Graduate Teaching Certificate Program

Overview

To compete in an increasingly competitive job market, post-docs and graduate students must demonstrate their commitment to teaching effectively as future faculty members. Intended for post-docs or graduate students in their third year or beyond, the Certificate program is a course of seminars and workshops aimed at preparing students to take on those teaching responsibilities.

Over 12 months, program participants read literature on teaching and learning, and use that scholarship to reflect upon their own teaching practice. Topics include:

  • Course design
  • Student backgrounds
  • Assessment
  • Teaching methods
  • Evaluation

These conversations carry over into more practice-focused workshops that delve deeper into select topics in teaching. In addition to this year-long process of reflecting on teaching practice, participants engage in designing (or re-designing) a course of their own. This endeavor takes the form of a teaching project, which participants will ideally be able to put into practice as part of their required teaching experience.

Students are supported in this effort by the Graduate Teaching Mentors, alums of the program who will meet with participants in small groups on a regular basis to facilitate peer feedback and to provide their own guidance and insights.

Finally, over the summer participants construct a teaching portfolio, a document central to their professional development as a teacher and essential for entering the job market.

For more detailed information about the Certificate program, see the 2012-13 Program Syllabus (PDF).

Application Information

All post-docs or advanced graduate students (in the third year or beyond during the year enrolled in the program) are eligible to apply. Applications for the 2013-14 program will be accepted in May 2013.

Please direct any questions about the program to Nancy Ruggeri, Associate Director for Graduate Student Development at the Searle Center.

The Mentor's Role

Certificate program participants work with a faculty teaching mentor. Graduate students often have research advisors but no one to discuss issues related to teaching and learning.

Faculty teaching mentors:

  • Meet with the program participant at least once a quarter to discuss issues of teaching and learning
  • Provide feedback on the program participant's Teaching Project, usually the design of a new course or the re-design of an existing one
  • Have their teaching observed by the program participant
  • Observe the program participant teach & provide feedback
  • If requested, provide a letter for the program participant's teaching portfolio

Choosing a Mentor

In most cases, participants choose their own faculty teaching mentor. A mentor:

  • Is ideally not the program participant's research advisor, to provide a different perspective
  • Is usually from the same discipline as the program participant, but they can be from any department
  • Can be at any stage of their faculty career as long as they have a demonstrated interest in teaching and learning issues

Mentors can be faculty from:

  • Northwestern University
  • A partner school: Lake Forest College, Oakton Community College, or Northeastern Illinois University
  • Another local institution with approval from the program coordinator

Working with a Program Participant

The specifics of the mentor-participant relationship are negotiated individually. Participants are responsible for setting up meetings, as well as setting meeting agendas, unless other arrangements are made.