The Graduate Teaching Certificate (GTC) is designed for experienced GTAs who want to further their understanding and practice of university teaching and learning. The development of the GTC program was informed by the Framework for Teaching Assistance Competency Development, created by the Teaching Assistant Graduate Student Advancement (TAGSA) group of the Society of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE) (Korpan, Le-May Sheffield, & Verwoord, 2015). This framework has identified competencies that articulate what being a capable TA looks like in terms of skills, performance, and responsibilities.
Requirements for the 2023-2024 Academic Year
Participants in the Graduate Teaching Certificate (GTC) are required to fulfill the following components. Detailed guidance on completing these requirements will be provided to those who register:
- GTA Orientation Program, including both the “Introduction to Graduate Teaching” Blackboard Site Module, Graduate Teaching Assistant Orientation Synchronous Session (in person or on Zoom), and Final Reflection (10 hours).
- Independent Study: Engage with six asynchronous Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Online Modules and complete related activities (10-12 hours).
- Capstone Project: This experiential education project guides you through the steps of creating an artifact of high impact practical work, such as delivering a lecture or creating a teaching portfolio, and writing a two-page page reflection (5-10 hours). Learn more about the Capstone Project component.
Program Registration
In order to register for the Graduate Teaching Certificate, you must complete the following steps:
- Register through our online form. Registration opens in August 2023.
- Blackboard Access
- Once your registration has been confirmed by the Administrative Coordinator you will be given access to the Blackboard course where you will find additional information including how to access the asynchronous learning modules and detailed instructions for the Capstone Project.
- All work is submitted by GTAs through Blackboard.
If you participated in the certificate program before and have partially completed some of the requirements, please send an email to teaching@trentu.ca to learn more information about how to transfer any previously earned credits.
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