**This is Competency 4 of the Certificate in College Teaching (CCT). You can learn more about the CCT competencies here.**
Core Competency 4 focuses on the negotiation of the college and/or university institutional environment to maximize the cultivation of student learning.
Core Competency 4 focuses on the negotiation of the college and/or university institutional environment to maximize the cultivation of student learning.
Workshop: Certificate in College Teaching Institute
Completed: May 9, 2024
Description: This workshop led by Dr. Judith Stoddart (Associate Provost for University Arts and Collections) discussed the different institutional types across the United States, and how the same course will not look the same across universities. So, the context of the department, the students, and the institution matters when thinking about how to create your course! Additionally, the campus culture and global contexts has a large influence.
Artifacts and Rationale:
Artifact: 2024 CCT Teaching Statement Powerpoint
Rationale: This PowerPoint was provided to 2024 CCTI participants to help us understand what goes into a teaching statement, as well as how to use a teaching philosophy as a reflection tool for our experiences and strategies regarding teaching. This also provides a rubric and several tips for people writing their teaching philosophy for the first time or for the hundredth.
Material Developed for the Course: Breakout Activity: Understanding the University Context - Developing Your Teaching Philosophy
Rationale: My artifact for Competency 4 is my working sheet from the Understanding the University Context breakout session, where we worked on writing a learning moment that opened up or shut down a student or yourself. This was not meant to be a polished draft, rather it was meant to just start getting words on the page. Then we shared our experiences with our small group, then had a larger group discussion on themes running through our discussions (found under the first bullet point below "Reflexive activity #1). Then we wrote SMART goals relating to when we would like to finish our teaching philosophies.
Reflection:
What skills and techniques did I learn that will help me become a better educator?
I began thinking about how my teaching style and approach can be/should be described, and how I would describe them for different types of institutions. Additionally, understanding where students are coming from and going in terms of course work will benefit me for setting students up for success in their degree program. I think the first few years will be a learning experience, but once I get a foothold on the department/university structure, then I can start improving my courses and teaching!
What things am I still uncertain about regarding this topic that I need to investigate further in the future?
I would love to talk to people who have taught at different institutions to see what their teaching experiences between institutions were. I'd also love to talk to them about how exactly they changed their teaching philosophy for each position, if they changed it at all. I did not realize that the teaching philosophy was something that changed per institution, but since I realized that the teaching philosophy is a document that should not be focused on the educator's experience but more on the students, it makes more sense. But seeing examples will help me understand the process more.
How can I apply materials from this session to my own class to enhance the effectiveness of teaching and learning?
In addition to learning different ways to approach writing a teaching philosophy, I also learned about how the teaching philosophy should match the university's mission statement and faculty handbook. This will help set me up for being a competitive applicant for the job.
Once I get a teaching job and am assigned courses, I plan to talk to other professors in the department about what expectations they have for students going into their courses. That way, if I teach an introductory course, I know what types of skills I should strive to teach students (for example, should they be creating graphs and learning how to analyze datasets?). I plan to also send pre-course surveys to gain an understanding of where students are coming from and where I should start in the course.
Completed: May 9, 2024
Description: This workshop led by Dr. Judith Stoddart (Associate Provost for University Arts and Collections) discussed the different institutional types across the United States, and how the same course will not look the same across universities. So, the context of the department, the students, and the institution matters when thinking about how to create your course! Additionally, the campus culture and global contexts has a large influence.
Artifacts and Rationale:
Artifact: 2024 CCT Teaching Statement Powerpoint
Rationale: This PowerPoint was provided to 2024 CCTI participants to help us understand what goes into a teaching statement, as well as how to use a teaching philosophy as a reflection tool for our experiences and strategies regarding teaching. This also provides a rubric and several tips for people writing their teaching philosophy for the first time or for the hundredth.
Material Developed for the Course: Breakout Activity: Understanding the University Context - Developing Your Teaching Philosophy
Rationale: My artifact for Competency 4 is my working sheet from the Understanding the University Context breakout session, where we worked on writing a learning moment that opened up or shut down a student or yourself. This was not meant to be a polished draft, rather it was meant to just start getting words on the page. Then we shared our experiences with our small group, then had a larger group discussion on themes running through our discussions (found under the first bullet point below "Reflexive activity #1). Then we wrote SMART goals relating to when we would like to finish our teaching philosophies.
Reflection:
What skills and techniques did I learn that will help me become a better educator?
I began thinking about how my teaching style and approach can be/should be described, and how I would describe them for different types of institutions. Additionally, understanding where students are coming from and going in terms of course work will benefit me for setting students up for success in their degree program. I think the first few years will be a learning experience, but once I get a foothold on the department/university structure, then I can start improving my courses and teaching!
What things am I still uncertain about regarding this topic that I need to investigate further in the future?
I would love to talk to people who have taught at different institutions to see what their teaching experiences between institutions were. I'd also love to talk to them about how exactly they changed their teaching philosophy for each position, if they changed it at all. I did not realize that the teaching philosophy was something that changed per institution, but since I realized that the teaching philosophy is a document that should not be focused on the educator's experience but more on the students, it makes more sense. But seeing examples will help me understand the process more.
How can I apply materials from this session to my own class to enhance the effectiveness of teaching and learning?
In addition to learning different ways to approach writing a teaching philosophy, I also learned about how the teaching philosophy should match the university's mission statement and faculty handbook. This will help set me up for being a competitive applicant for the job.
Once I get a teaching job and am assigned courses, I plan to talk to other professors in the department about what expectations they have for students going into their courses. That way, if I teach an introductory course, I know what types of skills I should strive to teach students (for example, should they be creating graphs and learning how to analyze datasets?). I plan to also send pre-course surveys to gain an understanding of where students are coming from and where I should start in the course.