Teaching Certificates

Transferable skills associated with teaching are present in many aspects of our lives.

From explaining a concept to a peer, tutoring a friend, to coaching a soccer team, teaching can take various forms. The Foundations in Teaching and Learning certificate is an opportunity for undergraduate students to gain a foundation for success in various teaching opportunities they encounter on a daily basis. This certificate will help you identify the skills associated with teaching and learning activities and communicate them to future employers, colleagues, and mentors. You will have the opportunity to put the skills you develop into practice in a safe and supportive environment through hands-on activities and microteaching sessions.

Topics covered in the certificate include: preparing to teach, facilitation strategies, giving and receiving feedback, teaching as part of a team, and communicating your skills to others.

• Isolate the transferable skills developed through teaching and learning activities and translate these skills for future leadership opportunities at Laurier and beyond.
• Explore teaching and facilitation strategies and adapt these strategies to the instructional activities you engage in at Laurier.
• Network and build community with peers within and across disciplines.

To complete the Foundations in Teaching and Learning Certificate, participants are required to complete five workshops (two hours each) and one microteaching session. The required workshops and microteaching sessions are offered throughout the term.

Five Required Workshops

• Preparing to Teach
• Facilitation Strategies
• Giving and Receiving Feedback
• Teaching with Others
• Transferrable Skills in Teaching and Learning

During the certificate, participants will engage in one microteaching session. This session provides the opportunity to practice facilitation in a safe and supportive environment by facilitating a 10-minute discussion with a small group of peers. Following the facilitation, you will have the opportunity to reflect on your experience and receive constructive feedback from peers.

Registration for microteaching sessions can be completed through the Microteaching Session Registration Form.

This certificate is a cohort-based sequence of hands-on workshops intended to provide a foundation for success in the classroom as a teaching assistant as well as gain transferable skills applicable to future employment opportunities. You will have the opportunity to put the skills you learn during workshops into practice in a safe, supportive environment through hands-on activities as well as microteaching sessions. Completion of the certificate will provide a foundation for success in the University Teaching Certificate and the University Teaching Course for PhD Students.

Topics covered in the certificate include: planning for your classes; using active learning in the classroom; understanding your students; communicating in the inclusive classroom; and measuring student learning and achievement. Participants also have the opportunity to foster cross-disciplinary relationships with their peers, broadening their perspective on teaching and learning.

• Identify and practice teaching approaches that you can incorporate into your practice.
• Appraise teaching approaches and strategies and adapt them to your discipline and experience level.
• Reflect upon your teaching practice and modify your practice based on peer feedback.
• Examine and reflect upon research relevant to higher education.
• Network and build community with peers within and across disciplines.

To complete the University Teaching Foundations Certificate, participants are required to complete five workshops (2 hours each) and two microteaching sessions. The required workshops and microteaching sessions are offered throughout the term and as a more intensive session during which the certificate is completed over a 2-week period. The intensive session is typically offered in April, August, and December. You can choose the type of offering that best fits your schedule.

Five Required Workshops

• Planning for your Classes
• Understanding your Students
• Active Learning in your Classroom
• How Can I Tell my Students are Learning?
• Discovering the Self in Teaching and Learning

Reflection Papers

Participants will also write a 1-2 page reflection paper about teaching and learning concepts discussed in the workshops and their relevance to their personal teaching practice. 

Microteaching Sessions

During the certificate, participants will engage in two microteaching sessions. These sessions provide the opportunity to practice teaching in a safe and supportive environment by delivering a 10-minute lesson to a small group of peers. Following the lesson, you will have the opportunity to reflect on your experience and receive constructive feedback from peers. The participants will be recorded as they present their lesson and the digital recording can be reviewed privately at home following the session.

Registration for microteaching sessions can be completed through the Microteaching Session Registration Form.

Participate in online sessions designed to support your development as an educator in today’s complex higher education environment where we aspire to incorporate internationalization, global citizenship, and diversity into classrooms and curricula. Teaching effectively in this environment demands that we understand and practice inclusive approaches to teaching so that we might contribute to social justice in our classrooms and enhance learning for all of our students. 

This certificate is undergoing redevelopment and will be offered later in 2018.

• Identify how your own expectations around communication are informed by your cultural influences.
• Recognize elements in classrooms and curricula that privilege or marginalize students.
• Analyze classroom situations to identify micro-aggressions in the classroom.
• Consider how to incorporate inclusive strategies into your teaching.
• Develop confidence in your instructional skills, teaching communication, and intercultural awareness.

To complete the certificate, participants must complete ten online modules.

Online Modules:

1. Introduction to Intercultural Communication in Teaching and Learning
2. Power, Privilege, and Language in the Classroom
3. Unconscious Biases in the Classroom
4. Culture in Classroom Discussions
5. Culture and Cognition
6. Variations in Feedback and Approaches to Conflict
7. Acculturative Stress
8. Colonization and Ethnostress
9. Islamophobia
10. The Inclusive Classroom

For each module, students will be required to:

• read through the lesson;
• read one article;
• write a one-page reflection; and
• participate in an online discussion.

It is anticipated that each module will take approximately four hours of time to complete.

Continue to reflect upon your teaching practice in this flexible, self-directed certificate designed to prepare you for a teaching career in academia by focusing on teaching in your discipline, practicing fundamental skills in a classroom setting, and engaging in scholarly research about teaching and learning. You will reflect upon the current state of teaching in your discipline and how to adapt and change this approach in your personal teaching practice. The University Teaching Foundations Certificate is a prerequisite for this certificate. 

There are two certificate streams: one intended for master's students and one intended for doctoral students. 

• Refine and practice teaching strategies and approaches in a classroom setting.
• Reflect upon your teaching practice and modify your practice based on feedback from faculty members, peers, and CTIE staff.
• Critically examine peer-reviewed research relevant to higher education and identify future directions in higher education research.
• Synthesize and disseminate your findings to fellow graduate students.
• Create documentation that showcases your teaching ability such as a teaching philosophy statement and teaching dossier.
• Network and build community within and across disciplines.

Master's Students

Required workshops:

• Describing Your Approach to Teaching.
• Describing Your Teaching: Peer Feedback.
• Current Topics in Higher Education.
• Additional two workshops of your choice (preferably with a discipline-specific focus)

Teaching practicum:

• Two teaching events in which an observer is present:
• One can be a microteaching session.
• One must be in a classroom setting (tutorial, guest lecture, lab) with an observer from CTIE or faculty member approved by the program coordinator.

Teaching documentation:

• Create a teaching philosophy statement

Scholarly Research

• Read four peer-reviewed articles on a higher education topic of your choice and create an annotated bibliography.
• Choose one article and write a two-page review.

Doctoral Students

Required workshops:

• Describing Your Approach to Teaching.
• Describing Your Teaching: Peer Feedback.
• Current Topics in Higher Education.
• Additional four workshops of your choice (preferably with a discipline-specific focus).

Teaching practicum:

• Three teaching events in which an observer is present:
  • One can be a microteaching session.
  • One must be in a classroom setting (tutorial, guest lecture, lab) with an observer from CTIE.
  • One must be in a classroom setting (tutorial, guest lecture, lab) with an observer of your choice (either a faculty member or a CTIE staff member).

Teaching documentation:

• Create a teaching philosophy statement.
• Create a teaching dossier.

Scholarly research:

• Literature review 
• Workshop development and facilitation

This non-credit course is intended for PhD students nearing the completion of their doctoral studies and provides an opportunity to engage in discussion and reflection about teaching and learning with experienced faculty members in a variety of disciplines. The focus of the sessions is on the practices and realities that surround teaching within higher education. You will participate in hands-on workshops and engage with PhD students from all disciplines, gaining a cross-disciplinary perspective and a more comprehensive view of the topics studied.

Register online today for the April 23 start date.

• Develop ways to incorporate mixed modalities and communication styles into an inclusive learning environment.
• Reflect on the role and responsibilities of educators in higher education with a focus on how you approach your teaching.
• Explore possible technologies that can be integrated into courses to create meaningful learning experiences.
• Engage in critical reflection about teaching and learning in higher education and your role as an educator.

• Pre-course reflection on your approach to teaching in higher education addressing issues such as your teaching experience to date, your teaching philosophy, and the areas you would like to grow and develop throughout the course.
• Participate in all sessions and write a 2-page reflection following each class meeting about your engagement in the material, how you made sense of it, and how you can incorporate ideas into your teaching practice.
• Post-course reflection relating your journey in the course back to your pre-course reflection to isolate how your experience in the course has led to changes in your philosophy and practice.

Develop your online teaching skills and gain insight into the online course development process at Laurier through a sequence of online modules, activities, and face-to-face sessions. You will have the opportunity to put the skills you learn into practice through participation in an online microteaching session. Topics covered in the certificate include: online teaching skills; learning outcomes and course design; assessment in online environments; and interaction, engagement, and motivation.

The online modules were developed by Carleton University as open education resources. These modules and the learning activities have been adapted to reflect the approach to online learning at Laurier.

• Identify online teaching strategies and approaches that you can incorporate into your teaching practice to support student learning and encourage interaction.
• Relate learning outcomes to learning activities and assessment in an online learning environment.
• Reflect upon instructional design theories and familiarize yourself with the online course development process as Laurier.
• Apply your learning by practicing teaching in an online environment and modify your practice in response to feedback.

To complete the certificate, participants must complete four online modules (8 hours total), one face-to-face session (2 hours), and an online microteaching session (3 hours). The online modules must be completed prior to participation in the face-to-face workshop and microteaching session.

Registration for microteaching sessions can be completed through the Microteaching Session Registration Form.