University Collaborative Awards for Teaching and Learning scheme now open!

The Centre for Quality Support and Development is pleased to announce that this year’s University Collaborative Awards for Teaching & Learning scheme is open for applications.

These awards recognise and reward groups of colleagues and students who have made exceptional, significant and ongoing contributions to the student learning experience.

Examples of collaborative work might include:

• identifying and designing new ways of working that support student learning

• developing innovative extra/co-curricular opportunities that enhance student learning and development

• working together to substantially re-develop an existing module in an innovative way (going beyond ‘business as usual’).

We particularly welcome applications from multidisciplinary teams and from teams that have actively involved students in developing and/or evaluating a project.

You can read about last year’s winning teams in our Staff Portal article.

Amanda Millmore, a core member of the Academic Tutor System project team, recently commented, “We were delighted to have been chosen as one of the winners of the University Collaborative Awards for Teaching & Learning scheme. Throughout what had been another incredibly busy year, it was at times hard to find the headspace to sit down and put the application together, but we did.

 It was such a rewarding experience, as we were able to look back as to why we had started to evaluate our approach to tutoring, how as staff and students we had worked together to co-create the Academic Tutor System to support our students' academic, personal and professional development, and celebrate our achievements. Oh and of course map this all against the award criteria!

Hands up, we had put in an application the year before…very last minute... but didn’t meet the grade (tip to teams - read the criteria), however the feedback was invaluable in making a successful application this time, which highlights what a supportive process it is. Not only did we get an award in 2021 (which we donated to the student hardship fund), but we received further feedback, which we incorporated into a successful nomination for the University’s CATE (Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence, a national scheme run by Advance HE) Expression of Interest scheme.”

Mike Simmonds, team leader of the Virtual Field Classes project, said, “Applying for, and winning, a University Collaborative Award allowed us to not only promote our project amongst the wider staff body at the University, but also allowed the team time for reflection on the project. We critically analysed our project’s positives and negatives, and took time to consider possible development opportunities. As a result of this process, the Virtual Field Classes project is continuing to expand and progress even at a time when we return to field based teaching.”

 Please visit the scheme page to view the criteria and guidance for applications, and to access the application form. The deadline for applications is 17:00 on Monday 7 March 2022.

If you have any questions, please email cqsd-tandl@reading.ac.uk.