Frequently Asked Questions
Types of Awards
Why is the Annual Digital Education Award (ADEA) no longer a separate Award Type?
The purpose for the ADEA was to encourage the adoption of technology and to recognize colleagues’ achievements in the effective use of technology in teaching that positively contributes to students’ learning. Following the COVID pandemic, there has been a positive shift in mind-sets towards the use of digital technology and therefore there is no longer a need for a separate digital award. The thoughtful integration of appropriate digital technology in teaching will be included within the ATEA (Annual Teaching Excellence Award) that recognizes NUS colleagues, whether as individuals or teams, for teaching achievements that have positively contributed to students’ learning and a broader culture that values teaching.
Eligibility
Who are eligible to apply for the OEA and ATEA awards?
The applicant should be a full-time NUS faculty member or an NUS employee with significant teaching role and impact. FTECs (Faculty Teaching Evaluation Committee) should exercise discretion on the eligibility of all applicants.
Can an applicant submit an ATEA Individual award and also submit an application for an ATEA Team award?
No. Applications may be submitted for only one university-level teaching award per year.
Can an applicant submit an ATEA Individual award and be a member of an ATEA Team award application?
Yes. Applications may be submitted for only one university-level teaching award per year, but it is possible for an individual nominee to be a member of a Team application as long as that individual is not the Team leader.
Can an Honour Roll awardee apply as a team member of the ATEA Team award?
Yes, all Honour Roll awardees (including existing awardees) will be able to apply for ATEA awards under the Team sub-category as a member but not as a leader.
Can the Honour Roll awardee lead the ATEA Team award?
No.
Can ATEA applicants apply directly or nominate themselves to UTEC without going through FTEC?
No. All applicants (OEA and ATEA), whether they are asked to apply by FTEC or decide to apply themselves, need to be nominated by an FTEC (Faculty Teaching Evaluation Committee). Only FTEC can submit nominations to UTEC.
Can non-NUS staff or students be included as Team members?
Team members should include NUS staff and students only. In a situation where the student has graduated, the Team leader and members should discuss and decide if it is appropriate to recognize the student’s contributions and include him/her as a team member in the application.
How will ATEA Team awards impact Honour Roll?
All applicants who have received the ATEA award (including past ADEA, if applicable) three times, will be awarded the Honour Roll. This applies to individuals in the case of Individual awards and to the team leader in the case of Team awards.
Recipients of the ATEA are now shown as having won ATEA 2021, ATEA 2022, etc. when previously it was ATEA AY 2018/2019, etc. Why is there a change?
In the past, the ATEA was recognized based on the academic year under review, e.g. AY 2018/2019. Changes to the ATEA were introduced in Aug 2020 and it will no longer be limited to work done in the past AY. This is to foster development of teaching over time.Moving forward, the ATEA will now be recognized based on the Year of Award, similar to the OEA.
Please see illustration in the table below:
| Year of Submission (YoS) | ATEA | Honour Roll | OEA |
| Aug 2019 | AY 2018/2019 (based on Year under review) | 2020 (based on year after receiving the 3rd ATEA) | 2020 (based on Year of Award) |
| Aug 2020 (Addition of ADEA and Team award; ATEA will no longer be based on work done in past AY) | 2021 (based on Year of Award) | (2022-2026) (based on 5-year sit out period) | 2021 (no change) |
| Aug 2021 | 2022 | (2023-2027) | 2022 |
Quota
Is there a quota for Faculty Teaching Awards?
Faculty award quotas are a faculty matter and to be decided locally.
Is there any limit in the number of team members in the event of Team award?
No, but the Team leader and members will need to discuss and decide on what is an appropriate size for their own team in order to collaborate and work together effectively.
Entitlement
Who receives the award money for Team awards?
The award money will be credited into each team member’s account based on the distribution agreed by the team.
Are team members considered as ATEA awardees?
Yes, they will share the award money as well as being recognized at the university-wide Teaching Awards Ceremony.
Submission
For the demonstration of evidence (e.g. students’ work), will these be submitted as a separate appendix with the application?
Applicants are encouraged to integrate evidence in their impact narratives as part of the Teaching Statement. The evidence should be analysed and interpreted in relation to the claims about impact of teaching in the narrative.Raw data that are left unexplained are less helpful and should not be included.
Is it necessary to attach and submit student feedback and peer review reports together with the ATEA Teaching statement?
Rather than attach all the student feedback and peer review reports, it is important for the applicant to make use of the information in the student feedback and peer reviews as a potential source of evidence to demonstrate impact on students’ learning in the teaching statement. The University Teaching Awards Portal (UTAP) will be able to provide the applicant’s completed peer reviews (for the past 3 academic years and current year, if any). From mid Jul 2023, UTAP can allow applicants to access their student feedback reports (past 3 academic years) via login to BLUE system, to download and upload relevant student feedback to support the teaching statement.
In the past, ATEA is evaluated with respect to teaching contributions in one year (year under review). Can nominee include what is going on in the current semester?
The awards (OEA and ATEA) are no longer limited to work done in the past 3 years (OEA) or 1 year (ATEA) and this is to foster development of teaching over time. The criteria will help to guide applicants to prepare and write their Teaching Statement. While an applicant can submit a Teaching Statement based on work done for one semester, it may be challenging for the person to provide a reflective and narrative that demonstrates compelling evidence of impact.
Must applicants use the University Teaching Awards Portal (UTAP) to submit their applications?
All applications must be made using the University Teaching Awards Portal (UTAP). Applicants will be able to use the UTAP from 17 Jul 2024 onwards to submit their applications after their FTECs have configured the Applicant Submission period in UTAP.
Can the ATEA applicant upload the Teaching Statement as a document in the University Teaching Awards Portal (UTAP) instead of providing the Teaching Statement in the text box?
ATEA applicants must use the rich text editor box provided in the University Teaching Awards Portal (UTAP) to provide their Teaching Statement, including tables, charts, images, citations, references, etc. The rich text editor box will provide a word count limit of 1,500 words (maximum word limit for Teaching Statements for ATEA applications). Text included in the tables, charts, etc. will add to the word count. The copy and paste function for images should be used to include real images such as photo images, etc.</p<
Why is there a requirement for some applicants to highlight the differences in their current year’s teaching statement as compared to their past teaching statement submission(s) in a next textbox in UTAP ?
Only past nominees for the University level teaching awards within the last 3 years will be required to highlight the differences (about 150 words) between their current year’s teaching statement and past teaching statement(s) that were submitted in the last 3 years.This is to encourage applicants to continually improve to advance their teaching and foster development over time.
Is it necessary to adopt the guidelines for writing a Teaching Statement for submission?
Applicants are encouraged to adopt the guidelines as it would help the FTECs and UTEC in their evaluations but they are free to provide their own format.
Are there two deadlines for application submissions?
Yes. The first Applicant Submission deadline is the internal faculty due date. This deadline is determined by the faculty (or school) internally and will vary from faculty to faculty. Applicants need to submit their applications by the internal deadline to their faculty teaching evaluation committee (FTEC).
After this, the FTEC will decide which of the applicants to nominate and then send through those nominations to CDTL by the UTEC deadline of 21 October 2024.
FTEC matters
Is it necessary for FTECs to rank their nominees?
Yes. The FTEC will rank their nominees before submission to UTEC. This serves two key evaluative purposes for UTEC: (a) an indication of the level of recognition of nominees as perceived by FTEC; and (b) the need for FTEC evaluative judgments of potential nominees in view of the absence of quota.
Is FTEC required to provide a citation report for all nominations?
FTECs should prepare and submit a citation (1,000 words) for each OEA nomination to make a case for the applicant’s impact with reference to the award criteria.
This requirement will be optional for ATEA nominations but FTECs are strongly encouraged to prepare and submit a citation (about 300 words) for each ATEA nomination to make a case for the applicant’s/ team’s significance and impact with reference to the award criteria. The citation should comment on information not available in the teaching statement.