Teaching Award

Friedrich Schiller University Jena annually rewards excellent teaching concepts with Teaching Awards..

Teaching Award symbol: a golden paper plane flies ahead of three white paper planes

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The Teaching Award of the University of Jena

The teaching award is to recognize special commitment to teaching and make exemplary teaching concepts visible. All professors and academic employees at the University who are involved in teaching can be nominated. In addition to individuals, teams can be nominated as well. Direct applications are also accepted.

An award is presented for the best course concept. Since 2015, an additional award has been presented in a thematic priority area that changes every year.

The concepts of the teaching award winners are presented on the pages of the Service Centre for Higher Education Didactics (LehreLernen) as Good practices de— together with a selection of other examples of innovative teaching design.

The call for nominations for the Teaching Award is supported by the Sparkassenstiftung Jena-Saale-HolzlandExternal link.

Who selects the award winners?

The panel of experts of the Academy for Teaching Development selects the award winners on the basis of the nomination documents received.

What are the selection criteria?

Teaching concepts rated as outstanding in at least one of the following criteria can receive a teaching award:

innovative teaching methods and learning materials are used in a target group-specific manner
the didactic design of the course supports the learning process and success of the students in a special way
exemplary forms of interaction between teachers and students are used.

Who can be nominated?

All professors and academic employees working in teaching at Friedrich Schiller University Jena can be nominated. In addition to individual teachers, teams can also be nominated.

Who may nominate?

students (a minimum of five)
subject-specific student representative committees
academic staff
professors

How can nominations be submitted?

In addition to nominations by students and/or other teachers, direct applications are also possible.
A nomination form is available which must be completed in order to submit a nomination. The completed form, together with the other necessary nomination documents, must then be sent by email to the Academy for Teaching Development (ale@uni-jena.de) by the application deadline.

All annually updated call documents, including the nomination form, are usually released in February/March of the respective year.

Teaching Award 2023

In 2023, in addition to the teaching award for the best course concept (€2,500), an award (€2,500) will be presented on the thematic focus: 'Good examination practices'

The main focus "Good Examination Practice" addresses both, graded examinations at the end of a course or module (summative examinations) and learning progress checks during the semester (formative examinations). Combinations of formative and summative examination formats can also be proposed. A nomination is possible as well for courses with an already established examination practice as courses in which new examination formats have been successfully tested.

Further aspects can be:

Consistent alignment of the examination format with learning objectives and teaching methodology (constructive alignment)
development of alternative examination formats against the background of specific learning
objectives
targeted support for exam preparation and feedback that promotes learning
Competency-oriented digital examination formats
Approaches to greater transparency of examination assessment and individual performance
feedback

The deadline for the submission of nominations for the Teaching Award is 7 May 2023. Please submit your nomination by this date using the nomination form and the other necessary nomination documents (see details in the nomination form).

^{*The prize money is earmarked and have to be used to further improve teaching.}

Download of the Call for Nominations and the Nomination Form:

Announcement of the thematic focus 2024

The ALe expert committee has determinded the thematic focus of the Teaching Award 2024:
'Special Commitment to Teaching'. There will be unique tender conditions for this focus, as only students of the Friedrich Schiller University Jena are eligible for nomination.

Further information will be published soon.