FTTC Excellence in Teaching and Instructional Design Awards 

Who deserves recognition through an FTTC Excellence in Teaching or Instructional Design Award?

The FTTC teaching or instructional design recognition is reserved for colleagues who have implemented innovative teaching practices and/or learning technologies that have positively impacted student learning, retention, belonging, and resilience in online, blended, and face-to-face teaching settings through innovative course design and delivery. These two separate awards recognize instructors and instructional designers or developers in higher education. 

Awards are presented in two categories: 

Note that nominees can only be nominated in one category, either focusing on instruction or instructional design, not both. Self-nominations are accepted and encouraged. 

1) FTTC Excellence in Teaching Award
This award is designed for full- or part-time instructors who have implemented innovative teaching practices or learning technologies that have positively impacted student learning, retention, belonging, and resilience for the learning experience of undergraduate or graduate students at your institution. The award winner will be named at the event, and nominees must be present at the conference’s keynote address on Friday, October 23, 2025, at the University of Missouri-St. Louis to receive the award.

2) FTTC Excellence in Instructional Design Award
This award recognizes instructional designers (staff who specialize in supporting faculty in instructional design and/or development) whose innovative ideas, designs, or integration of technology have positively impacted student learning, retention, belonging, and resilience for the learning experience of undergraduate or graduate students at your institution. The award winner will be named at the event, and nominees must be present at the conference’s keynote address on Friday, October 23, 2025, at the University of Missouri-St. Louis to receive the award. 

Two-Stage Nomination Process:

You (the nominator) will write a brief (250-word maximum) description of one innovation the full- or part-time instructor or instructional designer implemented to impact student learning, retention, belonging, and/or resilience for the learning experience of undergraduate or graduate students at your institution. When applicable, the text of your nomination will be provided to the nominee to give context to what they should detail in their responses to the awards committee in Stage 2. Stage 1 nominations open on Monday, June 2, 2025, and close on Monday, August 11, 2025.

We will contact all nominees to give the awards committee details about their application. The nominees will not be judged based on the nomination written in Stage 1 but on their responses to the questions in Stage 2. Nominees will have until Tuesday, September 2, 2025, to respond to the awards committee.