Teaching Certificate Program

Co-sponsored by the Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching and the Graduate School

The Teaching Certificate program has been designed to help graduate students, professional students, and post-doctoral fellows develop and refine their teaching skills through three cycles of teaching activities, each consisting of inquiry, experimentation, and reflection phases. Participants who complete the program receive a Teaching Certificate from the Graduate School and the Center for Teaching.

• Why participate in the Teaching Certificate program?
• What are the components of the Teaching Certificate program?
• How do I join the Teaching Certificate program?
• Other questions?

Why Participate in the Teaching Certificate Program?

• By developing and refining your teaching skills, you'll improve the end-product of your teaching: the learning of your current and future students. You'll do this by better understanding student learning and what kinds of teaching lead to it.

• By approaching your teaching as a cycle of inquiry, experimentation, and reflection, you'll develop skills that will enable you to analyze and improve your own teaching now and in the future.

• Research indicates that new faculty often find teaching the most challenging and time-consuming part of their jobs. By developing your teaching skills now, you'll be more likely to be a "quick starter" in your first faculty position.

• You'll realize ways in which you can approach your teaching as a scholarly activity, helping you understand yourself as a scholar in all areas of your academic life, not just your research pursuits.

• You'll develop a teaching portfolio you can share with potential employers when you're on the job market. More importantly, you'll gain experience in thinking deeply and intentionally about your thinking and you'll be equipped to talk more effectively about your teaching when you're on the job market.

• By participating in workshops and working groups, meeting with CFT consultants, and presenting some of your work in the Teaching Certificate program in a public forum, you'll engage with your own teaching among a community of scholars. This sense of community, frequently a component of research endeavors, is often lacking in one's teaching.

What Are the Components of the Teaching Certificate Program?

The Teaching Certificate program is made up of three cycles, each of which includes phases of inquiry, experimentation and reflection. Each of these cycles, and the in-take and exit interviews, are described below. Click on the links for more detailed descriptions.

• In-Take Process
  The in-take interview is designed to orient participants to the program and to develop a program plan. The in-take process includes an online application, submission of a teaching statement, and access to an electronic portfolio system.

• Cycle One: Building a Teaching Foundation
  The purpose of this cycle is to build a strong foundation of understanding and practice in basic teaching practices. During the cycle, participants will focus on one or more teaching practices to develop and/or refine.

  • Inquiry
    Participants attend one or more teaching workshops focusing on their chosen teaching practices.

  • Experimentation
    Participants then experiment with ideas encountered in the workshops through a classroom observation sequence in which a CFT consultant observes the participant teach.

  • Reflection
    After a post-observation discussion with the CFT consultant, participants write a summary of their experience in this cycle.

• Cycle Two: Putting Pedagogical Theory into Practice
  During the second cycle, participants directly engage the literature on teaching and learning in higher education.

  • Inquiry
    Participants explore the established literature on teaching and learning in higher education either on their own or in a CFT Reading Group.

  • Experimentation
    Participants then experiment with ideas encountered in the literature through a classroom observation sequence in which a CFT consultant observes the participant teach or conduct a workshop on teaching in their department.

  • Reflection
    After a post-observation discussion with the CFT consultant, participants write a summary of their experience in this cycle.

• Cycle Three: The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
  In the third cycle, participants design and implement a scholarly project on student learning, joining a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Working Group for this purpose. The goal is for participants to reflect on their own teaching by analyzing evidence of student learning.

  • Inquiry
    Participants draft a project proposal describing the goals or questions they have identified for their project and detailing the teaching and assessment activities planned to address those goals or questions.

  • Experimentation
    Participants conduct the teaching and assessment activities detailed in their project proposal.

  • Reflection
    Participants then analyze the evidence of student learning gathered during the Experimentation phase and share their project in an appropriate public setting.

  • Examples of Scholarly Projects on Student Learning
    Follow this link for ideas and inspiration for your scholarly project.

• Exit Interview
  As the final part of the program, the exit interview provides participants with an opportunity to synthesize and reflect on their experiences in the program. Prior to the exit interview, participants prepare and submit a synthesis of the materials from their electronic portfolio and an updated teaching statement.

How Do I Join the Teaching Certificate Program?

See the information on the in-take interview for instructions on joining the program.

Other Questions?

Please see our list of Frequently Asked Questions. Contact Derek Bruff, Assistant Director at the CFT, if you have further questions.

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