College Teaching Certificate Program
Program Overview
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The Chicago Center for Teaching and Learning offers a range of professional development activities aimed at supporting PhD students and postdocs as they develop their approach to teaching. As a means of structuring and documenting this professional development process, the CCTL offers the College Teaching Certificate (CTC), a transcript-notated program which outlines a pathway for teaching development during graduate training and postdoctoral work at the University of Chicago.
This program aims to help PhD students and postdocs to develop and critically reflect on their teaching practice, to appraise and implement key pedagogical principles and frameworks in their own courses, to receive formative and constructive feedback on their teaching, and to articulate and demonstrate an inclusive and student-centered approach to teaching through a statement of teaching philosophy and a teaching portfolio.
To register for the program, log the completion of requirements, and track progress, students must enroll in the College Teaching Certificate Canvas site.
In addition to the College Teaching Certificate, the CCTL also offers two specialized certificates:
- The College Teaching Certificate with Focus on Writing Pedagogy is offered in partnership with the Writing Center.
- The College Teaching Certificate with Focus on Second Language Pedagogy* is offered in partnership with the Chicago Language Center.
- *Note: The Second Language Pedagogy version of the College Teaching Certificate is currently *not eligible* for transcript notation.
Once all requirements have been satisfied, please submit your final teaching portfolio via Canvas to certify your completion of the program. CCTL staff will review your materials, certify that you have completed all requirements, and issue your certificate. Portfolios are reviewed quarterly, and those submitted by Week 5 will be reviewed in the current quarter.
Students may generally complete only one College Teaching Certificate track. Explore the requirements for each certificate below.
- Teaching@UChicago is an orientation to teaching at UChicago for first-time teaching assistants, interns, and instructors, and is an important first step in developing your teaching skills. Held the week before classes start each fall, the program provides initial guidance on your role as a graduate teacher.
- Complete at least 5 hours of teaching development programming. For example, you could attend at least 3 of the 4 sessions in a Fundamentals of Teaching Series, participate in other workshops or events on teaching offered by the CCTL, or participate in other programming about teaching offered by the Writing Program, other centers on campus, or your department, etc.
- Write a 500 to 750-word reflective essay that summarizes how your approach to teaching was shaped by participating in this programming.
- Course Design and College Teaching (CCTE 50000) is offered each quarter by the CCTL. Course participants read and discuss literature on teaching and learning, complete a course design project, and write a statement of teaching philosophy.
- Scholarly Approaches to Teaching and Learning in Higher Ed (CCTE 50300) is a new course offered in the Winter Quarter which helps graduate students intentionally incorporate scholarly perspectives on teaching and learning to their teaching practices. Students will explore research and scholarly foundations of various pedagogical practices, develop researchable questions, and evaluate suitable research methods for exploring teaching and learning effectiveness.
- You may complete the teaching experience requirement as either a teaching assistant or an independent instructor. The teaching experience must include direct student contact in a classroom or lab setting. Appointments that involve only grading or office hours do not satisfy the teaching requirement.
- The CCTL offers GTCs by request each quarter to graduate students and postdocs as a way to receive constructive feedback to help them develop their teaching.
- The Seminar on Teaching Portfolios, offered every quarter, provides guidance to graduate students and postdocs on how to write a statement of teaching philosophy and construct a teaching portfolio. The subsequent Workshop on Teaching Portfolios then provides a venue for guided peer feedback on the teaching statement and other elements of the portfolio in progress.
- Write a 500- to 700-word essay reflecting on the ways that inclusive pedagogical practices inform your approach to teaching. This essay may reflect on programs in which you have participated at the CCTL and elsewhere, and might include an assessment of specific, inclusive strategies you have been able to incorporate into your teaching. You may want to describe changes you made to your course or approach and consider what you noticed about student learning and your ability to address differences in the classroom. You may also use the essay to describe your understanding of inclusion and diversity issues in your discipline and particular ideas and activities in which you will engage in to address these issues.
- Once all requirements have been satisfied, please submit your final teaching portfolio via Canvas to certify your completion of the program. CCTL staff will review your materials, certify that you have completed all requirements, and issue your certificate. Portfolios are reviewed quarterly, and those submitted by Week 5 will be reviewed in the current quarter.
- Teaching@UChicago is an orientation to teaching at UChicago for first-time teaching assistants, interns, and instructors, and is an important first step in developing your teaching skills. Held the week before classes start each fall, the program provides initial guidance on your role as a graduate teacher.
- Attend at least 5 hours of Writing Pedagogy Workshops from the University Writing Program. These 5 hours of programming are a combination of three Writing Pedagogy Workshops, two of which are required.
- Rhetoric of Writing-Focused Feedback (2 hours, required)
- Using Writing Assignments to Meet Learning Objectives (2 hours, required)
- Elective: any other workshop organized by the University Writing Program
- Course Design and College Teaching (CCTE 50000) is offered each quarter by the CCTL. Course participants read and discuss literature on teaching and learning, complete a course design project, and write a statement of teaching philosophy.
- Scholarly Approaches to Teaching and Learning in Higher Ed (CCTE 50300) is a new course offered in the Winter Quarter which helps graduate students intentionally incorporate scholarly perspectives on teaching and learning to their teaching practices. Students will explore research and scholarly foundations of various pedagogical practices, develop researchable questions, and evaluate suitable research methods for exploring teaching and learning effectiveness.
- Complete 2 terms of Teaching. You may complete the teaching experience requirement as either a Teaching Assistant or an independent Instructor. The teaching experience must include direct student contact in a classroom or lab setting. Appointments that involve only grading or office hours do not satisfy the teaching requirement.
- After attending at least one of the required Writing Pedagogy workshops, integrate one or more of the techniques below into your own teaching practice.
- Design and implement one or more assignments that build writing skills
- Design and implement one or more writing-focused class sessions
- Give students written feedback on their writing
- The CCTL offers GTCs by request each quarter to graduate students and postdocs as a way to receive constructive feedback to help them develop their teaching.
- After you integrate writing-focused pedagogy into your own teaching practice, you'll meet with a University Writing Program Director in the same quarter. In this conversation, you’ll reflect on how the technique contributed to your learning objectives, and you’ll strategize for future practice. The Writing Pedagogy Design & Practice Reflection meeting will cover three parts:
- 1. Description
- 2. Design Reflection
- 3. Practice Reflection
- The Seminar, regularly offered by the CCTL, provides guidance on how to write a statement of teaching philosophy and construct a teaching portfolio. The Workshop—to be completed after participating in the Seminar—provides a venue for guided peer feedback on the teaching statement and other elements of the portfolio in progress.
- This syllabus may be submitted in addition to the other two syllabi required by the CCTL, or you may revise one of those syllabi (or the syllabus created in CCTE 50000: Course Design and College Teaching) to include a substantial writing component. Beyond integrating a substantial writing component into the course design, the syllabus should also:
- Include a paragraph about feedback.
- Articulate writing-focused teaching objectives.
- Design a sequence of writing assignments that help students meet learning objectives.
- After submitting the syllabus, participants will receive written feedback from University Writing Program Directors.
- Write a 500- to 700-word essay reflecting on the ways that inclusive and student success-oriented pedagogical practices inform your approach to teaching. This essay may reflect on programs in which you have participated at the CCTL and elsewhere, and might include an assessment of specific strategies you have been able to incorporate into your teaching. You may want to describe changes you made to your course or approach and consider what you noticed about student learning and your ability to address differences in the classroom. You may also use the essay to describe your understanding of inclusion, diversity, and student success issues in your discipline and particular ideas and activities in which you will engage in to address these issues.
- Once all requirements have been satisfied, please submit your final teaching portfolio via Canvas to certify your completion of the program. CCTL staff will review your materials, certify that you have completed all requirements, and issue your certificate. Portfolios are reviewed quarterly, and those submitted by Week 5 will be reviewed in the current quarter.
- Teaching@UChicago is an orientation to teaching at UChicago for first-time teaching assistants, interns, and instructors, and is an important first step in developing your teaching skills. Held the week before classes start each fall, the program provides initial guidance on your role as a graduate teacher.
- Complete at least 5 hours of teaching development programming. For example, you could attend at least 3 of the 4 sessions in a Fundamentals of Teaching Series, participate in other workshops or events on teaching offered by the CCTL, or participate in other programming about teaching offered by the Writing Program, other centers on campus, or your department, etc.
- Write a 500 to 750-word reflective essay that summarizes how your approach to teaching was shaped by participating in this programming.
- Language Pedagogy for the Contemporary Classroom” (CCTE 50100) is a graduate-level seminar offered every Winter quarter, team-taught by Catherine Baumann (Director, Chicago Language Center) and Christopher Simon (Coordinator, Classics Language Program). In this course, you will:
- critically analyze methods and approaches
- use backward design to design curriculum that meets stated goals and objectives
- implement pedagogically-driven multimedia
- learn how to make choices for hybrid instruction
- create lessons and syllabi that are goal oriented
- integrate collaborative learning effectively
- design assessment for activities, skills and end-of-course or program measurements
- assess broader trends in language instruction, such as content-based courses, online instruction, and others
- The teaching experience must include direct student contact in a classroom or lab setting. Appointments that involve only grading or office hours do not satisfy the teaching requirement.
- The CCTL offers GTCs by request each quarter to graduate students and postdocs as a way to receive constructive feedback to help them develop their teaching.
- The Seminar, regularly offered by the CCTL, provides guidance on how to write a statement of teaching philosophy and construct a teaching portfolio. The Workshop—to be completed after participating in the Seminar—provides a venue for guided peer feedback on the teaching statement and other elements of the portfolio in progress.
- Write a 500- to 700-word essay reflecting on the ways that inclusive pedagogical practices inform your approach to teaching. This essay may reflect on programs in which you have participated at the CCTL and elsewhere, and might include an assessment of specific, inclusive strategies you have been able to incorporate into your teaching. You may want to describe changes you made to your course or approach and consider what you noticed about student learning and your ability to address differences in the classroom. You may also use the essay to describe your understanding of inclusion and diversity issues in your discipline and particular ideas and activities in which you will engage in to address these issues.
- Once all requirements have been satisfied, please submit your final teaching portfolio via Canvas to certify your completion of the program. CCTL staff will review your materials, certify that you have completed all requirements, and issue your certificate. Portfolios are reviewed quarterly, and those submitted by Week 5 will be reviewed in the current quarter.
Program Requirements for the transcript-noted College Teaching Certificate
1. Orientation: Attend Teaching@UChicago
2. Reflecting on Teaching: Participate in 5 Hours of Pedagogical Training
3. Course Design: Pass CCTE 50000 - “Course Design and College Teaching”
4. Scholarship: Pass CCTE 50300 - "Scholarly Approaches to Teaching and Learning in Higher Ed"
5. Teaching: Complete Two Terms of Teaching at the University of Chicago
6. Observation and Feedback: Participate in a Graduate Teaching Consultation (GTC)
7. Statement of Teaching Philosophy and Teaching Portfolio: Participate in the Seminar and Workshop on Teaching Portfolios
8. Reflection on Inclusive Pedagogy: Essay on Inclusive Pedagogy and Student Success
9. Submission of a Complete Teaching Portfolio
Program Requirements for the the transcript-noted College Teaching Certificate with Focus on Writing Pedagogy
1. Orientation: Attend Teaching@UChicago
2. Reflecting on Teaching: Participate in 5 Hours of Writing Pedagogy Workshops
3. Course Design: Pass CCTE 50000 - “Course Design and College Teaching”
4. Scholarship: Pass CCTE 50300 - "Scholarly Approaches to Teaching and Learning in Higher Ed"
5. Teaching: Complete Two Terms of Teaching and Implement Writing Pedagogy
6. Observation and Feedback: Participate in a Graduate Teaching Consultation (GTC)
7. Writing Pedagogy Design & Practice Reflection
8. Participation in the Seminar and Workshop on Teaching Portfolios
9. Design a Syllabus with a Significant Writing Component
10. Reflection on Inclusive Pedagogy: Essay on Inclusive Pedagogy and Student Success
11. Submission of a Complete Teaching Portfolio
Program Requirements for the College Teaching Certificate with Focus on Second Language Pedagogy
>> Please note: The Second Language Pedagogy version of the College Teaching Certificate is currently *not eligible* for transcript notation. <<