Faculty Certificate in Teaching Excellence

Participants in the Certificate may choose to prepare a cohesive teaching dossier that accurately reflects their philosophy of teaching, teaching experiences, and innovations in teaching and learning.

For more information, see the Teaching Dossiers and Teaching Philosophy Statements pages.

Participants can consider attending an informational workshop on developing a teaching philosophy and dossier. For the next workshop date and details, check the Faculty Mentor Program workshops.

To fulfill the Independent Project component of the Faculty Certificate in Teaching Excellence, you may choose to prepare a 10-page Research on Teaching and Learning Proposal. This option requires the following:

1. A review of at least five scholarly articles on research on teaching and learning in post-secondary education.
2. An identification of one or more critical issues for learning in your discipline.
3. The articulation of a question that explores these critical learning issues.
4. A proposal for the way the question could be explored.

Below is a link to a possible structure to guide your proposal drawn from Western’s Human Research Ethics Board (HREB) protocol. This structure is only meant to be a place to start if that is helpful to you. Given the diversity of ways of knowing, this structure may not reflect your approach to exploring questions about teaching and learning, such as anti-oppressive, decolonial, and disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches to research. Please use whatever structure best reflects your approach to these types of questions.

• Human Research Ethics Board Protocol (shortened form)

Resources to help you get started:

• Human Research Ethics from a Research on Teaching and Learning Perspective
• Research Western Tips and Templates
• SoTL resources

If you have an idea, please contact our Educational Developer, Ken Meadows, for helpful hints on getting started.

Participants can also consider enrolling in the Western Institute for Research on Teaching and Learning, a three-day hands-on workshop designed to support faculty members in the development of a research project on their own teaching.

Educational leadership is the practice of engaging colleagues in developing and implementing shared visions, values, and goals that support learning for all students. Educational leaders promote meaningful changes that have a deep impact beyond the classroom. Because learning varies across the disciplines, faculty members are uniquely positioned to facilitate improvements to student learning experiences within their Faculties and departments.

Faculty members who choose this option for the Independent Project component of the Certificate will develop an approximately 10-page Educational Leadership Project Proposal for a faculty development initiative that meets a specific instructional or pedagogical need, and promotes a culture of teaching and learning in their home departments by inspiring, organizing, and supporting, collaborative faculty communities.

Certificate participants are encouraged to explore scholarly discourse on understanding, critiquing, and improving teaching and learning in the university setting. The goal of the proposal is to think beyond one-off workshops in order to develop practical, sustainable, and enduring plans for change within their departments.

Proposed educational leadership projects could include a broad range of activities that facilitate the growth and renewal of knowledge, skills, and attitudes towards teaching and learning. Such initiatives may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• developing capacity and pathways for inclusive, decolonial, and/or Indigenous teaching and learning approaches within the department
• developing discipline-specific teaching resources for the department
• integrating technology into the instructional experience across the curriculum
• bringing faculty together to address department-wide assessment strategies, challenges, and opportunities
• establishing a community of instructors interested in enhancing their teaching practice and student learning (e.g., by exploring the use of e-portfolios, service-learning, etc.)
• helping faculty within the department incorporate student-centred practices and approaches to face-to-face and/or online instruction, including active learning techniques or other novel ways of engaging students
• developing resources or programs for mentoring new faculty or graduate students (e.g., establishing a graduate supervision retreat)
• addressing department-specific learning needs (e.g., undergraduate writing competencies) or departmental challenges (e.g., first year enrollment and retention)
• creating initiatives to encourage faculty/student collaborations (e.g., start a research or grant-writing group).

Proposal Guidelines

Proposals should be approximately 10 pages and include the following components.

1. a cover page with the title of your project, your name, department, and email address;
2. a brief summary of the project (approximately 250 words);
3. the rationale and learning outcomes;
4. a detailed description (i.e., what exactly will be in place as a result of the project);
5. the timelines;
6. the anticipated number of faculty impacted by the project;
7. possible collaborations;
8. a detailed budget;
9. a marketing plan;
10. a plan for the sustainability of the project; and
11. an evaluation plan to gauge the success of the project.