PREPARING YOUR PROVOST’S TEACHING AWARD TEACHING EXCELLENCE
APPLICATION FORM (TEAF)
The introduction to the Guidelines for the Trinity College Provost’s Teaching Award states:
The scope of this initiative is broad, covering all aspects of teaching, learning and
assessment and aims to:

Provide recognition for outstanding teaching

Raise the profile and status of curriculum development, teaching, learning,
assessment and evaluation as important activities in College requiring high level
expertise

Encourage teaching staff to reflect critically on their teaching practice
Sometimes it can be difficult to evidence what makes you a good teacher. The purpose of
this document is to help you to elicit how and why you teach the way you do, and to reflect
on your teaching and learning strategies as you apply for the Provost’s Teaching Award.
Freewriting activity:
Before you begin to fill in the questions required in the TEAF, consider some ‘Freewriting’
prompts, a writing strategy that aims to unlock your thoughts and ideas. These are personal
notes and will not be included in your applications as such, but may spark some ideas (about
your teaching and your attitudes to student learning) that you can use.
The purpose of free writing is to write as much as you can in five minutes. It encourages you
to write freely and assists the flow of creativity.
There are 6 sample prompts here. You can choose as many as you like but write on each
prompt for 5 minutes, in full sentences, and without stopping to read over or correct:
TEAF: Dr. Ciara O’Farrell (TCD) 2015-16
Prompt 1: How do I describe myself as a teacher?
Prompt 2: How would my students describe me as a teacher?
Prompt 3: How do I stimulate my student’s learning?
Prompt 4: Why do I think I have been nominated for this award?
Prompt 5: What do I believe about teaching?
Prompt 6: What do I believe about student learning?
Once your time is up, read over your thoughts and circle any values that stand out. These
reflections should help you to approach the Teaching Excellence Application Form (TEAF)
by highlighting what is important to you as a teacher, eliciting your key thoughts on student
learning, and reminding you why you might have been nominated for this award.
Completing the TEAF form:
The information you provide in this form should not be confused with a CV. Rather, it should
be critically reflective, and provide evidence on how you enquire into your teaching and
student learning. It’s not enough to say “I run a learner-centred classroom”, or “I practice
active learning”. You need to tell us why you do this, and how. At all stages give examples
to back up what your points.
The remainder of this document details the questions asked in the TEAF form and, where
appropriate, makes suggestions about the kind of considerations you might include in your
responses.
TEAF: Dr. Ciara O’Farrell (TCD) 2015-16
Please note the boxes used in the TEAF are expandable.
(1) Nominee: Please give your name, designation, discipline, phone number and email
address
(2) Peer Reviewers: Please give the names and contact details of TWO Peer Reviewers,
one of whom should be your appropriate head of area who can suitably comment on your
teaching and one other internal or external reviewer. Both peer reviewers must be a
member of academic staff. Please submit the two completed Peer Review Forms with
your TEAF.
(3) Teaching Commitments: Please provide information regarding your core teaching
commitments throughout the academic year 2012-2013. Include details of undergraduate
and postgraduate research supervision, if applicable. Please include all teaching activities in
order to show to the review panel the breadth and depth of your teaching, using an
additional sheet if necessary.
(4) Teaching and Learning Philosophy (Max word count 500)
A Teaching Philosophy is a reflective statement that personally defines, discusses and
exemplifies your approaches to teaching and to student learning. A narrative description of
your conceptualization of teaching, your statement should articulate your sincerely-held
values and beliefs about teaching and learning, and provide a rationale to the reader about
the teacher you are and the teacher you want to become.
For further information on writing a teaching philosophy statement, please see:
http://www.tcd.ie/CAPSL/staff/learning-teaching/cpd/#Resources
This section gives you the chance to present your ideological stance on teaching. In it you
will express, in the first person, your core personal beliefs about learning and teaching and
show how you implement them in the classroom. You may need to distil these beliefs as this
document should be no longer than 500 words.
If you haven’t written your Teaching Philosophy Statement before, click on the link in the
TEAF form (also above) that will guide you through its rationale and construction.
TEAF: Dr. Ciara O’Farrell (TCD) 2015-16
5) Teaching and Learning Design, Delivery and Assessment (Max word count 2000)
In this section, reference should be made to curriculum design, teaching strategies and
assessment. Within these areas, there is nothing prescriptive about what information you
might provide. For example, you may refer to topics such as promoting student engagement,
developing self-directed learners, creating innovative assessments or promoting researchled teaching. The review panel wishes to know what it is that makes your teaching stand out,
and how your teaching contributes to student learning.
When completing this section you might wish to reflect on the prompts listed below. Not
everything will apply to you. It is almost impossible to embrace best practice in all these
areas, and the panel members realise this. What we want to see in this section is a true
picture of what makes your teaching stand out. What strategies do you employ to develop
your teaching and student learning? And how do your practices relate back to your teaching
philosophy?
Curriculum Design and Delivery:
Consider your curriculum design and development strategies. How do you plan, prepare,
and deliver curricula? Why/How are these strategies effective?

How do you develop your curricula?

What is the rationale behind your module/programme planning?

Are you influenced by particular models of curriculum design in higher education?

How do you design your modules to advance student learning?

How do you facilitate your students to broaden and deepen their understanding
as they progress through the module?
Teaching effectiveness:
Consider why your teaching works? How does it relate to student learning?

How and why is your teaching effective?
TEAF: Dr. Ciara O’Farrell (TCD) 2015-16

How do you know when your teaching is effective?

What is the teacher/student relationship you strive for and why?

What sort of classroom dynamic do you strive for and why?

How do you develop self-directed learning?

How do promote active engagement in the classroom?

How do you engage your students and maintain that engagement?
Assessment:
Consider your assessment strategies. How do you design and deliver effective assessment?
How you give feedback to your learners on their assessment.

Why do you assess? Describe your approach to assessment.

Highlight and explain any innovative assessment methods you have designed/used.

Explain how you assess to promote student learning.

What effects does your approach to assessment have on student outcomes?

How do you provide feedback to your students?
Scholarship of Learning and Teaching
Consider the extent to which you view teaching as a scholarly activity.

Do you use pedagogic research relating to student learning to enhance your
approach?

Do you research in the area of teaching and learning? If so how do you disseminate
the results?

Do you engage in critical reflection about your teaching and learning practice? How
do you disseminate this reflection?
Research-based teaching:
Research-based teaching has a number of strands. As an academic do you:

Make your students aware of faculty research and its importance?

Include modules/elements in your curriculum on research skills?

Facilitate your students to engage in research projects?
TEAF: Dr. Ciara O’Farrell (TCD) 2015-16

Design learning activities around research issues?

Engage yourself in research on learning and teaching or student learning?
Inclusivity
The Inclusive Curriculum is curriculum that aims to break down barriers to learning by
providing a range of teaching and assessment methods, thus allowing all students to work to
their strengths. Consider your approach to inclusivity. How aware of it are you? How does
it inform your approach to teaching and learning?

Do you provide flexibility and variety in your teaching methods to accommodate
diverse backgrounds and learning preferences?

Do you provide flexibility and variety in assessment methods/teaching materials?

Are your course materials accessible and available on time to allow optimal
preparation?
For further information see the Trinity Inclusive Curriculum website:
http://www.tcd.ie/CAPSL/TIC/
(6) Evaluation of Teaching and Learning (Max word count 1000)
Evaluation is a key component of professional development that underpins good practice in
learning and teaching. Evaluation of teaching involves collecting evidence, from various
stakeholders, to reflect on and improve your teaching and student learning.
In this section the panel of reviewers wants to know how and why you seek feedback, and
how you use it to improve teaching and learning.
You can obtain feedback and evidence about the quality of your teaching and student
learning from many sources, including students, colleagues, peers, and through selfreflection.
Consider the methods you use, both formal and informal, that you use to review your
teaching, and your student learning. How do you use evaluation to sustain professional
development in your teaching?
TEAF: Dr. Ciara O’Farrell (TCD) 2015-16

How do you use your students to evaluate your teaching and student learning?
Give examples.

How do you evaluate a course, analyse your students’ learning needs, gauge the
success of your teaching activities, and investigate students’ experiences of your
teaching?

What tools do you use to elicit feedback from students?

How do you evaluate your student learning within the classroom?

What self-evaluation tools do you use?

To what extent do you engage in reflective activities?

How does reflection influence your practice?

Do you use your peers to evaluate your teaching? If so, give examples.
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How do you respond to feedback elicited?
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How do you act on these evaluations?
(7) Professional Development in Academic Practice
(Max word count 700)
What steps have you taken to grow professionally in your role as a teacher? Please
highlight your contributions to teaching and learning excellence in the local, national and
international community. Please provide specific examples.
Consider what steps you have taken to develop your teaching during the course of your
career? Note your plans for future professional development. Make sure you detail
activities that demonstrate the extent to which you engage in a process of continual
improvement of your learning and teaching practice. Show your commitment to the
development of learning and teaching in Trinity College Dublin and in the wiser community.
For example, consider the following:

Have you undertaken a professional qualification in teaching in Higher Education?
(for example the Special Purpose Professional Certificate in Academic Practice or
the /Diploma/Masters in Higher Education)

Have you contributed or taken part in learning and teaching programmes or
workshops for professional development in CAPSL or elsewhere?
TEAF: Dr. Ciara O’Farrell (TCD) 2015-16

Have you attended or facilitated any CAPSL seminars on aspects of teaching and
learning?

Have you attended or spoken at pedagogic conferences?

Have you published in pedagogic journals?

How have you contributed to the development of teaching within the University or
outside of it?

Have you published student text books or teaching artefacts?

Do you partake in any relevant committees or Boards?

Do you play any relevant role in societies, associations, or networks?
When writing the TEAF
Remember:

Be aware of your reader, and edit for clarity

Use headings and sub headings to signpost your work

Reference, where appropriate

Include page numbers

Do not exceed the word count
TEAF: Dr. Ciara O’Farrell (TCD) 2015-16