Teaching
Innovation
Awards

How it works

Applicants are asked to demonstrate how they have led innovation in teaching and learning in their institution. Winners will be chosen by an expert scientific educational panel.

Possible ways you may have innovated teaching and learning

• Solving a problem by improving tools and methods
• Improving teaching materials and practices
• Developing new digital learning resources

We are looking for an emphasis in one or more of the areas below

These areas are not categories as such, we are not looking to choose a winner from each. Rather they are areas where we are interested to see how you are teaching innovatively - and your practice may even bridge two of these areas.

For our current partners

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  Employability and skills

  Use of LabSims and/or Smart Worksheets to support skill development of students, aiding employability prospects.

  Our resources allow students to practise the key skills that are highly sought after by employers in the science industry and therefore increase their employability. Maybe you've used our Cloning LabSim this year to help your students learn how to design and plan experiments, or maybe it's our Beer-Lambert Smart Worksheet that has helped your students develop their data analysis skills. Whichever of our bioscience or chemistry resources you've used, we'd love to hear about how they've helped students develop key skills ready for joining the workplace.

  

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  Creative innovation

  Creative innovation using LabSims and/or Smart Worksheets in teaching.

  Combining the use of LabSims, Smart Worksheets and mixed reality via a Microsoft HoloLens2 headset, practical chemistry delivery at Queen Mary University of London was innovated. In their winning 2021 entry, Dr. Lesley Howell and colleagues shared their novel approach to supporting practical skill development. They demonstrated how the combination of these technologies supported online delivery, and subsequently the development of student co-created instructional guides to these technologies, to act as pre-laboratory activities.

  

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  Department-wide impact

  Innovation in teaching and learning across a whole department, using LabSims and/or Smart Worksheets.

  The Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, at Glasgow Caledonian University, rolled out LabSims and Smart Worksheet resources to the whole department across undergraduate and masters level teaching. Dr. Catherine Wright and her colleagues' 2021 entry demonstrated how this was achieved, and the positive impact it had on student confidence.

  

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  Evidence of impact

  High quality analysis of the impact of an implemented teaching and learning practice using LabSims and/or Smart Worksheets.

  The results of a 2 year study into the impact of use of LabSims at the University of Sydney and University of Leicester was shared in a 2021 entry. Thematic analysis of student responses within questionnaires and interviews was carried out. Results showed the ease of utilising the resources, students' correct visualisation of real-world equipment and techniques, and the lowering of in-class anxiety. This outstanding research by Dr. Stephen George-Williams, Dr. Richard Blackburn and colleagues resulted in publication in the Journal of Chemical Education.

  

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  Progress

  Impressive development of a previous Teaching Innovation Awards applicant project.

  At the Royal Holloway University of London, the progression from initial implementation to deep integration of digital tools into courses was demonstrated in Teaching Innovation Award applications in 2020 and 2021. Dr. Jenny Murdoch showcased how their partnership with LearnSci and the usage of LabSims and Smart Worksheets, within the Department of Biological Sciences, has developed since 2018, resulting in improvements in student satisfaction, staff marking loads, and NSS scores.

  

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All other applicants

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  Wider innovation in science education

  Innovative use of digital tools to aid science teaching at university or post-16 level. Not including LearnSci resources.

  In their winning 2021 entry, the Collaborative Teaching Laboratory at the University of Birmingham showcased their lab-casting model. Whilst originally developed to provide a lab experience during a time of online learning, it has since enhanced student experience of in-person labs. Edd Kyi and colleagues demonstrated its multi-departmental applications, including accessible demonstrations and live technician to student feedback between fume cupboards.

  

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