Scholarship of teaching and learning

The University of Tartu offers teaching staff members the opportunity to develop their teaching through a 2-year scholarship of teaching and learning. This allows teaching staff members to participate in teaching-related training sessions intended for the scholarship community and receive support from an academic developer throughout the process. The financial support includes travel funds for gathering teaching experiences and presenting research results at international conferences, as well as for collaborative development with colleagues.

Teaching staff members who have not previously received this scholarship or whose previous scholarship ended at least seven years ago are eligible to apply. A group can consist of a team of teaching staff members from a major subject or teaching staff members from different subjects who wish to implement a similar change. The goal of the team scholarship is to support the implementation of a significant change (e.g., team teaching, flipped classroom, problem-based learning, cross-disciplinary project assignments, etc.). A total of €30,000 is distributed in each of the four faculties of the University of Tartu.

The selection of the scholarship recipients is based on the feasibility of the teaching development idea and its potential positive impact on the quality of teaching within the academic unit and the university. Applicants are expected to have completed the course "Learning and Teaching in Higher Education" (6 ECTS) or equivalent training of the same scope and content.

In developing your teaching, you may consider collaborative teaching, developing future skills in courses, and designing assessment methods, using artificial intelligence in teaching, or planning the creation of larger courses from existing smaller ones.

To apply for the scholarship, please submit the following documents:

1. Analysis of teaching development, which includes:

• Your general understanding of teaching (up to one A4);
• Reflection on the teaching staff member's or team's previous teaching experience and self-development (up to four A4);

2. Your teaching research project (action research) (up to 4 pages A4).

Scholarship recipients are required to:

• Implement their teaching development project within the scholarship framework, collect data on it, and analyse it;
• Make at least two presentations on their research conducted within the scholarship (minimum at the "Õppejõult õppejõule" conference in January);
• Participate in the "Visit a Colleague" week and allow observation of their teaching;
• Gain experiences through international travel (e.g., visits, conferences);
• Organise an event to support the development of learning for colleagues;
• Participate in the scholarship academy and other scholarship community events;
• Participate in the evaluation of new scholarship applications.

Application documents must be submitted online by 3 March 2025. Applications will be evaluated by scholarship recipients of previous years and academic developers. The scholarship recipients will be decided by the academic affairs committee. The first meeting of the scholarship recipients will take place in the summer school on 25-26 June 2025.

We advise all those interested in applying for the scholarship take part in the seminar "Ettevalmistus oma õpetamise arendamise grandi taotlemiseks " on 21 February 2025. For individual consultations, please contact your faculty's academic developer:

HV: Kristi Mets-Alunurm, kristi.mets-alunurm@ut.ee; (+372) 53490607
LT: Kaire Uiboleht, kaire.uiboleht@ut.ee, (+372) 524 3435;
MV: Anu Sarv, anu.sarv@ut.ee, (+372) 5361 4342;
SV: Airi Niilo, airi.niilo@ut.ee, (+372) 5699 3535.

The scholarship of teaching and learning has been awarded at the university since 2015. Its goal is to support the development of teaching and contribute to the dissemination of best teaching practices. The scholarship is funded by the University of Tartu's budget. The implementation of the teaching development scholarship programme is coordinated by the University of Tartu's Centre for Learning and Teaching.

For more information, contact Mari Karm, mari.karm@ut.ee or Airi Niilo, airi.niilo@ut.ee, (+372) 5699 3535