Teaching Award

The 2023 Dortmund University Teaching Award will be presented in four categories to teachers, students and administrative and technical staff. Each teaching prize is endowed with prize money of 1,000 euros which is donated by the Association of Friends of TU Dortmund University.  A jury of teachers, students, and academic teaching experts will decide on the award in all categories. The award ceremony will take place during the Academic Anniversary Celebration on 18 December 2023.

Category 1: Teaching award for courses with more than 60 participants

In the first category, TU Dortmund University recognizes outstanding achievements by teachers who have held large courses with more than 60 students. This includes, in particular, lectures that do not require direct and continuous student interaction. Nominations can be made by individual teachers, but also by groups of teachers. The prize can be awarded for both digital and classroom formats.

Category 2: Teaching award for courses with up to 60 participants

In the second category, TU Dortmund University recognizes outstanding achievements by teachers who have held courses with up to 60 students (e.g. seminars or internships). The focus here is particularly on offerings with interactive teaching formats. Nominations can be made by individual teachers, but also by groups of teachers. The prize can be awarded for both digital and classroom formats.

Category 3: Award for student engagement

The third category recognizes the commitment of individual students, several in a team, or an entire student council who have worked in an outstanding way to improve teaching conditions.

Category 4: Award for teaching support engagement of administrative and technical staff

In a fourth category, which is new this year, the commitment of employees from technology and administration is honored who, although they do not offer courses themselves, nevertheless show great commitment to improving teaching and learning in the course of their work - for example, in study coordination or in technical support for teaching and learning.

Outstanding teaching achievements and teaching-supporting commitments are characterized by the fact that they fuel students' interest in the teaching content and achieve a deep understanding of the teaching content. Teaching concepts and methods with an outstanding and exemplary character are therefore honored - regardless of the teaching format.

Category 1 & 2: Teaching

The requirements for good academic teaching result from the specific expectations in the subjects as well as from different teaching cultures and profiles of individual disciplines. Therefore, no uniform and interdisciplinary criteria can be defined for all courses represented at the university. Important criteria may include:

• Didactics: Teaching is lively, didactically sound and the passion for science inspires students for the subject. Self-study is encouraged in an outstanding way.
• Content: Despite “heavy” content, it is conveyed in a catchy and “simple” manner. Even unloved topics appear interesting.
• Student support: Both the particularly high achievers and the breadth of students are supported to a special degree; the individual learning process is taken into account. Students can also be contacted outside of lectures and office hours.
• Practical relevance: Application examples are included in the course and meaningfully linked to the theoretical content. The relevance of the competencies taught for the professional fields of the graduates becomes apparent to the students.
• Research relevance: Current research results are incorporated into the course.
• Interdisciplinarity: The course is also open to interdisciplinary issues. Students are encouraged and enabled to deal with the contents of other disciplines.
• Use of media/technical implementation: The teaching method, the teaching/learning format and the learning materials promote the intended learning objectives to a considerable extent and are adapted to the target group.

Category 3: Student Engagement

Within the university, one or more students, an entire student body, or administrative and technical staff may have excelled exceptionally. This can be in different ways. Important criteria may include:

• Student support: Students are accompanied with extraordinary commitment during their studies and competent assistance is given in case of study problems.
• Improvement of study conditions: Students who are particularly committed to improving study conditions.
• Teaching evaluation: The student council participates constructively in the quality assurance of teaching. Individual students strongly advocate that the results of the evaluations lead to an improvement of the study conditions.
• Mentoring Programs / Tutorials: The student council offers special programs for students, such as mentoring programs or tutorials. Individual students excel as tutors or mentors: they are particularly competent in answering content-related questions or successfully help their fellow students with problems in their course of study.
• Outstanding Activities: The student council excels in activities that set it apart from other student councils e.g. career orientation, writing workshops, etc.
• Accompaniment of students: The student council provides outstanding support for students, both in personal exchanges and digitally. Individual students support fellow students in a special way.

Category 4: Teaching support by employees

Employees from administration and technology can - even without offering their own courses - make an important contribution to the success of studies and teaching. Criteria for the teaching award can be, among others:

• Improvement of study conditions: The staff member is particularly committed to improving the study conditions, e.g. by creating good learning conditions through technical infrastructure, by stimulating innovative further development of the curricula or by creating supplementary offers for students outside the curricular studies.
• Accompaniment of students: The staff member is particularly responsive to the concerns of students, both in personal and digital exchange. The staff member is also approachable for students in difficult or conflictual situations and accompanies them constructively.
• Networking: The staff member is considerably committed to the exchange around teaching, e.g. between teachers and students or within the teaching staff. 
• Support at critical transitions: The staff member supports students with extraordinary commitment at transitions in their educational biography, e.g. in the study beginning phase or in the transition from studies to the professional world.

All proposals must be received in writing by the Rectorate by November 3, 2023 (by e-mail to lehrpreistu-dortmundde). Please explain on about one A4 page why the teacher/student/staff member should receive the teaching award. The proposal should be formulated in such a way that someone who does not know the nominee will be convinced that the teaching or the commitment to teaching is outstanding.

Categories 1 & 2: The proposal should be reinforced by broad faculty acceptance throughout the faculty and among students. Without a positive vote from both the dean's office and the student council, a proposal for the Teaching Award in the Teaching category will not pass the selection process. Individual votes will not be sifted by the jury.

In order to provide transparent standards for the selection of award winners, documentation of special teaching achievements should be added to the proposal. Possible forms of documentation are:

• a teaching evaluation by the faculty or the lecturer
• a student critique of the event

Category 3: The proposal must be supported by multiple students. A positive vote from a faculty member, program coordinator or from the dean’s office highlights the proposal and should also be included. Helpful documents for evaluation include:

• requested projects from student representatives
• if available, teaching evaluations of tutorials or a student event critique

Category 4: The proposal must be supported by multiple students from one or more degree programs. A positive vote from a teacher, a study coordinator, from the Dean's office or from employees in technology and administration underlines the proposal and should also be submitted. Helpful documents for evaluation are e.g. documentations of realized projects that have benefited the students.

A jury of teachers, students, and academic teaching experts will decide on the award in all categories. Among others, it consists of former award recipients. The jury makes a selection based on the proposals received and proposes one award winner per category to the rectorate.