The award, sponsored by the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE) and Brightspace (formerly Desire2Learn), recognizes innovative approaches that promote student-centred teaching and learning at the post-secondary level. The award is open to all instructors currently teaching at a post-secondary institution, regardless of discipline, level or term of appointment. Candidates do not need to be members of STLHE to apply.

Winners will receive $2,200 toward travel and registration costs for Brightspaceā€™s FUSION conference, as well as the annual STLHE conference, and a two-year membership to STLHE. As many as five awards are presented annually.

The deadline for applications is Sunday, March 1, 2015. Get detailed information about the application process, including the application dossiers, examples of innovation in teaching and learning and the selection process .

The EDC is here to help you develop a successful application package. Please contact us at edc@carleton.ca or 613-520-4433 to set up a consultation.

Can you imagine a course where students become archaeologists, all from the safety of their computers, by participating in a virtual archeological dig?

How about one where students create an augmented reality catalog for the Canadian Museum of Civilization, where 3D models of flat images can be accessed by scanning a smartphone over the page?

If this sounds like fiction, then you havenā€™t taken a class with Shawn Graham.

An assistant professor of history at ŠÓ°ÉŌ­““, Graham has received acclaim for his unique teaching style: incorporating digital media and game-based learning into the curriculum.

ā€œAll of my teaching has been trying to explore the ways digital media allows us to ask new and impossible questions in history,ā€ he says. ā€œThe skills of the historian are the skills needed for the modern digital world.ā€

In April, he was one of five recipients of the for his creativity and ingenuity in the classroom.

What makes Grahamā€™s teaching style so unique is how he wields new media as a tool to explain and experience the rich historical world.

He doesnā€™t see it as a gimmick to get tech-savvy millennials to pay attention, either. Graham says it can be used to develop a studentā€™s critical approach to what theyā€™re studying, whether itā€™s new software, print resources or historical archives.

And anyway, for this professor, itā€™s just second nature.

ā€œIā€™ve never taught any other way but this,ā€ he says.

This approach can be seen in his virtual archeological dig, which takes students on an engaging adventure into what real archeologists do at a site, all from the comfort of a computer screen.

ā€œIn a regular excavation, if you make a mistake, the best case is maybe a bit of info is lost and the worst case is that someone gets hurt,ā€ says Graham. ā€œThe virtual excavation is a way of making it safe to fail.ā€

Grahamā€™s fusion of digital media and history doesnā€™t end there. Currently, heā€™s co-authoring a handbook called The Historianā€™s Macroscope that discusses analyzing digital data patterns for historical benefit.

The kicker? Itā€™s so anybody can follow along as he writes it. This seems only fitting for a professor whose creativity in the classroom rivals his imagination in the digital world.

The deadline for the Desire2Learn Innovation Award in Teaching and Learning has been announced as Sunday, Feb. 2, 2014. This international award celebrates and recognizes innovation in post-secondary teaching and learning. ŠÓ°ÉŌ­““ to enter into its third year, ŠÓ°ÉŌ­““ is proud to count professor from the Department of History as one of the 10 previous award winners.

If you take a look at the brief profiles of the previous award winners (, ), you can get some sense of the breadth of what the award considers to be innovative in teaching and learning:

1. The thoughtful integration of technology into teaching and learning
2. New approaches to curricular development and its implementation
3. The application of different pedagogies and learning theories
4. Student engagement and active learning approaches
5. Disciplinary innovation

I have had the privilege of coordinating the award on behalf of the Society of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE) and I have noted that all the successful award winners have been highly reflective of their teaching and consider whether or not their innovations are helping learners learn. Many award winners conduct formal or informal evaluations into the effectiveness of their innovation and share their ideas with their colleagues and peers.

I think it is important that we try new activities and approaches in teaching. Any time we do something new, there are elements of risk. Will it work? How will my students respond? How am I helping learners? It is important that we have awards that encourage and support instructors who take risks in their teaching. To quote from Shawn Grahamā€™s award application:

ā€œNot every experiment results in success; indeed, the failures are richer experiences because as academics we are loathe to say when something did not work ā€“ but how else will anybody know that a particular method, or approach, is flawed? This idea that it is ā€˜safe to failā€™ at something, that sometimes what we try just might not work, is something that I try to foster in my classes.ā€

While you can find information about the award and how to apply , Iā€™d like to encourage you to reach out to the EDC (613-520-4433 or edc@carleton.ca) to find out more or for help in preparing your application.

The awards, sponsored by the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE) and Desire2Learn, celebrate and recognize innovative approaches that promote learning in new ways at post-secondary institutions.

Awards are open to all instructors currently teaching at a post-secondary institution, regardless of discipline, level or term of appointment. Candidates do not need to be members of STLHE to apply.

Winners will receive $2,200 toward travel and registration costs for Desire2Learnā€™s FUSION conference, as well as the annual STLHE conference, a two-year membership to STLHE and a framed certificate. As many as five awards are presented annually.

The deadline for applications is Sunday, February 2, 2014. For more information and the application form, please .

EDC staff is here to help you develop a successful application package. Please contact us at edc@carleton.ca or 613-520-4433 to set up a consultation.

Shawn Graham isnā€™t your ordinary history professor. Not by a long shot.

Essays? He hates them. Video games? Part of his curriculum.

ā€œI often joke with my students that I donā€™t want to read any more essays,ā€ says Graham, who specializes in game-based learning approaches. ā€œI want them making different things.ā€

This unique teaching approach is part of the reason why Graham just won the Desire2Learn Innovation Award for Teaching and Learning on April 23. The award, sponsored by the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education and Desire2Learn, recognizes innovative teaching and learning approaches in post-secondary education.

in the May issue of ŠÓ°ÉŌ­““ Now.