Constitution of the UTC Program

The workload of each certificate is roughly equivalent to one-third of a traditional master’s degree. Each can be completed, part-time, in one year – though those who need two years are encouraged to take the extra time. At this point, the first two certificates have been recognized and accredited by the Staff and Educational Development Association (SEDA); the third will be submitted for recognition in a year or so. The certificates are sequential and hierarchical; each is a prerequisite for the next.

All certificates involve a mentoring component and the submission of a teaching dossier that also functions as a summative learning portfolio. UTC mentors help participants complete a learning plan to strategize their engagement in the program, stay on top of their work, provide advice and emotional support, and suggest resources for extra help when appropriate. They also aid in the completion of the final dossier, which must provide evidence that the participant has achieved all necessary program-level learning outcomes. The final dossier is evaluated by members of the program administration team who are not involved in mentoring that participant.

The First Certificate

The first certificate, Fundamentals of University Teaching, provides participants with the necessities for development as scholarly teachers – that is, the basics of evidence-based, theoretically-informed, pedagogy and course-design. The primary goal of this introductory certificate is a change of awareness, though some behavioural change is also expected due to micro-teaching cycles and active-learning techniques. Participants will receive a certificate of completion in Fundamentals of University Teaching, as well as a SEDA certificate in Supporting Learning for successfully completing the following:

  • Learning-Centred Teaching in Higher Education: Principles and Practice (36 hours) exposes participants to a variety of fundamental ideas and practices in scholarly teaching. Participants learn how to find and use scholarly information about teaching and learning, practice planning strategies to deal with common issues and topics, receive feedback (peer and instructor) on teaching, and practice reflecting on feedback. Course content includes active learning methods in large classes, diversity and inclusivity, teaching critical thinking and problem solving skills, case-based teaching, discussion-based teaching, and the use of feedback to support learning. Participants are expected to adapt what you learn to suit their own disciplinary teaching context.
  • Course Design for Constructive Alignment (36 hours) introduces effective principles and practices regarding syllabus creation, sequencing of course content, cohesion of a course with other courses, identifying what students can be expected to know, predicting time needed for completion of course requirements, creating effective learning outcomes, and aligning outcomes with lessons and assessments to support deep learning. By the end of the course, participants should have a well-designed course. Participants are encouraged to seek out models of exemplary courses in their own discipline.
  • One of: Leading Effective Discussions, Lecturing and Presentation, or Online Education (18 hours). These practical half-courses do not involve any graded work, as they focus on experiential cycles of practice and feedback and the application of particular teaching techniques – rather than rigorous research, reflection, or assessment. Participants demonstrate in their dossiers that they have mastered the appropriate learning outcomes.

The Second Certificate

The second certificate, Theory and Practice of Scholarly Teaching, is for those who wish to deepen their learning, build on their teaching skills, make links between theory and practice, and master a broad range of techniques and concepts they can use to become exemplary teachers of their disciplines. The primary goal of this certificate is a change of behaviour, understanding, attitudes, and values. This is achieved through multiple cycles of application, reflection, evaluation, revision and re-application, combined with critical examination of fundamental values and beliefs regarding education, all in the context of a critically supportive community. Participants will receive a certificate of completion in the Theory and Practice of Scholarly Teaching, as well as a SEDA certificate in Learning, Teaching and Assessing for successfully completing the following:

  • University Teaching Practicum (72 hours) provides multiple forms of instruction, support and evaluation all designed to help participants develop scholarly approaches to teaching, refine their individual teaching styles, and try new pedagogical methods and techniques in a “real-world” setting: their own classrooms. Contact hours are spread, over eight months, between cohort learning community meetings (13 three-hour meetings), a three-day (24-hour) Instructional Skills Workshop, and nine hours of teaching and learning workshops of the participant’s choosing. Throughout the course, participants apply new ideas to their teaching activities, supported by the learning community meetings, at which participants become familiar with a range of new approaches, report back on their attempts to use new ideas, discuss problems that arose, and strategize solutions to those problems, which are then implemented whenever possible. Developmental feedback is provided through regular observations (peer and instructor), self-evaluations, and student surveys.
  • Theory and Philosophy of University Teaching (36 hours) is guided by a fundamental assumption: scholarly teachers are able to justify their teaching practices, beliefs, and values as grounded in well-reasoned and evidence-based theory. They are able to explain both why they teach the way they do, and why their approach is appropriate. To that end, participants will critically reflect on dominant themes and theories in the philosophy of education as they pertain to the post-secondary context, while regularly engaging in more personal critical reflection on their own teaching personas – that is, who they are as teachers of a particular discipline with their own teaching philosophies – and the relationship of both public and personal philosophies to the dominant themes emerging from empirical research. Participants will situate themselves in the literature, contrast the ideas under discussion with their own approaches, and gradually construct personal philosophically-informed teaching personas that take into account the relationships between their beliefs, attitudes, values, and practices. These personas must relate participants’ practical experiences to what they have learned from the empirically-based literature, as captured in critical reflection papers.
  • Authentic Assessment (18 hours) is a practical half-course that focuses on the development of authentic means of assessment across the disciplines, to ensure that a) what is assessed is what was intended to be learned, b) assessments simulate, to the greatest possible extent, situations in which the knowledge being assessed would be used outside of the course, and b) assessment is used as a learning experience, rather than an afterthought.
  • One of: Leading Effective Discussions, Lecturing and Presentation, or Online Education (18 hours). These practical half-courses do not involve any graded work, as they focus on experiential cycles of practice and feedback and the application of particular teaching techniques – rather than rigorous research, reflection, or assessment. Participants demonstrate in their dossiers that they have mastered the appropriate learning outcomes.

The Third Certificate

The third certificate, Leadership in University Teaching, is for those who wish to become leaders and community-builders in disciplinary teaching, mentors to novices in their disciplines, and facilitators able to help students take responsibility for their own learning. The primary goal of this certificate is the creation of competent, confident and motivated agents of change. Those who complete this certificate should be able to lead and support positive educational changes supported by a firm foundation of evidence and reasoning, to enhance learning at the University of Windsor – and beyond. Participants will receive a certificate of completion in Leadership in University Teaching, as well as a SEDA certificate in Leading and Developing Academic Practice for successfully completing the following:

  • Educational Leadership (72 hours) consists of two themes, each with an accompanying project. The first theme is leadership. To this end, participants are expected to use what they learn in the planning and implementation of a well-reasoned, evidence-based educational initiative at the department or faculty level. These plans are critiqued and refined during learning community meetings, during which all participants help each other anticipate obstacles and devise strategies for overcoming them. Interdepartmental collaborations are encouraged; participants may collaborate on initiatives, or plan initiatives that would be implemented in multiple departments simultaneously. The second theme is community (community-building and active community membership). To this end, participants must first identify and make contact with discipline-based teaching organizations, locate disciplinary teaching listervs and publications, and establish themselves as members of their disciplinary teaching and learning community beyond the University of Windsor. Participants collectively devise criteria to assess the quality of attempts to become active in disciplinary teaching communities. To address the community-building aspect of this theme, participants must devise and deliver three teaching and learning workshops for departmental colleagues. Workshop plans will be presented to other participants during learning community meetings for feedback. Participants may collaborate on multi or interdepartmental workshops if they desire. This course spreads contact hours over an eight month period. Formal contact hours alternate between biweekly classes and cohort learning community meetings. Classes are devoted to actively learning (through experiential, problem-based, and service activities) concepts of educational leadership theory, cognitive and behavioral change theory, framing, motivation, and principles of persuasion.
  • Teaching for Self-Directed Learning (18 hours) is a practical half-course in which participants experience, and practice using, such self-directed teaching methods as Inquiry and problem-based learning (PBL) – methods that increase student responsibility and autonomy for learning.
  • Mentoring and Supervision (18 hours) is a practical half-course in which participants explore best practices in mentoring and supervision, significant forms of educational leadership often ignored in educational development programs. Participants will investigate and critically assess common practices in their own disciplines, and collectively build a set of effective principles for mentoring and supervision that includes general and discipline-specific elements.