Provost’s Award for Teaching Assistants & Tutors

This award is open to undergraduate or graduate teaching assistants, Supplemental Learning leaders, and Student Learning Hub tutors at UBC Okanagan who act or have acted in this position during the current and/or the preceding academic year.

The award is given to individuals who have demonstrated knowledge, skills, and other contributions that result in a high level of respect from students, academic and course supervisors, and other TAs/tutors. The Selection Committee considers the following criteria:

1. Demonstrated knowledge of the field and course material, and the ability to help students actively learn new knowledge, skills, and perspectives:
   • explains facts and concepts clearly and logically
   • models excellent lab/demonstration skills, if applicable
   • encourages student participation
   • provides timely and constructive feedback
2. Creates a supportive learning environment:
   • is enthusiastic and demonstrates interest in the subject, cultivates student curiosity, and engages and motivates students
   • respects students’ diverse backgrounds and strengths
   • is accessible and responsive, providing support and guidance
3. Shows evidence of working in a professional manner with students, faculty supervisors, and teaching assistant and tutor colleagues:
   • works in a collegial manner with students, faculty, staff, and other TAs/tutors
   • demonstrates high standards, ethics, and academic integrity
   • exhibits excellent organizational skills
   • works to improve the learning environment
   • demonstrates leadership to other TAs and tutors

Although multiple TA assignments are beneficial to demonstrate a track record of excellence, graduate TAs are not given preference over undergraduate TAs based solely on experience. This award recognizes work done by teaching assistants or tutors, so evidence of work performed as the instructor-of-record (adjunct professor, sessional instructor, etc.) for a course is not considered.

The Selection Committee is chaired by the Academic Director of the Centre for Teaching and Learning and includes members drawn from faculty, staff, and students.  The committee will only consider nominations deemed eligible and complete. The committee will not carry forward unsuccessful nominations to the next competition.

Each Faculty, School, or AVP Students performs an internal selection and evaluation process of their teaching assistants for the past academic year and submits their top one to three candidates for the award. The criteria used for this evaluation supports integrative evaluation of teaching with data from student surveys, self-reflection, and peer and supervisor review. The process used to evaluate the award criteria is determined by each unit. TAs and tutors cannot nominate themselves for the award.

The number of nominations is calculated based on the number of unique TAs in a unit: fewer than 100 unique TAs is one nomination, fewer than 250 TAs is two nominations, and more than 250 TAs is three nominations.

Total Number of TA Nominations each Faculty may Submit for the Award

Completed nomination packages must be submitted to the Centre for Teaching and Learning by email to ctl.ubco@ubc.ca by May 31, 2024.

Required documents:

• Nomination form including summary of recent teaching responsibilities.
• Letter of support written by the nominating faculty member or supervisor (1 page maximum).
• One letter of support from a faculty member or peer (1 page maximum).
• One letter of support from one or more students (1 page maximum).
• No other letters of support accepted beyond the three required.
• Self-reflection document written by nominee highlighting their approach and achievements (1 page maximum).
• Up to 1 page of evidence data including SEI survey data, student comments, or other forms of teaching evaluations.
• Submission format for all documents is a minimum of 11-point Times New Roman Font with 1-inch margins and single spacing.
• The submission must be as a single PDF.