Teaching Certificate
The Graduate Professional Development Team’s Teaching Certificate offers master’s, doctoral, and postdoctoral scholars guidance for how to effectively teach and mentor within a higher education environment. It is structured to provide foundational workshops and electives that help develop one’s teaching and mentoring skills. The Teaching Certificate offers two levels of achievement:
- Level 1: Basic
- Level 2: Advanced
By earning a teaching certificate you will:
- Identify ways to effectively engage your students
- Learn teaching strategies that lead to learning outcomes
- Understand the skills needed to appropriately mentor students
- Gain an awareness of how who they are is reflected in your teaching approach
- Recognize what teaching entails and how to manage those aspects that are a part of the classroom experience as well as the needs outside of the classroom
- Be able to write and articulate your teaching philosophy
- Earn a notation on your transcript
Register to pursue a Teaching Certificate
Friendly tip: The workshops feature interactive activities, so please be sure to bring a laptop or tablet device with you to the workshops you plan to attend. Click the button below to register for a workshop.
Certificate Level 1: Basic
Foundational Workshops (required)
The four (4) workshops listed below, or attendance at the all-day New TA Workshop held in August, are required for the Teaching Certificate. Note: You must attend the entire day of the New TA Workshop in order for it to count in place of the foundational workshops. (When you check-in via our registration system at any of our workshops, we are able to see the time you checked in.):
- Teaching College
- Engaging Diverse Learners
- Using Learning Outcomes
- Mentoring 101
Electives (required)
Four (4) electives are to be chosen from the options listed below. Note: for a list of all workshops being offered in the current semester, please see the Professional Development Workshops page.
- Active Learning Strategies
- How to Survive Your First Day of Class
- Teaching in an AI Environment
- Games & Learning
- Teaching Online
- Assessing Learning
- Processing Course Evaluations
- Writing a Teaching Philosophy
- AI Discussion series (attend two or more; see Teaching Programs page for more details)
- TA Toolkit Workshops offered through DELTA and/or the Library; no more than two can be taken as electives and must focus on teaching to count as an elective
Experience (required)
One of the following is required for the Teaching Certificate:
- Teaching Assistantship (TA): complete a minimum of one semester as a Teaching Assistant (and a reflection paper)
- Mentor: mentor an undergraduate student through the Graduate School’s partnership with the Office of Undergraduate Research, “PRIME the Pack” (and a reflection paper).
- Trainer: lead two or more training sessions (and a reflection paper)
Deliverable (required)
- Find a job posting that interests you which involves teaching.
- Submit all required materials to apply for that position (e.g., CV, cover letter, teaching philosophy). Note: please also include a copy of the job description.
- What software should I use to create my deliverables? Use Microsoft Word to create your deliverables.
- Where do I submit my deliverables? Email them to the Director of Teaching Programs.
- Are there any resources to help me? Yes. See below for rubrics to guide you in the process.
Certificate Level 2: Advanced
The Advanced Teaching Certificate is a cohort-based, multi-session workshop series that provides graduate students and postdoctoral scholars with an opportunity to deepen and enhance the work that was completed in the Basic Teaching Certificate.
More specifically, the Advanced Teaching Certificate (ATC) aims to provide participants with high-impact learning experiences through presenting micro-teaching demonstrations and designing high-quality learning experiences using established pedagogical frameworks. Based on principles drawn from sociocultural learning theory, the ATC also aims to support participants in building a Community of Practice by promoting regular opportunities for dialogue and feedback with similarly situated peers.
When you successfully complete the Advanced Teaching Certificate you will receive a notation of your official academic transcript. Prerequisite: Completion of Teaching Certificate, Level 1. Register for the Advanced Teaching Certificate.
Interested in learning more? Contact Dr. Phil Tietjen.