to create a successful course. Present specific details about your experience with the candidate, providing clear examples that illustrate the ways in which they used or developed meaningful and/or innovative methods of curriculum design, course instruction, learning materials and technologies, and/or assessment. How did the instructor specifically promote student engagement, critical inquiry, deep learning, and/or the innovative application of ideas within or beyond the classroom?
Please see “How to Write a Strong Teaching Award Nomination” for guidance on writing your nomination as well as annotated examples of high-quality nomination letters.
How is the Award Determined?
Nominations are collected over the course of the academic year during three nomination windows (August, December, and April). They are then collated by Trent Teaching Commons staff who remove nominators’ identifying information except for whether they are faculty, staff, students, or alumni. All nominations are then considered by a Decanal Teaching Award Committee, which determines the award recipient in the spring of each year. A public announcement of all Decanal Award recipients is made by Communications in September of each year. Recipients receive $500 and a framed certificate of achievement.
Timeline
August-March: Nominations are cumulatively collected during Summer, Fall, and Winter terms.
March: Final Nomination Window closes.
Late March: Trent Teaching Commons prepares nomination packages.
Early April: Collated nominations packages are circulated to committee members for review and scoring.
Late April: Deadline for all Committee members to submit scores to Trent Teaching Commons.
Early May: Trent Teaching Commons sends finalized shortlist to committee.
Early May: Meeting to deliberate and decide award.
June: Award recipient is notified.
September: All nominees are notified.
September: All Decanal Award recipients are publicly announced.
Previous Recipients
- 2024-2025 Dr. Kingsley Hurlington
- 2023-2024 Anne Corkery
- 2022-2023 Dr. Kelly Young
- 2021-2022 Professor Bente Graham