Teaching Fellows Program

Call for Proposals (2025)

Up to three Fellowships will be awarded for a 2-year term beginning July 1, 2025.

The goal of the Generative AI Teaching Fellowship is to enhance teaching innovation and teaching quality at Western by bringing together a cohort of outstanding educators. Generative AI Teaching Fellows are educational leaders who (1) develop teaching innovation projects in the area of generative AI, (2) perform research to assess the impact of these projects, and (3) support educational excellence at Western by mentoring colleagues, coordinating workshops, facilitating learning communities, and providing other instructional development opportunities. To achieve these outcomes, Fellows receive a two-year secondment, funding to conduct their teaching innovations, and support from educational developers in the Centre for Teaching and Learning.

Up to three Generative AI Teaching Fellow positions are open starting July 1, 2025, and we invite educational innovation projects focusing on undergraduate or graduate education in the area of generative AI as it applies to teaching and learning. Applicants are encouraged to submit proposals for projects which have relevance within their own disciplines, and which have applicability across the disciplines. We invite proposals for generative AI projects focusing on undergraduate or graduate education including, but not limited to:

  • Aessment and generative AI
  • Ways instructors can use generative AI in their own teaching
  • Supporting the digital literacy of students in the use of generative AI in the classroom

Information Session

An online information session for interested candidates will be held on February 6, 2025. This session is intended to provide details on the Teaching Fellows Program, give an overview of the application process, and answer questions from attendees.

When:
February 6, 2025, 2:00 – 3:00pm Register here

To register, login to your Western Connect account and select the session above.

Eligibility

Full-time Western faculty members are invited to apply. (Members of the Affiliated University Colleges and postgraduate medical programs are not eligible.)

Important Dates

  • Deadline for applications: March 3, 2025
  • Applicants will be informed of results by May 1, 2025
  • Fellowships will begin on July 1, 2025

Appointment of Generative AI Teaching Fellows

  • Applications will be adjudicated by a panel chaired by the Director of the Centre for Teaching and Learning and comprised of the VP Academic Programs; Chief AI Officer; Associate Director, Digital Learning; 2 current or former Teaching Fellows; and an undergraduate student representative.
  • Teaching Fellows receive up to a 30% secondment from their Department/Faculty to the CTL for a two-year term, starting July 1, 2025.
  • Teaching Fellows will develop and implement a teaching innovation project.
  • Teaching Fellows will conduct research on their projects to determine their impact on student learning (and/or other relevant outcomes).
  • Teaching Fellows will engage faculty colleagues in professional development activities in teaching each term (at least two each academic year; e.g., consultations, workshops, communities of practice, guest speakers).
  • Teaching Fellows are eligible for up to $10,000 in funding per year for two years to conduct their teaching innovation projects, research those projects, and support the professional development activities they offer. Monies may be used, for example, to fund graduate student research assistants, to support professional development activities at Western, or to present projects at teaching and learning conferences.
  • Teaching Fellows will receive support for their activities from CTL staff including eLearning and Curriculum Specialists and the Educational Developer (Scholarship of Teaching and Learning and Faculty Programs).
  • Teaching Fellows can disseminate the results of their work in a variety of ways, such as through workshops or presentations for the university community; consultations with faculty members; articles in academic publications; or presentations at conferences on teaching, such as the CTL’s Spring and Fall Perspectives on Teaching conferences, the Western Conference on Science Education, or the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Conference.

Requirements of Recipients

  • Fellows will share their advances in teaching with the rest of the University, through promotion or distribution by the Centre for Teaching and Learning; as well as beyond Western – through either publication or presentation at academic conferences (e.g. conferences on teaching in their discipline or national and international conferences on university teaching such as the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, Professional and Organizational Development (POD) Network in Higher Education, or Western Conference on Science Education).
  • Teaching Fellows should be willing to provide peer consultations on teaching to at least three colleagues over the two-year term and serve on selection committees for teaching and learning awards and grants.
  • With the support of CTL staff, Teaching Fellows will initiate other professional development activities around teaching and learning for Western faculty.
  • Teaching Fellows will submit an interim report after the first year of their appointment, in which they summarize their successes and provide a detailed breakdown of the use of funds during that year. Interim reports are due by June 30, 2026.
  • Teaching Fellows will submit a final report outlining the outcomes of their project, the results of their research, and the impact of their professional development activities on teaching and learning they offered by the end of their two-year Fellowship term.

Submission Guidelines

Application should be submitted, in a single PDF file, by email to ctl@uwo.ca by Monday, March 3, 2025, and include the following components:

  1. Executive Summary of the Project (1 page maximum)
  2. The Proposal (6 pages maximum)
    Proposals should include:
    1. a rationale and goals for the teaching innovation project;
    2. a description of what will be in place as a result of the project;
    3. an outline of how you will research the impact of your project;
    4. a plan outlining possible professional development activities in teaching you will provide (e.g., consultations, workshops, community of practice);
    5. a detailed budget;
    6. a knowledge mobilization plan;
    7. timelines; and
    8. the anticipated number of students/faculty impacted by the project and your professional development activities.
  3. Short Curriculum Vitae (4 pages maximum)
  4. Teaching Philosophy Statement (2 pages maximum)
  5. Evidence of Leadership in Teaching and Learning (i.e., offering workshops on teaching and learning; services to an educational development centre; support of a teaching and learning committee; grants for teaching and learning projects; research or publications on teaching and learning). Please highlight any previous Generative AI experience you have in relation to teaching and learning. (2 pages maximum)
  6. Letter of Support from the Dean of the Faculty (confirming the percentage of time the candidate will be seconded from their home Faculty)
  7. Application Cover Sheet (pdf) with the signature of the applicant’s Chair/Director and Dean

Proposal Evaluation Criteria

Proposals will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

  1. An established commitment to excellence in university teaching
  2. A demonstrated interest in the development of transformative teaching and learning practices and initiatives
  3. A rationale and goals for a teaching innovation project that enhances student learning
  4. An outline of the impact of the proposed project on the quality of instruction at Western
  5. A viable plan for researching the impact of the teaching innovation project on student learning (and/or other relevant outcomes)
  6. Clarity of plan for possible professional development activities in teaching that will be provided
  7. A detailed budget outline
  8. A plan for the dissemination of the project/innovation within and beyond Western

Questions?

Contact:

Aisha Haque
Director, Centre for Teaching and Learning
ahaque23@uwo.ca

Ken N. Meadows
Educational Developer (Scholarship of Teaching and Learning & Faculty Programs), Centre for Teaching and Learning
kmeadow2@uwo.ca