Advanced Teaching Program (ATP)

Description

The Advanced Teaching Program (ATP) is a 20-hour short course designed for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars who would like to develop practical teaching skills for current and future teaching roles. Topics include course design strategies, active learning, authentic assessment of student learning, and maintaining a culture of respect and community in the classroom. Participants gain hands-on experience by practicing instructional techniques in microteaching sessions where they receive constructive feedback from peers and an experienced team of instructors.

The capstone project for the program involves designing and submitting a course syllabus. The syllabus design project helps participants to integrate key course design ideas including aligned outcomes, assessments and active learning strategies.

Note: The syllabus design project also fulfills the “Written Project” requirement of the Western Certificate in University Teaching and Learning. By completing ATP, participants now fulfill two components of the Certificate.

Topics

Course design, active learning, authentic assessment, microteaching, classroom community

Outcomes

By the end of this program, participants will be able to:

  • design learning outcomes and align them with assessment techniques and teaching and learning strategies at the lesson- and course-level
  • develop and implement active learning to increase student engagement
  • assess student learning using formative and summative methods
  • refine and practice teaching skills by giving and receiving peer feedback in a supportive multi-disciplinary setting
  • engage in self-reflection and self-evaluation on personal teaching strategies and approaches.

What to expect

This 20-hour course is comprised of four in-person sessions totaling 12 hours, 8 hours of asynchronous course work to be completed during the four weeks of the program, and a capstone project, due two weeks after our final session. Each participant will prepare two ten-minute lessons and deliver these lessons to a small group of peers. For the capstone project, participants design a course syllabus on a course topic of their choosing.

 

Research on the impact of ATP

 

Program Information

Upcoming Blended (online/in-person) Session

Friday March 1 to Friday March 22nd - Registration is Open!

Required synchronous sessions include:
First in-person meeting held on Friday March 1st from 1pm to 4pm
In-person microteaching 1 on Friday March 8th from 1pm to 4pm
In-person microteaching 2 on Friday March 15th from 1pm to 4pm
Last in-person meeting held on Friday March 22nd from 1pm to 4pm

Audience

Current graduate students and postdoctoral scholars

Registration

Registration instructions

Note:

  • This program is in high demand. If you anticipate any reason for not being able to commit to the full program, please do not register to avoid taking the spot of another student who could benefit from this program.
  • Registration is available for current (must be registered in the term indicated on the "Offer of Admission") graduate students and postdoctoral scholars only
  • ATP is reserved for students who have not already completed ATP or SGPS 9500 due to limited enrollment.

Here are the steps to register for ATP:

  1. Login to Western Connect using your Western username and password. 
  2. Go to the Event Calendars section and select the Centre for Teaching and Learning calendar.
  3. Select ONE session you would like to attend from the calendar. Details and a description will appear.
  4. Select the Register on Waiting List button. You will receive an automated waitlist confirmation email to your Western email account.
  5. Submit your $20 deposit (cash or cheque only) to the CTL to complete your registration and secure your spot in the program on a first come first serve basis. The CTL (AHB 3R34) is typically open Monday - Friday from 8:30a.m.-12:00p.m and 1:00p.m-4:00p.m. If you are unable to be on-campus, you can mail the deposit by cheque.
  6. If there is a spot for you in the program, you will receive a registration confirmation email to your Western email account after we receive your deposit, which means you are officially registered in the program.

Due to limited enrolment, we are not able to accept everyone who registers on the Wait List. Registration is on a first come first serve basis upon receipt of the $20 deposit. Once the program spots are full, you will remain on the waitlist and will be notified if a spot becomes available. Deposits will be returned upon completion of the program, or if a participant cancels their registration 3 business days prior to the start of the program. If a spot does not become available for you, we encourage you to register for the next offering of ATP (please see the section "Offered").

If you have any questions or problems registering for an event, please consult our Registration Help Page for our Cancellation Policy, FAQs and more or contact ctl@uwo.ca.

Prerequisites / Recommended Preparation

This program is recommended for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars with some prior teaching experience (TA experience or other teaching experience).

Completion Requirements

To complete the program, participants are expected to attend and engage in all in-person sessions, engage with all the asynchronous material by its associated deadline, deliver two microteaching lessons, participate in feedback discussions, and submit the capstone project within two weeks of the final synchronous session.

Offered

Typically offered in February/March and October/November

Applies to following certificates

Western Certificate in University Teaching and Learning

You may also be interested in these CTL programs:

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Testimonials from ATP participants

“I developed confidence in my teaching ability and an insight into different active learning strategies that I wouldn’t necessarily think to incorporate into a classroom.”

“I found the capstone project the most effective activity as it allowed the student to take an in depth look at a topic that is relevant to their specific discipline. The requirement to reference primary pedagogical literature was a good opportunity to become familiar with published resources that are available.”  

“The microteaching sessions were the most useful because this gave us an opportunity to teach, have recorded evidence of our teaching, gain valuable feedback from our peers, and listen to our peers introduce us to interesting subjects we may not know about.”

“I was happy to see that the ATP program is actually designed for educators by educators and deals with real teaching issues.”

“Incredible experience!  I would recommend it to anyone who has to teach anything.  I learnt so much. I learnt the importance about building rapport with your students right away, and how it's important for them to build rapport amongst themselves to enrich learning.  I learned the importance of using active learning in the classroom and how to engage it with different sizes of classes.”