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Written Capstone Documents and Final Consultation

 

 

Overview

Once you have completed all of the other requirements for the Western Certificate in Teaching and Learning (WCUTL), you can submit your written capstone documents. A member of the TA Team will reach out to you within a week of document submission to schedule your final consultation. 

The written submissions include the following: 

  • Teaching Dossier 
  • Course Outline OR Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Research Proposal

Written Capstone Documents

Maximum 20 pages 

The purpose of the teaching dossier submission is to provide WCUTL participants with the opportunity to  
 

  • Apply your learning from CTL programming and resources into the development of a teaching dossier 
  • Articulate your teaching values, approaches, goals, and successes  
  • Provide evidence of teaching effectiveness and interests in the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL)  and educational leadership 
  • Contextualize and reflect upon your experiences and the artifacts provided to support your reader in envisioning how you embody and model the values and practices you discuss in your dossier 
  • Develop documentation and reflections that will support you in hiring processes, tenure and promotion processes, awards submissions, and teaching reflection and growth over time 

Course Outline 

The purpose of course outline submission is to provide WCUTL participants with the opportunity to  
 

  • Apply your learning from CTL programming and resources into the development of a unique course outline 
  • Demonstrate your capacity to design an effective, engaging, and accessible outline that supports student motivation and learning 
  • Practice course outline design in ways that will support the development of your teaching dossier 
  • Demonstrate contextual awareness by designing an outline that aligns to Western U course outline expectations, including (but not limited to) mandatory course policies 
  • Receive feedback on your course outline from a member of the TA Team  

 

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Proposal 

Approximately 10 pages 

The purpose of the SoTL proposal submission is to provide WCUTL participants with the opportunity to 

  • Demonstrate engagement in the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) in your discipline  
  • Identify an area of inquiry within SoTL in your discipline 
  • Analyze existing literature on your chosen area of investigation 
  • Develop a research question and pathway / methodology for engaging in your proposed SoTL project

Written Submission Guidelines

Teaching Dossier: WCUTL Submission 

Centre for Teaching and Learning | Updated Fall 2025 | ctl@uwo.ca  

Purpose  

The purpose of this assignment is to provide you with the opportunity to  

  • Apply your learning from CTL programming and resources into the development of a teaching dossier 
  • Articulate your teaching values, approaches, goals, and successes  
  • Provide evidence of teaching effectiveness and interests in the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL)  and educational leadership 
  • Contextualize and reflect upon your experiences and the artifacts provided to support your reader in envisioning how you embody and model the values and practices you discuss in your dossier 
  • Develop documentation and reflections that will support you in hiring processes, tenure and promotion processes, awards submissions, and teaching reflection and growth over time 

Audience 

You are curating and writing this dossier as if it were going to be submitted to a hiring committee at Western University for an academic faculty / staff position in higher education. It is also important to remember that specifications such as sections, length, or content may vary across programs and institutions. As with CVs and cover letters, while you may have a primary dossier that you work from, you will likely find yourself needing to update and tailor your dossier for specific audiences and roles. 

Dossier Components 

Your submitted dossier should be a maximum of 20 pages. If you choose to include additional artifacts in an Appendix, please consider creating a hyperlinked table of content for ease of navigation. 

Component 

Description 

Philosophy Statement 
  • 1 – 2-page document that summarizes your core beliefs, frameworks, and practices as an educator 
  • Demonstrates your pedagogical identify 
  • Identifies and connects that ways that your frameworks and practices support student engagement, accessibility, learning, and success 

Evidence of Teaching Effectiveness 
  • Documentation that demonstrates the quality and impact of your teaching 
  • Usually comes from those who have experienced your teaching (e.g., student feedback, peer observations, reference letters from supervisors or course leaders) 
  • Includes any relevant contextual / reflective commentary that supports reader understanding and engagement 

Teaching Strategies and Innovations 
  • Description of particular instructional techniques, programs or resources developed, novel assessments, and / or creative approaches to engagement and teaching 
  • Demonstrates ongoing reflection and updates to teaching practices and approaches 
  • May reference scholarship of teaching and learning 

Professional Development in Teaching 
  • Record of workshops, courses, certifications, communities of practice, and modules you’ve participated in to reflect on and grow your teaching praxis 
  • Demonstrates ongoing learning and awareness of current conversations and practices 
  • May include learning opportunities inside or outside of Western University 

Educational Leadership 
  • Activities related to education and teaching in which you’ve demonstrated leadership and/or held a formal leadership position 
  • May be related to discipline-specific and program work (e.g., curriculum development, policies/procedures development), institutional governance (e.g., committees, review boards), and student governance (e.g., SOGS, PSAC, department-specific societies) 
  • Demonstrates contributions to teaching and learning communities beyond the classroom, as well as interest in sharing knowledge and effecting change beyond the classroom 

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning 
  • Your engagement with SoTL: the systematic, critical, and publicly shared inquiry into teaching practices and student learning 
  • Can encompass diverse forms of scholarly activity, including peer‑reviewed publications, knowledge translation and mobilization, presentations at academic or professional conferences, and contributions to public scholarship 
  • Attendance at teaching and learning symposia and conferences (not just presenting) can also be used as evidence of engagement with SoTL 
  • If you cannot find specific examples to include, you could choose instead to reflect on 2 – 3 areas of SoTL you would be interested in engaging with, how you might engage in them, and why they are of particular interest in your context 

Sample Teaching Materials 
  • Specific teaching artifacts that illustrate your values and practices in tangible ways 
  • Should demonstrate some or all of the following qualities: clear, accessible, and engaging communication, creativity, organization, basis in evidence, and accessibility 

Assessment and Feedback 

Feedback Timing 

You can expect to receive a message to set up your consultation time within 2 – 3 business days of submitting your materials. Your consultation will generally take place within 2 weeks of submission, though certain times of the year may result in longer wait times due to high numbers of submissions. If you require completion of WCUTL to graduate, please plan to submit well in advance of the date by which you have to demonstrate completion. 

Rubric 

Descriptor: Exemplary (E) | Present (P) | Absent (A) | Revision (R) | Not Applicable (NA) 

Descriptor 

Component 

Feedback 

 

Philosophy Statement 

 

 

Evidence of Teaching Effectiveness 

 

 

Teaching Strategies and Innovations 

 

 

Professional Development in Teaching 

 

 

Educational Leadership 

 

 

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning 

 

 

Sample Teaching Materials 

 

 
While you will not receive a formal grade for this project, we will aim to provide you with specific, constructive feedback on the strengths and areas for revision in your dossier. This feedback will be shared with you during your consultation. Please note that if the dossier is incomplete, or requires significant revisions, that you may be asked to make changes and resubmit your teaching dossier in order to complete the requirements for your Western Certificate in University Teaching and Learning. 

Additional Resources 

Centre for Innovation in Teaching & Learning. Preparing a Teaching Dossier: General Advice. Memorial U.  

Centre for Teaching & Learning. Teaching Dossiers. Western U. 

Taylor Institute for Teaching & Learning. Teaching Dossiers. U of Calgary. 

Course Outline: WCUTL Submission 

Centre for Teaching and Learning | Updated Fall 2025 | ctl@uwo.ca  

Purpose  

The purpose of this assignment is to provide you with the opportunity to  

  • Apply your learning from CTL programming and resources into the development of a unique course outline 
  • Demonstrate your capacity to design an effective, engaging, and accessible outline that supports student motivation and learning 
  • Practice course outline design in ways that will support the development of your teaching dossier 
  • Demonstrate contextual awareness by designing an outline that aligns to Western U course outline expectations, including (but not limited to) mandatory course policies 
  • Receive feedback on your course outline from a member of the TA Team (Mandy, Nassisse, or Jenny) 

 

Please note: This course outline must be original. If you would like to use an outline for a course that you have previously taught, TAed, or taken, your version must be substantively different (e.g., different outcomes, assessments, descriptions, etc.). This is a great opportunity to design a “dream course” within your discipline. However, if you have previously designed a course outline in the Advanced Teaching Program or Teaching in the Canadian Classroom, you may update it based on the feedback you received and submit it to fulfill this project’s requirements. 

Audience 

You are writing this course outline as if it were going to be used to teach a for-credit undergraduate course. Your outline should be student centered, integrating current promising and evidence-based practices, (e.g., active learning, robust outcomes, and varied, well-described assessments). While discipline conventions and expectations vary, we recommend considering ways to begin developing a sense of instructor presence and community in your outline by speaking directly to your students and outlining some of your own values, expectations, and approaches to teaching. 
 
Note: If your program or your teaching focus is on another kind of course, such as graduate teaching and learning, you may choose to design an outline for a different audience, so long as the elements below are meaningfully included. If you are unsure about how to proceed, please contact us. 

Outline Components 

Component 

Description 

Course and Instructor Information 
  • Course name and code 
  • Class / lab / tutorial times and locations 
  • Pre / Co / Antirequisites and required requisite statement 
  • Instructor name, credentials, contact information 
  • Office hours and communication policies 

Course Description 
  • Brief synopsis of purpose, topics, and value of course 
  • Capture interest of potential and registered students 
  • Relevance beyond course (to program, career, or society) 
  • Introduces big questions of the topic, discipline, etc. 
  • What kinds of materials students will be engaging with 

Course Materials 
  • Textbooks, required tech, experiential learning, practicums etc. (identify cost, as per new provincial policy) 

Learning Outcomes 
  • 3 – 5 LOs, each beginning with strong, clear, demonstrable verbs 
  • Each LO is 1 – 2 sentences in length 

Learning Outcomes Alignment Table 
  • Align learning outcomes to course assessments 

Assessments 
  • Describe each assessment in the course 
  • One paragraph per assessment 
  • Include weighting for each element 
  • Describe purpose / value of assessment from student perspective (e.g., transferable skills, connection to course components) 
  • Explain expectations for successful completion (e.g., individual or group, timing, components, etc.) 

Content Table 
  • Week-by-week table outlining course topics, selected readings, key activities, and relevant due dates 
  • Include University or course breaks into the outline 
  • When setting due dates for assessments, consider your own (and your TA’s) capacity to turn around the grading before the next assessment comes in, as well as student capacity to incorporate feedback throughout term 

Personal Teaching Approach 
  • How you (as the instructor) will facilitate the course / learning community, and why you have chosen approaches / frameworks. As with course description, you can choose to write this section as if you are speaking directly with the students 
  • Approx. 300 – 500 words 
  • Consider describing how successful students would approach this course. Identify any relevant, specific supports that might be of help to students in this course 

Instructor Policies 
  • Choose at least two of the following to include: 
  • Inclusive teaching statement 
  • Accessibility statement 
  • Guidelines for classroom engagement 
  • Guidelines for group work 
  • Communication expectations for email / office hours 

Institutional Policies and Services 
  • Request a syllabus from your department in order to ensure alignment with practices in your program 

Assessment and Feedback 

Feedback Timing 

You can expect to receive a message to set up your consultation time within 2 – 3 business days of submitting your materials. Your consultation will generally take place within 2 weeks of submission, though certain times of the year may result in longer wait times due to high numbers of submissions. If you require completion of WCUTL to graduate, please plan to submit well in advance of the date by which you have to demonstrate completion. 

Rubric 

Descriptor: Exemplary (E) | Present (P) | Absent (A) | Revision (R) | Not Applicable (NA) 

Descriptor 

Component 

Feedback 

 

Course & Instructor Information 

 

 

Course Description 

 

 

Course Materials 

 

 

Learning Outcomes (LOs) 

 

 

LO Alignment Table 

 

 

Assessments 

 

 

Content Table 

 

 

Personal Teaching Approach 

 

 

Instructor Policies 

 

 

Institutional Policies and Services 

 

 

While you will not receive a formal grade for this project, we will aim to provide you with specific, constructive feedback on the strengths and areas for revision in your outline. This feedback will be shared with you during your consultation. Please note that if the outline is incomplete, or requires significant revisions, that you may be asked to make changes and resubmit your outline in order to complete the requirements for your Western Certificate in University Teaching and Learning. 

Additional Resources 

Centre for Teaching and Learning. Preparing a outline. Western U. 

Pacansky-Brock, M. Liquid outline. 

Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning. Creating inclusive course outlines. U of Calgary. 

Teaching and Learning Resources. Outline design. U of Toronto – Scarborough. 

  

Appendix 

Example: Learning Alignment Table 

 

 Intro to Archaeology Course (ANTH 100) Learning Outcomes 

Assessment titles that demonstrate achievement of the outcomes 

By the end of this course, students should be able to: 

·       Define fundamental terminology, concepts, and methods associated with the study of archaeology 
  • Midterm and Final Exam 

·       Ask questions relating to common debates in archaeology and identify answers in the literature using academic research skills. 

·       Webpage created to highlight a key debate 

  • Online Discussion Activities 

·       Identify the kinds of questions anthropologists ask about past people and their environments and describe how anthropologists answer those questions using multiple lines of evidence 

·       Research essay 

  • Group Presentation 

 

Research Proposal: WCUTL Submission 

Centre for Teaching and Learning | Updated Fall 2025 | ctl@uwo.ca  

Purpose  

The purpose of this assignment is to provide you with the opportunity to  

  • Demonstrate engagement in the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) in your discipline  
  • Identify an area of inquiry within SoTL in your discipline 
  • Analyze existing literature on your chosen area of investigation 
  • Develop a research question and pathway / methodology for engaging in your proposed SoTL project 

Audience 

The imagined audience for your research proposal is the review committee of a pedagogical society that supports and advocates for scholars working on research projects related to teaching and learning. Through this proposal, you are aiming to demonstrate that your research will contribute to existing work in the scholarship of teaching and learning, that you have reviewed some of the relevant literature, and that you have begun to imagine pathways for investigating your chosen issue. 

Note: If it is more helpful to you to imagine that you have been asked to submit a proposal as part of a hiring application for a faculty or academic staff role, please feel free to do so. 

Research Proposal Elements 

Please note that the approximate length of this proposal is about 10 pages. 

Below is one possible structure for your proposal, if it is helpful, adapted from Western’s Human Ethics Research Board: 

  • Cover page 
    Project title, Name, Department, Email 
  • Abstract (3 – 5 sentences) 
    Lay summary of the study 
  • Introduction (5 – 7 pages) 
    Study rationale, including relevant background information and justification. Cite your five references in this section. Please include a clear statement of purpose and the objectives of this project, including your research question(s) 
  • Methods (3 – 5 pages) 
    3 subsections, as outlined in the following: 
  • Participants 
    Who will be participating in this research (e.g., undergraduate students in a specific course; graduate students in a specific department)? What are the potential risks and benefits of participation? 
  • Study Design 
    Study design, methodologies, specific measures for gathering information (e.g., survey questions, interview protocols) 
  • Procedure 
    Describe the procedure the project will follow (i.e., a complete description of what activities are involved). This often involves describing what a project participant would experience from the beginning to the end of the research, including how they would be invited to participate in the project (e.g., in person, by e-mail), what they would be doing during the research, and other important details for the project (e.g., when the project would be conducted, how long it would take, incentives that would be provided for participation in the project) 

However, given that there are any number of ways of knowing, being, and communicating, the above structure may not reflect your approach to exploring research questions on teaching and learning. This includes anti-oppressive, decolonial, and (inter)disciplinary approaches to research. Please use a structure that reflects your work and approach. 
 
Whatever structure you choose to use, please make sure to include the following components in your proposal: 

Component 

Description 

Literature Review 
  • Review at least 5 SoTL articles in your discipline 
  • Include an analysis of key themes / conversations / questions, as well as methodologies and conclusions amongst the articles; identify the connections, similarities, and differences amongst the articles you choose to include 

Identify at least one Critical Issue in Teaching / Learning in Your Discipline 
  • Based on your review of the literature, identify an area of exploration that you would like to engage in; you may choose to think of this as a gap or a niche within the scholarly conversations of your discipline 
  • Describe how doing research on this particular issue is an important part of SoTL work in your discipline and how it will help educators and learners 

Articulate a Research Question that Explores these Critical Issues 
  • Based on the review and issue identification, propose a research question you would like to investigate 
  • Research question should be clear, focused, relevant, and feasible in scope 

Identify how this Research Question Could be Investigated 
  • Identify the high-level study design and procedure you would use for this project 
  • Identify the group(s) you would be studying, as well as any possible risks / benefits of participation 

Assessment and Feedback 

Feedback Timing 

You can expect to receive a message to set up your consultation time within 2 – 3 business days of submitting your materials. Your consultation will generally take place within 2 weeks of submission, though certain times of the year may result in longer wait times due to high numbers of submissions. If you require completion of WCUTL to graduate, please plan to submit your written work well in advance of the date by which you have to demonstrate completion. 

Rubric 

Descriptor: Exemplary (E) | Present (P) | Absent (A) | Revision (R) | Not Applicable (NA) 

Descriptor 

Component 

Feedback 

 

Literature Review 

 

 

Critical Issue(s) 

 

 

Research Question 

 

 

Investigation Pathways 

 

 
While you will not receive a formal grade for this project, we will aim to provide you with specific, constructive feedback on the strengths and areas for revision in your proposal. This feedback will be shared with you during your consultation. Please note that if the proposal is incomplete or underdeveloped, or requires significant revisions, you may be asked to make changes and resubmit your research proposal in order to complete the requirements for your Western Certificate in University Teaching and Learning. 

Additional Resources 

Belt, E., & Riley II, S. (2024). The SoTL Research Roadmap: A Practical Workbook. Ed Crafters Community Connection. 

Centre for Teaching and Learning. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Western University. 

Kirschner, F., Wijsman, L., & Meijerman, I. (2021). Utrecht Roadmap for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Utrecht University. 

Porter, D. Considerations for Your SoTL Project. Ontario Extend: The Empowered Educator Resource Book. Eds. A. Levine, D. Porter, J. Kehoe, M. Singh, P. French, T. Greene, G. Forsythe, & V. Loped. ECampus Ontario. 

 

Accessing Your Records & Submitting Materials

  1. Login to Western Connect with your Western username and password. 
  1. From your dashboard, go to the tab at the far right labelled Event Registration. The Event Title, Event Date, Location, Date Registered, and Registration Status will be listed for each event. 
    NOTE: this tab will display all event registrations within Connect, so be sure to check that the "Module" column indicates Centre for Teaching and Learning. 
  1. For event attendance before May 1, 2016, go to Dashboard and select My Messages just below the tab options. Older attendance records from our previous database will be listed here. 

 

Please note: Once we have reviewed your attendance, participation, and completion of the workshop/ program eligible for credit towards the Western Certificate in University Teaching and Learning. Your attendance on Western Connect will be updated to 'attended' 2-3 weeks after the workshop/ program has ended if you completed the aforementioned, meaning you have earned the credit towards completing the Western Certificate in University Teaching and Learning. 

  1. Login to Western Connect with your Western username and password. 
  1. In the left side menu, select the Records & Certificates then select Centre for Teaching and Learning Certificates Overview section. 
  1. Select Certificate in University Teaching, and then click on View/ Edit Current Registration to show your registrations. On this page, double click on your name to open your registration/ form. Note: If you have not added anything form yet, you can click Add a Registration to add information from your Western Connect Event Registrations. 
  1. You can view or edit the form and save using the button at the bottom right of the page, edit by clicking the black circle with 3 white dots in the bottom right corner (a black right navigation bar will appear and under actions select "Edit"). You can come back and add information or upload documents at any time. Note: Be sure to select "Save Registration" at the bottom of the page to ensure your edits are saved. 
  1. Login to Western Connect with your Western username and password. 
  1. In the left side menu, select the Records & Certificates then select Centre for Teaching and Learning Certificates Overview section. 
  1. Select Submit to confirm you have updated the completion form with your 5 components and request your certificate for review. 
  1. A CTL staff member will review your submissions and contact you to schedule a feedback appointment. Please note: These appointments are typically booked a few weeks in advance. If you do not receive a response within one week, please email ctl@uwo.ca to notify us of your submission.