Teaching Scholar Award for Large Class Teaching
Large-enrollment classes present unique opportunities and challenges for faculty teaching in such contexts. This award is designed to recognize faculty members who have a longstanding record of teaching excellence in large-enrollment courses (which, for the purposes of this award, is defined as approximately 100 or more students per section). Recognizing that teaching excellence may look different depending on the course, discipline, and instructor, the award criteria will be sensitive to these variations, while focusing primarily on 1) impact on student learning in large classes, and 2) effective, engaging, and/or innovative pedagogy, informed through the examination and/or production of the scholarship of teaching and learning, in the large class environment.
The call for nominations will open on Monday, February 10, 2025, and will close at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, March 9, 2025.
The award recipient will receive a $500 award, and up to $2,000 of professional development funding to support the continued development of their large class teaching work and to share their approaches and results of implementation with various audiences, including presenting at related conferences or pursuing publication.
Please note that a professional development spending plan will be required for submission to CETL prior to the transfer of the funds. The professional development funds cannot be used for general office equipment or supplies. The professional development funding will be transferred as E&G funds to the recipient’s department around July 15 to be spent on the fiscal-year cycle. All expenditures must be in accordance with Virginia Tech policies and procedures. The recipient will be responsible for working with their departmental fiscal coordinator to ensure funding is spent within the fiscal year and in accordance with Virginia Tech policies and procedures.
Eligibility
To be eligible for the Teaching Scholar Award for Large Class Teaching, nominees must 1) be a full-time or part-time faculty member at Virginia Tech, 2) have teaching as one of their primary responsibilities, and 3) must have taught large classes (defined as approximately 100 students) at Virginia Tech over the last five years, averaging at least one large class section per year in those five years.
Nomination Materials
All nominations will be submitted using an online submission form and must include the items listed below. If you have questions, please email teaching@vt.edu.
Submission Form: The submission form requires 1) the nominator’s name, department, and email address (self-nominations are welcome) and 2) the nominee's name, department, phone number, email address, college, rank, years at Virginia Tech, and area of expertise.
Nomination Packet: The nomination packet will be uploaded to the online submission form, as a single PDF file, and include the items below to meet the award criteria.
- Nomination Statement: Provide a statement describing the nominee’s teaching excellence in the large class context. This statement should address 1) the nominee’s impact on student learning in large classes, and 2) the nominee’s use of effective, engaging, and/or innovative pedagogy, informed through the examination and/or production of the scholarship of teaching and learning, in the large class environment. (2 pages max.)
- Large-Enrollment Course List: Include a list of the nominee’s large-enrollment course sections (approximately 100 or more students per section) for the past five academic years. For each course section, include the course number and title, CRN, enrollment number, and course catalog description. Other pieces of information (e.g., SPOT scores) may also be included but are not required.
- Abbreviated CV: Include an abbreviated version of the nominee’s CV. (2 pages max.)
- Statements of Support: Include statements of support (or excerpts from letters) from the nominee’s supervisors, colleagues, and/or students, which speak specifically to the nominee’s effectiveness in teaching large classes through an examination or production of the scholarship of teaching and learning. (3 pages max.)
- Supporting Materials: Submit at least one and no more than three pieces of supporting material that provides additional evidence of the nominee’s effectiveness in teaching large classes informed by the scholarship of teaching and learning. The supporting materials may include an example of students’ work, course artifacts, references to pedagogical literature, media coverage of student experience, and/or published scholarship recognized in the discipline. (3 items max.)