The call for nominations under the 2017 Jennifer Burke Award for Innovation in Teaching and Learning is now open. The deadline for submission of nominations is 2nd May 2017.

This year, nominations should be presented as a short (140 characters maximum) summary of the innovation, accompanied by a five minute multimedia file.  Examples of multimedia tools that you may wish to consider using to present your nomination include (but are not limited to!): GoAnimate, Storyboard, Moovly, Screencast-O-Matic and Animoto.  
For further inspiration, you may want to review Jane Hart’s top 100 Tools for Learning.

What constitutes ‘innovation’ in teaching and learning?

For the purpose of this award ‘innovation’ is considered to be a teaching/learning approach that is unique or pioneering, and has not been implemented previously within your own context. The innovation need not have been implemented via technology.

Nomination process

Nominations are invited for innovative contributions in the area of teaching and learning, in keeping with the following guidelines:

• Nominations must be for a teaching/learning innovation which must have been implemented.
• Innovations shortlisted for previous iterations of the award cannot be considered.
• The award is open to staff and students in all Irish education sectors.
• Ensure that your five minute multimedia submission for the nomination provides a succinct articulation of your innovative idea. The reviewers will rate your submission against specific evaluation criteria and then shortlist based on this evaluation
• The winner will be invited to present their innovation at the 2017 ILTA EdTech Conference at IT Sligo on 1st June, where the award will be presented.
• It is important that your submission illustrates/provides examples of how the idea was implemented in teaching and learning, how it was brought to life, and how it impacted learners.
• Nominations must be for a specific work/project/idea, rather than for an individual person or group.

Nomination format

• Nominations must be submitted via email to jenniferburkeaward@gmail.com.
• Please include the following in the body of your your email:
  • The submission title
  • Name and contact details
  • A short summary of the innovative idea (140 characters max). The summaries of shortlisted awards will be used to promote the award via Twitter in advance of EdTech.
  • Your multimedia file in either mp4 format, or as a link to the multimedia file. Please also induce any passwords necessary to access the file. The multimedia file should provide an overview of the innovative idea and includes the following information:
    • The submission title
    • What inspired your idea? Why did you do it?
    • What did you do? Give a clear, concise description of the innovation, and explain why it is innovative.
    • How did you do it? Give details on how the innovation has been implemented.
    • What has been the outcome? Give details on what you have learned from the implementation, for example, how might you convince someone else that the innovation was successful?
• In order to ensure anonymity during the shortlisting and evaluation processes, please do not include any project, nominee or institutional identifying information within your 140 character summary or multimedia file.

• Please do not submit any other materials as these will not be considered as part of your submission.
• Reviewers will only listen/watch up to five minutes and will not continue if your file’s viewing time exceeds this time.

Evaluation process

• All nominations will be reviewed by a group short-listing comprised of the Jennifer Burke Award committee and representation from the ILTA Steering Group.
• Based on their review of the submissions, members of the committee will each award marks under the following headings:

1. Innovation: What was the rationale for the innovation? What was the innovative idea and how was it innovative? (10 points/50%)
2. Impact: Articulation of the innovation’s impact on student learning and professional practice (10 points/50%)

• The winner will be invited to present their innovation at the 2017 ILTA EdTech Conference at IT Sligo on 1st June, where the award will be presented.
• The winner will have their EdTech conference and conference dinner fee waived as well as travel expenses up to the value of 100 euro (In the case of a team submission, one member of the short-listed team will have his/her EdTech conference, conference dinner fee and travel expenses waived). 

How to submit

• Please submit your nomination via by 2nd May
• Any queries regarding the award prior to 2nd May should also be directed to jenniferburkeaward@gmail.com.
• You should receive an email confirmation of receipt of your submission within 48 hours of submitting your nomination. If you do not, then please email morag.munro@nuim.ie to confirm that your submission has been received.

Key dates

• Call opens: 31^th March 2017
• Deadline for submission of nominations: 2nd May 2017
• Winner notified: 19^th May 2017
• Winner’s presentation and award presentation: 1st June 2017 at EdTech 2017.