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Graduate Certificate in College Teaching

Text based on the program proposal written by Professors Jim Marshall, Fred Antczak, Tom Rocklin, Wilf Nixon, and the Graduate College (proposal accepted by the Graduate Council in 2003).

Introduction

Many graduate students at The University of Iowa are given significant opportunities to teach undergraduates, at times with supervision, and at times with various degrees of independence. Many, if not most, of our graduate students will spend a great deal of their professional lives teaching undergraduates. If they take positions in regional state universities or small liberal arts colleges, teaching will probably be the cornerstone of their professional effort, and it will remain a critically important competence as they move toward tenure and promotion. If they take positions at private universities or flagship state universities like the University of Iowa, they will also be judged for the quality of their work in classrooms. Teaching well is the vital center of a successful academic career, and we owe our students the opportunity both to practice their craft and to reflect upon their practice.

Some departments at Iowa have established well-designed and carefully staffed programs for the orientation, mentoring, and professional development of the graduate students who teach for them. The Graduate Certificate in College Teaching is a Graduate-College-wide effort to coordinate these efforts so that a larger proportion of our students would have a substantial and coherent opportunity to learn more about the craft of teaching.

Teaching certificates are an increasingly visible feature of graduate programs at other universities (e.g., Duke, Michigan State, University of Colorado). The certificate program at Iowa both enhances our students’ teaching skills and also gives them yet another advantage when they begin looking for academic positions. The opportunities to participate in such a program are an attractive feature to our graduate programs at Iowa, serving as a valuable tool in recruitment and retention of high-quality graduate students. The Graduate Certificate in College Teaching also improves teaching for our undergraduate student body.

Successful completion of this program does not include an official certificate from the State of Iowa Board of Educational Examiners.

Graduate Certificate in College Teaching provides overarching administration and structure in a complementary fashion to discipline-oriented graduate teaching preparation programs. As described below, departments and programs have the opportunity to offer this program to their students upon consultation and approval of the Advisory Committee. In concert with the four broad-based disciplines used to designate the D.C. Spriestersbach dissertation awards, Graduate Certificates in College Teaching will be awarded in the following areas: Biological/Life Sciences; Fine Arts and Humanities; Physical and Mathematical Sciences; and Social Sciences. Even if graduate programs decide not to formally participate in the Graduate Certificate in College Teaching program, graduate students will have the ability to participate under the guidance and approval of the advisory committee.
 

Curricular Design

The Graduate Certificate in College Teaching is a three-part program (coursework, teaching experience, and a teaching portfolio) leading to a graduate teaching certificate requiring 12 s.h. of graduate level coursework:

Coursework
Students begin the program by taking a course on college teaching. This course provides an overview of basic instructional issues and methods in college teaching (e.g., lecture, discussion, assessment) and asks for discipline-specific thinking from students as they consider their own teaching situations. The Advisory Committee for the Teaching Certificate maintains a list of classes that are approved for this aspect of the certificate (such as 07P:385, Teaching and Learning in Higher Education). Due to the nature and quantity of the material to be covered, each approved class will be offered for no less than 3 s.h. of credit. An example syllabus for 07P: 385 is included in Appendix C.

Students are also required to take an additional six semester hours in seminars (1-2 s.h. each). Appropriate topics will be determined by their individual departments. Topics for such seminars might include: teaching lab sections; working with student teams; appropriate uses of technology; student-led discussions; questioning techniques for use in class; problem-based learning techniques; and so forth. Departments can specify which seminars must be taken, or can require students to choose from a list of currently available offerings.

Appropriate seminars will be developed by the Graduate College, in conjunction with the Center for Teaching and the “sponsoring” departments. The form and nature of the seminars will be subject to review by the Advisory Committee (coursework described below). As some of these courses are already required by individual departments, students will be able to count up to 3 s.h. of the coursework towards their individual degree and the Certificate. Approval of this dual counting will be made by the Advisory Committee.

Teaching Experience
Participating students must teach in a mentored teaching experience for at least two semesters in order to be eligible for the certificate (departments would be at liberty to require more teaching experience should they feel this is appropriate, but not less). In this part of the Certificate program, departments are expected to take an active role in orienting and mentoring graduate teaching assistants, especially during their first semester in the classroom. Programs such as the Professional Development Program in Rhetoric or the orientation program in General Education Literature are outstanding models for such departmentally-sponsored efforts.

Teaching Portfolio
Finally, students must develop a teaching portfolio that demonstrates their skills and competence. The portfolio may be web-based, in a different digital form (e.g., CD or DVD) or on paper, and would include sample syllabi, statements of teaching philosophy, samples of assignments and student work, and reflective essays on critical issues in higher education teaching. These portfolios are assessed by the home department. Although the portfolio is developed with faculty in their individual departments, students are also required to register for the course Teaching Portfolio Development under a new Graduate College number (650:386), which can be cross-listed in individual departments.

The decision to offer the Certificate in a given discipline will be made at the departmental level. Each department can propose their own seminar program (including how student portfolios would be collected and evaluated) in keeping with the above guidelines. Proposed departmental programs are reviewed and approved by the Teaching Certificate Advisory Committee. Guidelines for Departments wishing to propose a program are listed in Appendix A.

Following the completion of these requirements, the student’s department of record recommends the awarding of the Certificate to the Advisory Committee. Upon approval by the Advisory Committee, the Certificate is awarded by the Graduate College. A notation to that effect is added to the student’s transcript at the time the Certificate is completed. One purpose of these procedures is to provide an official record of the student’s accomplishment as they are seeking employment opportunities.

The Graduate Certificate in College Teaching is purposefully designed to allow the overall structure required of all students, yet provide departments and programs the flexibility to develop appropriate discipline-specific requirements. The center point of the Certificate is the development of a teaching portfolio. Departments who make this opportunity available have the chance to work with their graduate students in a variety of ways to construct the portfolios into compelling representations of teaching excellence.

Teaching Certificate Advisory Committee
The Graduate College committee charged with oversight of the Certificate program is appointed by the Dean of the Graduate College. The committee is comprised of representatives from the Graduate College, the Center for Teaching, and other appropriate units, as determined by the Dean. The inaugural Advisory committee is Associate Dean Dale Eric Wurster (Graduate College), Professor Wilf Nixon (Director, Center for Teaching), Associate Dean Fred Antczak (CLAS), and Professors James Marshall and Tom Rocklin. Currently, Professor Nixon serves as Chair of the Advisory Committee. The Associate Dean of the Graduate College and the Director of the Center for Teaching are standing appointments, while the three faculty members rotate on a three-year term basis. Faculty members of the Advisory Committee must be members of the tenure track faculty, appointed by the Graduate College Dean upon consultation with the Graduate Council.

Student Cohorts
It is anticipated that up to 20 graduate students per year (across disciplines on campus) will be interested in pursuing the Graduate Certificate in College Teaching. In order to be eligible for this program, graduate students must be enrolled in a graduate degree-seeking program (special students, G-9s are not eligible) and in good academic standing (GPA > 3.0 and successful completion of all other programmatic requirements up to that point). Students interested in pursuing the Certificate should contact Professor Nixon before registering for appropriate coursework. Students must formally apply for the Certificate program.

Tuition Scholarships for Participating Students
In order to encourage student participation in the certificate program without creating a financial burden on students or departments/programs supporting the students, tuition scholarships will be made available. Up to 20 tuition scholarships of $1,000 each per semester will be available for students while they are engaged in either the introductory course or the Teaching Portfolio development course (650:386). A student may receive only one $1000 scholarship during the course of his or her certificate program. Tuition scholarships will be determined by the Advisory Committee and awarded by the Graduate College. We anticipate that as interest in the Certificate grows, it will be necessary to identify additional resources to provide these modest scholarships. The Graduate College is prepared to reallocate limited additional funds to meet this need, and is currently working with the University of Iowa Foundation to develop an endowment to support this program.

Relationship to Similar Programs
Graduate Teaching Certificate programs are currently offered at a number of institutions, including Michigan State University, Duke and Colorado. Our program is designed similar to these programs in its requirements of a series of activities including didactic coursework; documented formal teaching activities; and the development of a comprehensive teaching portfolio. The structure of the Michigan State program is illustrated in Appendix B.
 

Appendix A
Guidelines for Departments

Guidelines for Departmental Proposals for Programs Leading to the
Graduate Certificate in College Teaching

1. What sequence of courses will students in the certificate program take? [At a minimum students will take a three hour introduction to college teaching (typically 650:XXX (grad college number) Teaching and Learning in Higher Education), departmental seminars on teaching, two semesters of practicum in college teaching and a capstone course centered around final preparation of the students’ teaching portfolio.]

2. How will faculty mentors be assigned to students in the certificate program? How many faculty members will participate in the program? [Mentors will supervise the students’ two semesters of teaching practicum and the preparation of the portfolio. Mentors might work with students individually, or a single mentor might work with a number of students.]

3. What teaching experiences will typically be available to students in the certificate program? [Teaching experiences should allow students enough autonomy to build a foundation for their development as teachers. Where feasible, they should also reflect, to the extent that it exists, the diversity of teaching contexts typical of the discipline. The teaching experiences must be supervised by a mentor, but need not necessarily occur on the UI campus.]

4. How will the department validate the quality of the students’ portfolio? [A typical procedure might be modeled on a master’s thesis, with a small committee of faculty members reviewing the portfolio and then meeting with the student to discuss the portfolio.]

5. What artifacts will typically appear in students’ portfolios? What sorts of reflections will students prepare and include? [Guidance on portfolio construction is available from the Center for Teaching.]


Appendix B

Description of Teaching Certificate Program at Michigan State University:
http://www.msu.edu/user/gradschl/teaching.htm

Click on “MSU Certification in College Teaching Guidebook” for full details on the program.


Appendix C
Example Syllabus for Class on Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (see point 1 above)
TEACHING AND LEARNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION
(07P:385)

"Teaching is the heartbeat of the educational enterprise." Ernest Boyer

Carolyn Lieberg
335-6048
carolyn-lieberg@uiowa.edu

This course will be conversation-based. The textbooks, articles, videos, web resources, and the thoughts and experiences of class members will comprise the content that we’ll explore, agree and disagree with. Even though some emphases are noted for various weeks, the topics of this course, by necessity and for practical reasons, will weave throughout the semester. We will practice a wide range of teaching/learning strategies throughout the semester.

Course Goals:

Course Materials:
The Craft of Teaching by Kenneth E. Eble
Engaging Ideas by John C. Bean
Blank videotape

I hope this will be a mind-changing course for you – in the best sense of the phrase. I’ll often ask you to reflect on content or the class to encourage comparison between old and new, self and others, experience and experimentation.

If you need special accommodations to fulfill the requirements of this course, please talk with me so we can make proper arrangements.

Readings and Assignment Schedule

Weekly Assignment: I’d like to start the conversation for our class before we arrive. By Tuesday noon before Wednesday’s class, please e-mail me a paragraph (less than a screen) related to the week’s reading through one of the following:
An intriguing quotation or citation and a comment about it
A comment of disagreement or puzzlement regarding something in the reading
A connection you make with something in the reading to something previously learned or witnessed
A question you’d like to have the class discuss

I’ll use these comments as a way to shape our class discussion.

Aug. 28 Introduction
Course Development
Syllabus Construction

Sept. 4 Eble, Chap 1 & 2
Article: Chickering & Gamson, “Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education”
Videoclip from “The Act of Teaching”
Assign: Present Course Title, Introductory Sentences

Sept. 11 Teaching under Difficult Circumstances
(4:30-6, 9/9 Minnesota Rm., IMU – optional)
Getting Students to Think
Video: “A Private Universe”
Bean, Chap 1 “Using Writing to Promote Thinking”
Article: K. Patricia Cross, “What Do We Know About Students’ Learning, and How Do We Know It?”
Assign: Bring “Teaching Goals Inventory” results
http://www.uiowa.edu/~centeach/tgi/index.html

Sept. 18 Eble, Chap 3, “Getting Students to Think”
Article:
“How Experts Differ from Novices” (Chap 2 from How People Learn, Editors: John D. Bransford, Ann L. Brown, and Rodney R. Cocking) http://www.nap.edu/html/howpeople1/ch2_f4.html
Assign: Course Goals

Sept. 25 Eble, Ch. 11 “Assignments ”
Bean Ch. 2 “How Writing Is Related to Critical Thinking”
Learning Styles
Videotaping 5 minute presentation – Introducing your course
Assign: Create assignment that uses one of your goals and involves writing

Oct. 2 Eble, Ch 5 “Making Classes Work”
Article: Barr & Tagg “From Teaching to Learning – A New Paradigm for Undergraduate Education”
In-class – one positive and one negative on college set entirely with student-learning focus
Video: “How to Speak” (public speaking)

Oct. 9 Eble, Ch. 6 “The Lecture as Discourse”
Bean Ch. 3 “Engaging All Learners: Valuing Professional and Personal Writing”
Review the “Visual/Aural/Reading-Writing/Kinesthetic” inventory
Assign: Bring a commentary on your videotape

Oct. 16 Bean Ch. 4 “Dealing with Issues of Grammar and Correctness” and 8 “Helping Students Read Difficult Texts”
Assign: Sheet with “challenging” paragraph to comment on

Oct. 23 Discussion
Eble, Ch. 7 “Discussion” and 8 “Seminars, Tutorials, Advising, and Mentoring”
Video: “The Art of Discussion”
Handouts – Discussion types, strategies for students
In-class: discussion experiment – fishbowl and modifications

Oct. 30 Halloween
Bean, Ch 5 “Formal Writing Assignments”
6 “Informal, Exploratory Writing Activities”
Assign: Create second assignment that involves writing
In-class – Discuss four critical teaching incidents (videoclips)

Nov. 13 Assign: Select any of the hundreds of small books in the library call number below (they are educational research findings from the 1930s and 1940s and offer some interesting perspectives on issues that are often viewed in a much different light today) , and prepare a ten-minute presentation for the class. Bring your videotape so you can be taped a second time.
Columbia Teachers’ College book

Nov. 20 Grading
Eble, Ch. 13 “Grades”
Bean, Ch. 15 “Developing and Applying Grading Criteria”
Assign: Bring analysis and reflection on your videotaped sessions
In-class: “Draw a Dog” and rubrics – their strengths and limitations
Critical Incident videoclips on cultural misunderstandings, a missing paper, group assignment problems, an “overly-improved” paper

Nov. 27 Thanksgiving

Dec. 4 Motivation
Eble Chap 15 “Motivating Students and Faculty”
Bean Chap 10 “Alternative Approaches to Active Learning”
Video: “Active Learning in the Classroom”
In-class: graphics organizers (alternatives to typical writing assignments)
Final assign: Course Portfolio
Please include everything you’ve prepared for the course and use Post-Its, an annotated list, or another method of your choosing to comment or reflect on things you’ve discovered or been inspired to reconsider during the semester. Consider it a conversation, albeit one-sided.
CHOICE: YOU CAN TURN IN THIS FINAL PORTFOLIO ANY TIME BETWEEN DECEMBER 4 AND DECEMBER 11.
Please turn them in inside a campus envelope addressed to you. I’ll put them in the mail back to you as soon as I can during finals week.

Dec. 11 No assignment
In-class: Pre- and Post-Knowledge surveys
Teaching Portfolios – how to prepare them; prompts for writing a teaching philosophy
How to close a semester
Course evaluation

 

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