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Great Ideas for Teaching (GIFT) Award
Have you ever had that moment in the classroom when your students finally grasp a difficult concept and you know that all of your hard work and planning has paid off? The Centre for Teaching and Learning wants to recognize and reward outstanding Teaching Assistants for their commitment to undergraduate student learning! All current graduate students and postdoctoral scholars are welcome to apply.
The Centre for Teaching and Learning selects the winners of the GIFT Award from a competitive pool of proposals submitted by graduate students and postdoctoral scholars. Each proposal provides a summary of an in-class activity, creative assignment, or another strategy that supports undergraduate student learning. Great proposals describe a course- or discipline-specific teaching idea but also include thoughts on how the strategy could be modified for use in other disciplines.
The winner will present their innovative teaching method to an interdisciplinary audience as part of a CTL workshop or panel.
Benefits:
- A teaching award looks great on a CV and Teaching Dossier - especially when applying for future teaching positions.
- By presenting their "Great Idea" as part of CTL programming, winners have the chance to share successful teaching methods with the broader Western community.
- Winner receives a $100 gift certificate to the Western Bookstore or Hospitality Services.
Instructions:
A call for applications for the 2025 GIFT Award will be circulated in the 2025 winter semester. Subscribe to our mailing list to be the first to know once applications open.
Past GIFT Award Winners Proposals
2022
- Storytelling in the Digital Age; YouTube video - Percy Sherwood, Information and Media Studies
- 1st Runner-up: Critical Thinking for Engineers: Programming scenarios, not coding instructions; YouTube video - Hareem Nisar, Engineering
- 2nd Runner-up: Lost in Interpretation: Teaching Basic Epidemiology Terminology; YouTube video - Majd Radhaa, Epidemiology & Biostatistics
2021
- Registered Reports for Psychological Science; YouTube video - Joseph Rovetti, Psychology
- 1st Runner-up: Communicating Science on Instagram; YouTube video - Danielle Spice, Biology
- 2nd Runner-up: Zine-ing it Out: DIY Approaches to Content Application; YouTube video - Jill Hoffman, Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies
2018
- Expressive Reading - Kathy Asari, French Studies
- Exploring Cultural Appropriation from Indigenous Perspectives - Candace Brunette-Debassige, Education
- Building Legislation and Ethics Search, Review and Application Skills; YouTube video - Heather Church, Health Sciences
2017
- Snapchatting Challenge: Learning a second language using the social media context - Ana Boller, Modern Lanugages and Literatures
- Casino Game - Diana Fernandez, Modern Lanugages and Literatures
- Incorporating Field Interpretations into the Archaeology Classroom - Arwen Johns, Anthropology
- Runner-up: Standoff of the Stakeholders: Panel debates on current genetic dilemmas - Shrikaar Kambhampati, Mandana Miri, and Keegan Leckie, Biology
2016
- From What to How and Why: Helping students to critically analyze texts - Lisette Farias Vera, Health and Rehabilitation Sciences
- Student Video Projects: Putting knowledge into practice - Natalya Domina, Comparative Literature
- Standoff of the Stakeholders: Panel debates on current genetic dilemmas - Shrikaar Kamphampati, Christina Catellani, and Alanna Edge, Biology
2015
- CMoS Word Jumble - Claude Bock, Art History
- Mathematical Cookbook - Allen O'Hara, Mathematics
- Three Minute Teach - Marylynn Steckley, Geography
- Computing Informatics - Jenna Butler, Computer Science
- Media in Society - Kristen Colbeck, Information and Media Studies
- Choose and Match you Own CATS - Lisa Cossy and Leichelle Little, Health and Rehabilitation Sciences
- Runner-Up: Logic Grids in The Classroom - Allen O'Hara, Mathematics
2012
- Acting out Algorithms - A "hands-on" approach to teaching Computer Science - Jenna Butler, Computer Science
- Stimulating Student Learning in Breadth Courses - Chelsea Hicks
- Photo-Reflection Assignments - Beth Hundey, Geography
2010
- Virtual Virtuality - Jennifer Martin, Media Studies
- The Question Game - Angel Petropanagos, Philosophy
- Post-it Empowered - Megan Popovic, Kinesiology
2009
- The Medium is Still the Message: Generation Text Meets Marshall McLuhan - Mike Arntfield, English
- Fossil Analogies: Correlating Primate Behaviour and Morphology - Zoe Morris, Anthropology
- Art Theory Review Pie - Helen Parkinson, Visual Arts
2008
- The World Café Comes to Western - Megan Popovic, Kinesiology
- Rethinking Multi-Media: An indisciplinary overview of the media, information & technoculture program - Mike Arntfield, English
- “Webmindful(l)”: Building Web Resource Evaluation Skills - Elan Paulson, English
2007
- The Traveling Discussion - Suzanne Fox
- Vocabulary Relay Race - Lauren Keys