The Cromwell Award for Innovation in Teaching
Excellent teaching requires faculty members to rethink and redevelop their own approaches to teaching and learning over the course of their careers. The Cromwell Center for Teaching and Learning seeks to sustain and encourage Washington College’s instructors on this journey with the annual Cromwell Award for Innovation in Teaching. The Cromwell Award for Innovation in Teaching is awarded annually to an instructor for exceptional accomplishments during the two previous academic years. Areas of focus for this award include: using new instructional technologies, revamping traditional technologies in creative ways, applying novel approaches to instruction, innovating in curricular development, or engaging students in the learning process in new ways. Awardees will receive $1500.
Selection committee
The members of the Cromwell CTL Advisory Board and the CTL Director(s).
Eligibility
The Cromwell Award is open to all teaching faculty at the College after the successful completion of two years of service. Tenure-line, non-tenure line, and part-time faculty as well as teaching members of the staff are encouraged to apply.
Awards may be shared equally by two instructors for team-taught/collaborative projects. Awards will not be given to more than two people for the same project.
Current members of the CTL Advisory Board and the director(s) of CTL are not eligible to apply for the award.
Previous winners must wait five years before submitting a new proposal. Faculty members are eligible to win the award a maximum of two times during their careers at the College.
Applications
Applications are due October 30. Applicants should submit their materials to CTL@washcoll.edu
Applications should include:
- A 3- to 5-page statement (double-spaced) about the successful teaching innovation(s)/accomplishment(s) to be considered
This statement should describe the course(s) or project(s) and the nature of the innovation(s) implemented. Applicants should include responses to the following questions:
- What problems were you trying to address or solve in the class(es) or project?
- Where did you look for possible solutions?
- What is new or innovative about what you’ve done? How does the innovation relate to pedagogical ideas and research in your field and/or issues of community engagement, inclusive pedagogy, or the scholarship of teaching and learning?
- What did your own learning process look like? What were your successes and failures?
- Evidence of the positive impact on student learning and readiness
Applicants may include any evidence they deem appropriate to their project. Some examples include:
- assessment results
- testimonials from students
- student evaluations
- student surveys
- peer observation reports
- letters from colleagues
- letters from the Dean or other members of Library and Academic Technologies
The candidate’s statement or the chair letter could also address the impact of the project on student learning outcomes.
- A brief letter of support from the Department Chair/Program director that describes how your innovations in the course/project have contributed to the needs of the department, program, and college. Applicants currently serving as department chairs should ask for a letter from a senior colleague in their department. Whenever possible, the Department Chair/Program director should have observed the relevant class(es) of the applicant.
- Additional materials
Course syllabi
Examples of course assignments
Optional: Links to websites, Canvas site, or related media developed for the course; other materials relevant to the criteria of the award
The recipient of the Cromwell Award for Innovation in Teaching will be announced at the Birthday Convocation in February.
Past winners of the Cromwell Award for Innovation in Teaching:
- 2023: Dylan Poulsen
- 2022: Erin Counihan
- 2021: Alisha Knight
- 2020: Aaron Amick