Postdoc Teaching Practicum

Work with an experienced instructor in your discipline to enhance your understanding and experience of teaching a university course in this 5-month mentorship program. During the mentorship program, you will observe a mentor in their teaching, teach guest lectures and receive feedback on your teaching, discuss approaches to teaching with your mentors, and engage in group discussions of teaching with other participants. Throughout the program, you will also attend a series of synchronous sessions on teaching development topics, like lesson planning; teaching portfolios; equity, diversity & inclusion; and teaching-as-research. By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Create a framework for how a typical university course operates
• Articulate how teaching and learning theories intersect with the practical requirements of a university course
• Design university lessons which incorporate learner-centered lesson planning basics, demonstrating the alignment of learning objectives, learning activities and assessment techniques
• Develop and refine a teaching portfolio using the evience of teaching effectiveness gathered throughout the internship

This course is part of CIRTLs fall programming on evidence-based teaching fundamentals.

Instructor

Natalie Westwood, University of British Columbia

Course Schedule

This 5-part mentorship program has synchronous sessions on Thursday, December 5, January 9, February 6, March 6, and April 3 at 9-11pm Gulf / 2-4pm Atlantic / 1-3pm Eastern / 12-2pm Central / 11am-1pm Mountain / 10am-12pm Pacific (note that the course spans the 2024-2025 winter). Participants will be expected to do extensive independent work and work with their teaching mentors outside of these monthly sessions. Monthly sessions will cover:

• Lesson design
• Teaching portfolios
• Scholarship of Teaching & Learning
• Equity, Diversity & Inclusion in Teaching
• Expert Panel

Audience

This practicum is designed exclusively for postdoctoral researchers. Participants are expected to have achieved a CIRTL Associate certificate before enrolling.

Category: Teaching