The Yale Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning invites Yale Graduate and Professional Students from any discipline to participate in a training program for college teaching theory and practice and earn a Certificate of College Teaching Preparation (CCTP).
- Please review the full list of requirements for Graduate and Professional students. You can use the Graduate and Professional Student CCTP worksheet to track your progress through this self-paced program.
- Please register your intention to complete the CCTP.
- Please review our directions on how to compile your CCTP Portfolio.
Note that students pursuing the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree are able to follow the requirements for postdoctoral scholars.
Objectives
The goal of this certificate program is to equip Graduate and Professional Students with transferrable skills that are valuable while on the job market and for careers involving teaching and mentoring. The objectives for participants are adapted from CIRTL Practitioner objectives. Upon completion of the CCTP, graduate students and postdocs will understand and be able to do the following:
- Articulate learning goals for students, the nature of learning, and effective teaching strategies that can support specific learning goals.
- Design processes to assess what students have learned.
- Use relevant literature, including research about high-impact teaching.
- Describe learning theories.
- Create opportunities for learning communities.
- Use and promote strategies that value diversity and impact classroom equity.
- Develop scholarship of teaching and learning within the context of higher education.
- Leverage communities including classrooms, institutions, departments, and the nation to impact teaching and learning.
Activities
Individuals can tailor their training according to their interests and convenience. Participants may take advantage of online the CIRTL Network training opportunities and learning communities, which bring people together for shared generation of knowledge, as well as training opportunities and learning communities at Yale. Participants who want to design and apply curriculum and assessments may choose to conduct a Teaching as Research (TAR) project.
Time Commitment
The CCTP time commitment is roughly 45 hours and can be completed over the course of months or years. Options for completion are flexible and self-paced. CIRTL Network Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs) and short courses are offered yearly and are asynchronous; content can be accessed at any time. CTL events are often scheduled during lunchtime or evening hours to accommodate busy schedules. Evidence from national studies indicate that pre-faculty benefit the most from greater than 10 hours of teaching professional development prior to a faculty appointment. The CCTP is designed to align with metrics of high to moderate teaching development in studies that show greater teaching engagement leads to greater gains in teaching self-efficacy (Connolly, 2015 and 2016).
Outcomes
- Certificate of College Teaching Preparation (CCTP) and CIRTL Associate
- CIRTL Practitioner or Scholar
- CTL reviewed Teaching Portfolio
- Membership in CIRLT, a national network of faculty and future faculty
- Optional experience with online and digital education
For questions or comments, please contact, Gina Hurley.
References
- Connolly, M.R.; Lee, Y.-G.; & Savoy, J. N. (2015). The Effects of Doctoral Teaching Development on Early career STEM Scholars’ College-teaching Self-efficacy. WCER Working Paper No. 2015-1.
- Connolly, M. R., Savoy, J. N., Hill, L., Lee, Y.G., & Associates (2016). Building a better future STEM faculty: How doctoral teaching development programs can improve undergraduate education: Executive summary. LSFSS Brief Series, No. 9, Madison, WI: Wisconsin Center for Education Research, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
