Department of Biology Teaching Excellence Award for TAs and Markers

Teaching Assistants are vital to the success of undergraduates in Biology. In all kinds of teaching environments, Teaching Assistants play a key role in effective instruction, and the smooth operation of the courses that they are a part of. The Department of Biology is proud to offer this award for excellence in teaching to the Teaching Assistants that support the courses and programs run by the Biology Department.

The recipient of this award will receive a prize (to be determined each year based on budget), and will be listed on the Biology Department website.

This award is open to any graduate or undergraduate student who has been employed by the Department of Biology as a Teaching Assistant in the most recent calendar year, including both the summer and winter sessions, who has not already won a teaching award during that time.

Previous/past winners of the Science Teaching Assistant Teaching Award and of the Biology Teaching Assistant Teaching Award are not eligible. However, those who were nominated and did not win are still eligible for this year’s award and encouraged to apply.

Nominations are encouraged from teaching supervisors of Teaching Assistants (this can include faculty, contract faculty, sessional lectures, lab coordinators or other appropriate staff members), from colleagues working closely with the TA, and from the students who attended the TA’s class or laboratory.

While TAs may not nominate themselves, they are encouraged to discuss their contributions to teaching with an appropriate teaching supervisor or colleague if they feel that they may qualify.

Once a nomination has been secured, an application package is put together by the graduate student. Since this is an important step in the professional development of the graduate student, it is strongly encouraged that the nominator, or another appropriate person, support and advise on the development of the application package, especially if the graduate student has no prior experience with this process.

Nomination Form

Required documents include:

  1. A completed nomination form.
  2. The letter of nomination (no longer than 1 page).
  3. Teaching statement (no longer than 1 page).
  4. Summary of recent teaching experiences (i.e., Teaching cv, 1-3 pages maximum).
  5. Any additional supporting evidence that you wish to include (see below, no more than 5 pages total).

Examples of supporting evidence you may choose to include:

    • One additional letter of support from another member of the Biology community (faculty, staff or students).
    • Letter(s) of support from outside of the Biology teaching community, for teaching and learning-related work (i.e., outreach coordinators, CTL staff members, SL Hub staff members, etc.).
    • Outline of educational research (i.e., SoTL) that the teaching assistant may actively be involved in. This should include a brief summary of the work that’s being done, and the role of the student in this work.
    • Evidence of professional development of teaching, including participation in workshops, certifications, etc. This may be through UBC or another institution or professional body.
    • Student evaluations of teaching for the most recent term available.
    • Any other work the TA is involved with that is focused on teaching and learning, but does not fall into any other category, and is considered central to the reason why this award is merited.

The enclosed criteria will be used by the Department of Biology Award committee to determine the nominees’ effectiveness.

The award is given to individuals who have demonstrated knowledge, skills, and other contributions that result in a high level of respect from students, academic and course supervisors, and other TAs/tutors.

The Selection Committee considers the following criteria:

  1. Demonstrated knowledge of the field and course material and the ability to help students actively learn new knowledge, skills, and perspectives:
    • explains facts and concepts clearly and logically
    • models excellent lab/demonstration skills, if applicable
    • encourages student participation
    • provides timely, constructive feedback
  2. Creates supportive learning environment:
    • is enthusiastic and demonstrates interest in the subject, cultivates student curiosity, and engages and motivates students
    • respects students’ diverse backgrounds and strengths
    • is accessible and responsive, providing support and guidance
  3. Shows evidence of working in a professional manner with students, faculty supervisors, and teaching assistant and tutor colleagues:
    • works in a collegial manner with students, faculty, staff, and other TAs/tutors
    • demonstrates high standards, ethics, academic integrity
    • exhibits excellent organization skills
    • works to improve the learning environment
    • demonstrates leadership to other TAs and tutors

Submission Deadline

Completed nomination packages, ideally in pdf format, can be sent to biology.okanagan@ubc.ca no later than April 17th.

Past recipients

Emily O’Brien

Emily was nominated for being professional, direct, engaging, and approachable – a combination that sets clear expectations for students, motivates learning, and creates an inviting atmosphere for students to seek help when needed. She builds clear rapport with students; she sets high expectations and then makes time to provide individualized attention in proportion to student needs. Emily has served as mentor for new TAs and is an exceedingly thoughtful instructor, focusing on creating an effective learning environment for students.

Maddie Gebhardt

Maddie was specifically nominated as a marker who is reliable and consistent. A good marker must have sound judgement, and the capacity to look beyond the words the students write to determine whether they are truly understanding the concepts being taught to them. Her capacity to work independently, and use sound judgement when considering answers was essential. She knew when to ask questions about student answers, and when to highlight potential issues with the marking keys that needed to be considered. Maddie’s work is essential to the success of a number of core courses in Biology/Biochemistry.

Liam Bystrom

Liam won specifically for his work as a graduate TA with BIOC/BIOL393, working with Drs Brendan D’Souza and Richard Plunkett, but also for his growth as an instructor since he began his Masters degree. He has come to act as a mentor to other, newer undergraduate TAs in the course.

Selina Spence

Selina won for her work as a graduate TA in BIOL354 with Dr. Mark Rheault. It was highlighted by many that she has a strong commitment to teaching excellence, and has actively work to improve her teaching practice by participating in an intensive Foundations of Pedagogy course, offered through UBCV.

Barrett Burns

Barrett is our first ever Undergraduate marker recipient of this award, for his work with Dr. Ken Savage in BIOL201. His nomination letter commended him for his ability to work with the complex short answer problem solving questions that are used in BIOL201, and for his capacity to both work independently and to know when it was time to check in, and think critically about the rubric he was using.

Jacqueline Barnett

Jacqueline was nominated both for her work within the department, and for her educational leadership at UBC Okanagan more broadly. Jacqueline is an experienced TA in Biology, having worked with several courses over the past 5 years, including BIOL228, and BIOL133. Like Brontë, she is an excellent TA, who works hard to do her best work in the classroom, actively working to improve her teaching every term. In addition, she has been working to improve the teaching landscape here at UBC Okanagan for TAs and faculty, through her work with the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL). She has served as a Learning Design Intern, helping faculty with their teaching for a number of years. She has also been heavily involved in the CTL’s TA training program, to the point where she was able to take over and run the entire program this past January, when the education consultant that normally runs the program had to go on leave unexpectedly.

Brontë Shelton:

Brontë was nominated for her work as both a marker and a TA on three different courses this past year: BIOL 308, 357 and 306. The nomination letter highlighted her professionalism, accuracy in grading, and the level of engagement she was able to maintain with the students. On top of that, the letter highlights how conceptually different each of these three courses are, with very little overlap in terms of knowledge or skills, and yet Bronte “never phoned it in, and she was always fully prepared.” Finally, it was noted that working with insects (for the Entomology class) was new for Brontë, and not something she was entirely comfortable with at first, but she never once let that discomfort show to her students, exhibiting a level of professionalism that goes above and beyond expectations.

Portia McGonigal

Nathan Earley