Certificate in College Teaching
The Certificate in College Teaching (CCT) program is for enrolled PhD students in any department or program of study at Duke. This program makes use of departmental training and resources as well as Graduate School programming. The Certificate in College Teaching will appear on the transcript of Duke PhD students who complete its requirements as an officially endorsed Duke University Graduate School certificate; it is being offered in order to recognize and validate professional development activities undertaken by PhD students and add competitiveness and value to PhDs awarded to Duke graduate students.
The goals of the CCT program are to facilitate and recognize graduate students’ completion of:
- Sustained, systematic pedagogical training that promotes
- current best practices in teaching and learning
- appropriate use of instructional technology
- systematic assessment of student learning outcomes
- A reflective teaching practice including peer observation
- Development of materials suitable for use in applying for teaching positions after graduation
Requirements
1. COURSEWORK
Participants should successfully complete two courses in college teaching. This can include any combination of Graduate School and/or discipline specific pedagogy courses offered by a Department or Program.
Graduate Studies courses
GS 750 Fundamentals of College Teaching
GS 755 College Teaching & Course Design (syllabus & materials design, teaching statement)
GS 760 College Teaching & Visual Communication (graphic & web design for teaching)
GS 765 College Teaching Practicum (video recorded teaching demos)
GS 770 Topics and Careers in Higher Education (job application materials)
GS 302 Introduction to College Teaching. No longer offered, but does count toward this requirement.
GS 357 & GS 358 Teaching Writing in the Disciplines. No longer offered, but does count toward this requirement.
Departmental pedagogy courses
AAAS 780S Teaching Race, Teaching Gender (Crosslisted in WOMENST, HIST, LIT)
BIO 705s Seminar in Teaching College Biology
ENG 890S 21st Century Literacies: Digital Knowledge, Digital Humanities (Crosslisted in ISIS)
GERMAN 700S Foreign Language Pedagogy: Theories and Practices
HIST 703S Focusing on Teaching and Pedagogy
MATH 771S Teaching College Mathematics
PHILOSOPHY 795S Teaching Philosophy
POLISCI 790 Teaching Politics
RELIGION 996S Teaching in Religion
ROMST 700 Theories and Techniques of Teaching Foreign Languages
RUSSIAN 714 Methods in Teaching Russian
STA 790.04 Special Topics (Teaching Statistics)
WOMENST 320 The Pedagogy of Women's Studies
2. TEACHING EXPERIENCE & OBSERVATION
Participants should have at least one semester in a formal teaching role that takes place after enrolling in the CCT program (i.e. previous teaching experience is not applicable.) A formal instructional role includes being the instructor of a class, or leading a discussion, lab or recitation section that meets regularly throughout the semester with you as the primary leader/facilitator of those meetings. If your role is that of a guest lecturer in a class, the instructional contact should be no less than four contact hours, spread out through the term (e.g., two guest lectures in the week a lecturing professor is at a conference would not qualify.) TAships limited to grading, office hours and/or administrative tasks are not considered a formal instructional role. With the approval of the the CCT Program Director, other types of teaching experience may be used to fulfill this program requirement.
Students in the program should participate in teaching observations, both as a teacher being observed and as an observer of others teaching. In their teaching role, participants should be observed by at least two who provide brief written feedback. Observers can be faculty from the participant’s department or a related program, Graduate School staff, trained peer graduate students or others as approved by the Program Director. Participants should also conduct at least two observations of other faculty or graduate students teaching. Note that every semester, including Summer I and II, the CCT program director faciliates a peer observation program for graduate studennt instructors & TAs called Teaching Triangles that can fulfill these observation requirements.
3. ONLINE TEACHING PORTFOLIO
The online teaching portfolio can be created in any web authoring tool the participant is comfortable using (Word Press, Dreamweaver, Google Sites, etc.) It may include a current CV, a teaching statement and other materials as appropriate to the student’s discipline. Note that students will create portfolio materials in the college teaching classes and as part of their teaching experience as described above in requirements 1 and 2. A number of Duke PhD student portfolios can be found on the GS 760 website.
Evaluation
When all courses, materials and documentation are ready for evaluation, the participating student should contact the Program Director to schedule an exit interview. At the exit interview, the participant will be asked to discuss his or her experience, present a self-evaluation and give feedback about the certificate program. We expect to maintain contact with them after they have graduated from Duke to find out how well this program prepared them for their (future) position.
Application Process
Why should you apply?
If you plan to go on to a faculty career in higher education, you will
very likely be expected to teach, and the CCT program both prepares you
to do this and formally documents this professional development to make
you more competitive when applying for positions. Systematic pedagogical
training not only helps you develop as a teacher, it will also allow you to
use your time more efficiently as you balance your research and
teaching responsibilities.
When should you apply?
Applications can be made at any time for the program, which should take
about a year to complete; this may vary, though, as opportunities for
gaining teaching experience vary across departments. Typically, PhD
students close to or beyond their prelims (or equivalent) would be
well-situated to enroll. However, if you have teaching responsibilities
early in your program (as in your first or second year), it would make
sense to enroll then. The latest that an
application can be made is before drop-add of the semester in which a
PhD student intends to complete the certificate; a much earlier
application (as in at least a year or more before) is recommended. After you have applied to the CCT program, the Program Director will contact you to set up an advising appointment and go over the requirements and your timeline for completing them.
When should you complete the requirements?
You can complete the coursework requirement at any time, either before or after enrolling as a CCT
participant. Ideally, you would take the courses immediately before and/or in conjunction with your teaching experience.
For the teaching and observation requirement: you must be enrolled in the CCT program for your teaching experience to count towards the certificate. Every semester (including summer 1 & 2) there are opportunities for teaching observations organized by the CCT program; see Teaching Triangles for more infomration.
The final requirement, the online teaching portfolio, would be completed after the other requirements (which will provide you with materials for the portfolio.) This requirement can be facilitated by 1) taking GS 760 College Teaching & Visual Communication; 2) attending graduate school portfolio workshops, usually offered once per semester; or 3) developing your online presence without Graduate School support. In any case, your portfolio should be appropriate for use in a job search.
Work towards completion of the CCT may be done along side other classes, research or work on a dissertation; it should not significantly interfere with the timely completion of any of these.
Can I get teaching experience at another institution?
Teaching outside of Duke may be a great way for you to get formal teaching experience that can count toward the CCT.
Durham Technical Community College
To explore possibilities of teaching a course at Durham Tech, send a letter of interest indicating what areas you can teach and a copy of your cv to:
Dr Thomas Gould
Dean and Department Head
Arts, Sciences, and University Transfer
Durham Technical Community College
gouldt@durhamtech.edu
Wake Technical Community College
To explore possibilities of teaching a course at Wake Tech, send a
letter of interest indicating what areas you can teach and a copy of
your cv to:
Tonya P. Forbes
Associate Vice-President
Arts and Sciences
Wake Technical Community College
tpforbes@waketech.edu
Duke Talent Identification Program (TIP)
The Duke TIP campus-based Summer Studies Program offers academically gifted students in grades seven through ten the opportunity to learn highly challenging material at a rate commensurate with their advanced abilities. Instructors for the Duke TIP Summer Studies Program are responsible for designing and teaching challenging courses, planning and supervising the activities of a teaching assistant, and evaluating each student in the class. You can find out more about applying to be a TIP instructor here.
How do you apply to the CCT?
Interested students should submit an application (link below) and plan to meet with the CCT
program director for an advising session (you'll be contacted by email after you apply to schedule this.)
During this meeting, you will begin the process to identify possible
teaching and observing opportunities, review the requirements for the
certificate (listed above) and develop your timeline for their completion.
Each PhD student who enrolls in the certificate program will schedule
one progress report meeting per year with the Program Director and must remain in good academic standing at Duke.
Apply to the Certificate in College Teaching Program
Contact
Hugh Crumley, Ph.D.
Director, Certificate in College Teaching
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Education
Duke University Graduate School
2127 Campus Drive, Box 90068
Durham, NC 27708
Phone: 919-660-5975
Email: crumley@duke.edu