Western Certificate in University Teaching and Learning

To register for the Western Certificate in University Teaching and Learning, you must be enrolled in a graduate degree program or be a postdoctoral fellow/scholar at Western University.

Program components can be completed within two academic years, but you may choose to complete them over 3-4 years during your graduate studies and/or postdoctoral appointment at Western. You may submit the written components of the Certificate within 3 months of the end of your graduate student enrollment (or contract, for postdoctoral scholars) at Western.

Please note: If you submit your written components after the end of your graduate student enrollment (or contract, for postdoctoral scholars) at Western, your access to Western Connect is now restricted (as you are an Alumni). Please email your written components (4 & 5) to ctl@uwo.ca before the deadline.

You may register for the Certificate any time during your graduate degree. If you had already attended CTL programs prior to registering for the Certificate, those will be credited to you and count towards the completion of the Certificate. Please upate your tracking form with your eligible CTL Western Connect Event Registrations.

Yes, however SGPS 9500 requires a larger time commitment than either the Advanced Teaching Program (ATP) or Teaching Assistant Training Program (TATP). The advantage of SPGS 9500 is that participants prepare a teaching philosophy statement (for inclusion in their Teaching Dossier) and develop a novel Course Outline (which can be submitted for the Certificate).

Future Prof credit eligible workshops will note that they are eligible on the program webpage and/or on the Western Connect Event registration. You can also find a full listing of what is eligible on the Western Certificate in University Teaching and Learning (WCUTL) webpage, see Component 2) 10 Future Prof Eligible Workshop Credits for more details. After you register for an eligible Future Prof Credit event in Western Connect, you will receive an event registration confirmation including information on how to earn the credit if you are working towards WCUTL. An example of these details are copied below:

*Information about Future Prof Credit:
If you want to earn one Future Prof credit for attending this workshop towards the Western Certificate in University Teaching and Learning, please ensure that you:
-Arrive at the workshop on time or early. Participants who arrive more than 10 minutes late for a workshop or those who leave more than 10 minutes before the end of the workshop will not receive credit toward the Certificate.
-Complete the Future Prof Assignment for this workshop. During the workshop, your instructor will let you know how to complete the Future Prof Assignment. You must submit this assignment to earn a Future Prof Credit (marked as "Attended" in your Western Connect Event Registrations 2-3 weeks after the workshop).

No. You may complete the programs and project requirements in any order, whenever it is most convenient for you. However, registration for certain programs is time sensitive (e.g., Teaching Mentor Program registration is only open for the first few weeks of the Fall and Winter semesters). It is your responsibility to be aware of such dates and to plan your Certificate progress accordingly. Submission of your Teaching Dossier and Written Project will occur once you have completed the other requirements for the Certificate.

No. The course outline you submit must be original work. We ask that you design a course that has not been offered at Western before, or completely redesign a current course. We ask you to design a new course that has not been offered at Western before. You can only submit the outline of a course you have already taught if, (1) you were the main instructor for the course and, (2) you designed the course completely, meaning that you did not simply continue to teach a course that was designed by someone else.

It is the participants' responsibility to keep track of how many workshops they have completed. Please use the form on the registration system (login required). For instructions on how to access your "Attendance records" and "Add information and documents to your certificate record, please above accordion sections for detailed instructions.

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, meaning you have earned the credit towards completing the Western Certificate in University Teaching and Learning.

We understand that students that do not have TA-ship their "Evidence of Effective Teaching", "Educational Leadership" or "SoTL/Research on Teaching" sections are not a terribly robust section. This would not prevent you from submitting one towards the WCUTL! Once you have completed all components and are ready to submit your written components 4 & 5, a feedback appointment is booked as the final steps towards earning the certificate. During this meeting the CTL staff member and yourself review your completions and can further brainstorm approaches during the certificate consult meeting on how to further develop this section. In fact, plenty of students who have had multiple TA-ships have relatively under-populated evidence sections. It's to be expected of teachers at this phase of career development.

If you are completing the WCUTL, all 8 sections of a Teaching Dossier are required. Avoid including blank sections, if you are currently unable to provide information for particular components, like the Educational Leadership. We recommend for these sections, to take the time to reflect on how you might acquire these data or experiences in the future (e.g., by asking your students to complete an anonymous survey at the end of the next term, developing discipline-specific teaching resources for the your department etc).

You may submit the written components of the Certificate within 3 months of the end of your graduate student enrollment (or contract, for postdoctoral scholars) at Western. At this time you will no longer have access to Western Connect CTL programs (as you are an Alumni), please email your written components (4 & 5) to ctl@uwo.ca.

After you complete all 5 certificate components, submit a certificate completion form, attend a scheduled feedback appointment with an Educational Developer, and submit your revisions after that appointment. You've earned the Western Certificate in University in Teaching and Learning!

You'll receive a certificate of completion and a letter of accomplishment as proof of completion. If you would like your name to appear differently than what is listed on Western Connect, please let us know at your feedback appointment or when you submit your feedback revisions. Please note: Completion of this certificate will not appear on your transcripts or Western's co-curricular record.