Honouring Teaching Excellence

Honouring Teaching Excellence

In April, Kathy Kinloch approached the FSA about creating an award to honour FSA Member Brian Thom. The FSA agreed and gave $20,000 to endow the award, which BCIT matched. Brian himself contributed by refining the criteria and the Brian Thom Advancing Teaching Excellence Award was created.

The award seeks to recognize and celebrate an individual or group who has made an outstanding contribution to advancing learning and teaching at BCIT through educational innovation, and has been a champion for excellence in teaching beyond their own classroom.

LTC Team, April 2014 (Brian Thom, top left)

Brian has been an FSA member in the BCIT Learning and Teaching Centre for 25 years and has participated in the FSA through serving as a Tech Rep and as a member of management selection committees as well as the Instructional Development Committee. Most recently, Brian has contributed his skills to the FSA as a facilitator of World Café style consultations for the FSA regarding the Performance Development System (PDS) and Hours of Work. On a daily basis, Brian was an outspoken advocate for his colleagues and for improving the quality of instruction at BCIT.

Brian’s commitment to teaching excellence is reflected in the choice for the first recipient of this annual award, the FSA’s Instructional Development Committee (IDC). The IDC’s purpose, as established and funded through the FSA collective agreement, is to champion instructional development and to foster innovative, learner-centered instruction at BCIT. Through the Instructional Skills Development Fund, the Committee, supports activities and resources directly related to the improvement of teaching and learning.

Scott Hagan and Kathy Kinloch
Photo Credit: Scott McAlpine

At a convocation ceremony on June 19^th Scott Hagan, an FSA member from the BCIT School of Computing & Academic Studies and Chair of the IDC, accepted the award on behalf of the committee.

Like Brian and like the FSA, this award represents our support for each other in doing the best for our students.