Awards
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Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award Guidelines, 2011-2012
The Award Program
The Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award gives campuswide recognition to those GSIs who have demonstrated excellence in teaching. In addition to certificates of distinction and a celebratory ceremony in the spring, award recipients will receive a $250 stipend, sponsored by the Dean of the Graduate Division to applaud outstanding GSIs.
Criteria for the Award
Each department is asked to establish criteria and decide upon the evidence that it will use to determine the award. Criteria may include the following:
- overall effectiveness as an instructor
- capacity to promote critical thinking
- skills in presenting course material
- utilization of pedagogically effective approaches, for example, collaborative learning, problem-based learning, or community-based learning
- skills in developing course materials that promote learning, for example, course syllabi, website, essay or exam questions, paper topics
- command of the subject area
- ability to motivate students
- engagement in departmental and campuswide activities that enhance teaching and learning
Evidence upon which to base the award may include the following:
- evaluations submitted by students
- letters of nomination by faculty or students
- classroom observations by faculty
- documentation of teaching excellence submitted by GSIs (e.g., course materials, a statement of teaching philosophy, a teaching portfolio)
Selection Procedures
Each department should formalize its selection procedures. We recommend the following process to select Outstanding Graduate Student Instructors:
- Set up a committee and determine criteria and evidence that the department will use to select the award nominees. (You will be asked to enter the criteria and evidence your department used when you submit your nominations.)
- Invite faculty, GSIs, and undergraduate students to nominate candidates on a special form stating their reasons for nominating the GSI.
- Invite GSIs to submit materials that document their teaching, for example, course materials, a statement of teaching philosophy, or a teaching portfolio.
- Have the departmental committee review all submitted materials and select nominees according to the established criteria.
- Forward the names of the GSIs nominated for the award to the chair, vice chair, or dean for endorsement.
- Send name and email address of departmental contact person to the GSI Teaching and Resource Center (gsi@berkeley.edu) to obtain password needed to access online submission form.
- Using the online submission form (see "Online Submission Procedures" below), and the Excel spreadsheet template, submit information about the nominees and the criteria, evidence, and selection procedures used to determine the nominees. Submission deadline is Friday, March 16, 2012.
After you have received confirmation from the GSI Teaching and Resource Center on March 21, 2012, please inform the recipients that they have been selected for the award and make their names known to faculty and GSIs in the department.
Number of Awardees
All departments are eligible to nominate at least one outstanding GSI. Departments with large numbers of GSIs may nominate up to nine percent of the GSIs appointed by the department during the academic year.
Only those GSIs who have demonstrated outstanding skills in teaching should be nominated. Some departments may wish to nominate fewer than 9% of their GSIs.
Please note that the number of nominees is based on the number of individuals appointed, not on the number of GSI positions, as one individual could hold two GSI positions in the academic year. Nominees must not exceed nine percent of the total number of individuals appointed as GSIs in the academic year.
Because some of the evidence upon which you may wish to select the nominees such as end-of-semester evaluations is not available by mid-March, departments should base the award on teaching done in spring 2011 and fall 2011. Please call or email the GSI Teaching and Resource Center if you have any questions (642-4456, gsi@berkeley.edu).
GSIs may only receive the award once during their studies at Berkeley. In the event that a GSI is nominated simultaneously by the home department and another teaching department, the GSI’s name will appear on the home department’s list. A GSI being nominated for teaching done in a cross-listed course should be put forward by the department that appointed the GSI.
Online Submission Procedures
This year we will once again be using an online submission process.
The department should send the name and email address of a contact person to the GSI Teaching and Resource Center (gsi@berkeley.edu) so that we can provide that person the password needed to access the online submission form. In submitting the form, the contact person will be asked to enter information about the nominees and the criteria, evidence, and selection procedures used by the department in choosing nominees. The contact person will be the point person for communicating with the GSI Teaching and Resource Center about the awards. Notifications and certificates will be sent to the contact person.
Submission deadline is Friday, March 16, 2012.
Go to Online Submission Form
(password required)
Go to Excel Spreadsheet Template
If a department submits nominations after the deadline, the GSIs may be prevented from submitting a Teaching Effectiveness Award application, and the names of the GSIs may not appear in the Outstanding GSI Award reception program.
Departmental Recognition of Outstanding GSIs
Several departments have established traditions for honoring GSIs who receive this award. For example, some distribute awards at commencement ceremonies, in special departmental gatherings, or at luncheons held to recognize the achievements of these GSIs. Other departments display the names and photographs of recipients in the department office or on the departmental Web site. In some departments, cash awards are given. Departments may also honor outstanding GSIs by including past recipients of the award on the departmental selection committee. Please let us know of your department's traditions regarding this award.
Campus Ceremony and Reception
The GSI Teaching and Resource Center will host a ceremony and reception on Tuesday, May 1, 2012 to honor the Outstanding GSI Award recipients.
Go to Online Submission Form
(password required)
Go to Excel Spreadsheet Template
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