Teaching Fellows
Call for 2024-2025 teaching fellows
Tenure-track or tenured faculty are invited to submit applications for a two-year fellowship opportunity. The third cohort of the program will admit three fellows and will run from January 1st, 2024 to December 30, 2025.
Date | Action |
September 2023 | Applications for the third cohort open September 26, 2023. |
October 2023 | Potential applicants can attend an information session to learn more and ask questions about the Teaching Fellows program. Deadline to submit an application is October 30, 2023 (EOD). |
November 2023 | Proposals will be adjudicated by a committee led by the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching and chaired by the Vice-Provost, Academic or their designate. |
December 2023 | Announcement of selected teaching fellows. |
January 2024 | Funds will be made available in January 2024, after the recipients attend the Teaching Fellows kick-off session. |
Coming soon: Potential applicants can attend an information session to learn more and ask questions about the Teaching Fellows program (date and time to be announced soon).
Interested in submitting an application? These past workshops may be of interest to you:
- SoTL 101: Getting Started ( Watch the recording (external link) )
- What Does Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Look Like Across Disciplines? ( Watch the recording (external link) )
Please carefully review the information about the fellowship before proceeding with your application. Applications close EOD Monday, October 30th.
To apply for the fellowship, please submit the following:
- SoTL proposal (3 pages maximum including references). Please include the following:
- Research problem
- Research questions
- Proposed methods (including timeline)
- Impact on TMU teaching and learning
- Dissemination plan
- Personal positionality statement (e.g., how have your experiences as an instructor led to this research? Why are you well-positioned to carry out this research?)
- Budget form ( (google sheet) please make a copy of this template (external link) )
- CV
- Letter of support from dean
- The first cohort is from January 2022 to December 2023 (Active)
- The second cohort is from June 2022 to May 2024 (Active)
- The third cohort will be from January 2024 to December 2025 (Applications open September 26, 2023)
Teaching fellows will have opportunities to:
- Participate in a community of practice with their current and past cohorts
- Co-create teaching development resources for colleagues
- Develop their SoTL knowledge and skills through meetings and workshops
Applications will focus on examining the impact of implementing substantial and sustainable program, curriculum, or course level changes in order to enhance student learning, while being aligned with the Centre and the university’s priority focus areas:
- Indigenous Pedagogies
- Anti-Racist Teaching
- Inclusive Teaching
- Mental Health and Well-being
- Experiential Learning
- Teaching and Learning with AI
- Community-engaged Learning
- Supporting International Students
- Supporting Student Success and Persistence
- Students as Partners in Creating Learning Experiences
- First-year Experiences
- Blended Learning and Alternate Modes of Delivery
Teaching Fellows will complete a project, in which they will:
- Design and conduct publishable research on the impact of their teaching innovation to advance student learning
- Plan and design (environmental scan and literature review, development of a project research plan, and development of assessment mechanisms to measure the success of the project)
- Implement and assess (implement projects either in the classroom or through a curriculum review process, collect and analyze data)
- Extend the University’s commitment to a scholarship of teaching
- Participate and lead within the Community of Practice to enrich and enhance the quality of learning and teaching
- Provide instructional development opportunities to support educational excellence within their own Faculties (e.g., mentorship)
- Co-create and deliver workshops in collaboration with Educational Developers at the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching
- Serve on future adjudication committees
- Attend Community of Practice meetings
- Attend the mid-term check in meeting with the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching
- Submit a brief summary report or video interview to be published and archived on the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching website:
- First cohort due on or before December 30, 2023
- Second cohort due on or before May 31st, 2024
- Third cohort due on or before December 30, 2025
- Present findings at the Learning and Teaching Conference to be held in May each year.
- Credit the Teaching Fellows in any publications, conference proceedings, or media appearances resulting from the funded project.
Accepted Fellows receive a total of $11,000 in research funds across two years, as well as one course release (one semester), to be taken within the fellowship period.
The majority of the funding is expected to be spent on the hiring of Research Assistants. The remaining funding can be spent by Fellows at their discretion to support any the following activities related to the goals of the Teaching Fellows program:
- Promotion of SoTL to colleagues/peers (maximum of 5%)
- Materials and related costs (maximum of 5%)
- Travel and conferences (maximum of 15%)
Tenure-track or tenured faculty who have demonstrated commitment to excellence in their own teaching and willingness to champion the importance of teaching development in the university community.
Budget Justification
Funding requests should conform to the rates and regulations of Toronto Metropolitan University, and be fully justified in terms of the needs of the project. Teaching Fellows are asked to provide a detailed explanation in the budget justification form as to how the funds will be used to achieve the project objectives. Additional funding and in-kind contributions should be clearly stated and will be taken into account.
Applications requesting to develop new technologies, software, or databases are subject to the adjudication committee requesting a consultation with Toronto Metropolitan legal in addition to the standard application requirements.
Eligible Expenses
- Student and non-student research assistant salaries and benefits - Please review the Hiring Guide (Research Staff & Part-Time Casual). Funds may not be used to hire TA/GAs, lab monitors, or invigilators.
- Professional/consulting services - Consulting fees and professional services (e.g., guest speakers, Indigenous elders, transcriptionists, etc.) are eligible expenditures. Please review the purchasing thresholds and demonstrate in the Budget Justification that expert advice is needed. If you have planned to contract consultants, please include a quote in your application (along with HST if applicable). Please review our policies for Paying Vendors, Independent Contractors, and making Honoraria payments.
- Travel and dissemination costs - a maximum of 15% of requested funds can be allocated towards travel costs directly related to the funded project, including reasonable conference travel costs (e.g., registration fees, food, hotel, etc.) to present a project's findings. Please include a detailed description of the conference and a strong rationale for the relevance to the project. The adjudication committee will prioritize requests to support student engagement in scholarly communities. Please review the Faculty & Staff Reimbursement Policy and Reimbursement of Business Meals, Travel and Expenses Policy.
- Funds from other sources - Include all other contributors (e.g., IEC Curriculum Development Funds) that are providing in-kind or financial contributions for the proposal. Indicate whether or not these funds have been confirmed.
- Software licenses - requested software must be clearly and directly linked to the project’s process or outcomes (i.e., the project relies on this particular software to be carried out)
- Equipment and hardware - requested equipment or hardware must be clearly and directly linked to the project’s process or outcomes (i.e., the project relies on this particular equipment or hardware to be carried out).
- Participant incentives - According to TMU’s (PDF file) Guidelines for Incentives, Reimbursements, and Compensation, an incentive is “anything offered to [research] participants, monetary or otherwise, to encourage participation in research” (p. 205*i). For example, gift cards, etc., may all be used by researchers to incentivize potential research participants to participate in research-related activities. While the University does allow incentives for research participants; there are some documents that need to be filled out in advance of dispersal. The (PDF file) declaration form and participant incentive form (external link) need to be filled out by the Project Lead and the recipients to acknowledge the incentive.
- Materials/food for research team meetings, Community of Practice meetings, or other related activities in support of the SoTL project and its dissemination
Additional Notes and Ineligible Expenses
All non-consumable items purchased with the awarded funds will remain the property of Toronto Metropolitan University.
- Wages for faculty, regularly assigned teaching assistants, or staff members who would normally be employed by the university, are considered ineligible expenses.
- Fellows may not pay themselves with funds.
- Funds may not be used for capital expenditures (e.g., renovations).
Timeline:
We ask that each application be accompanied by a proposed timeline for goals and activities to demonstrate proposal feasibility within the two-year timeframe.
Proposals will be vetted and ranked by a committee led by the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching and chaired by the Vice-Provost, Academic or their designate. The adjudication committee will be announced in October.
The Teaching Fellows adjudication committee: TBA |
Funds will be made available in January 2024, after the recipients attend the Teaching Fellows kick-off session.
Funds must be expended no later than December 2025.
The administration of funds and initiation of HR contracts will take place through the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching, on behalf of the Principal Investigator.
Proposals require authorization of the department or school chair and dean.
All research involving humans, conducted by or with faculty, staff or students affiliated with Toronto Metropolitan University must be reviewed and approved by the Research Ethics Board (REB) prior to commencement of the study.
We believe in the importance of Open Educational Resources (OER) — teaching, learning, and research materials that are published under an open license to permit their sharing and reuse by others. We require you to publish your fellowship output under an open license. Learn more about open licenses (external link) .
Contact
For technical assistance, please email teachingcentre@torontomu.ca
If you have any questions or would like to discuss a potential proposal, please connect with Jacky Deng at jackydeng@torontomu.ca.