University Teaching Foundations

The University Teaching Foundations (Foundations) program is an educational development program in the Office of Teaching and Learning (OTL) at the University of Guelph. It provides hands-on and community-based teaching development opportunities. It also introduces participants to evidence-informed strategies and ideas for learner-centred instructional development as well as for implementation in their reflective teaching practices.

Foundations is a free program for graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, and sessional instructors at the University of Guelph.

Program Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of the Foundations program, participants will be able to:

1. Design interactive lesson plans that align learning outcomes, assessment techniques, and learner-centred teaching strategies
2. Identify and develop active learning approaches to increase learner engagement
3. Improve their abilities to effectively grade, give feedback, and assess student learning
4. Read, discuss, and critically engage with the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL)
5. Reflect upon personal and evidenced-informed teaching approaches to increase confidence and self-awareness as university teachers

Upon successful completion of the Foundations program, participants will receive:

• a Record of Completion issued by the Office of Teaching and Learning (OTL)
• a Letter of Completion signed by the Director of OTL and by the Associate Vice-President (Academic)

 How it Works

The Foundations program is completed at the participant’s own pace, but it must be completed by the end of the participant’s graduate program to earn both the Record and Letter of Completion. It can be completed within one term; however, it is designed to take at least two terms to complete.

Foundations is comprised of three components: workshops; networking events; and reflections.

COMPLETION REQUIREMENTs

Workshops - Attend five (5) teaching workshops

All Foundations participants must complete:

• One required workshop on lesson planning
• Three workshops (one each) in the three following categories:
  • Active Classroom Teaching and Learning
    • Only workshops with the suffixed tag of “ACTL” will count toward credit for the category of Active Classroom Teaching and Learning.
• Grading and Feedback
  • Only workshops with the suffixed tag of “GRFD” will count toward credit for the category of Grading and Feedback.
• Reflective Teaching and Career Readiness
  • Only workshops with the suffixed tag of “RTCR” will count toward credit for the category of Reflective Teaching and Career Readiness.
• One elective workshop
  • Workshops without a suffix will count toward credit for the elective workshop category; however, an additional workshop with the ACTL, GRFD, or RTCR suffix will also count toward this elective credit.

Each workshop taken can only count toward credit in one category of teaching workshops (i.e., the elective workshop taken cannot be “Lesson Planning” nor can it be the same workshop taken for credit in any of the ACTL, GRFD, or RTCR categories).

Networking Events – Participate in five (5) Graduate Teaching Community (GTC) Networking Events

All Foundations participants must complete:

• Three SoTL Journal Clubs
  • Only events with the suffixed tag of “TLJC” will count toward credit for the category of SoTL Journal Clubs.
• Two other GTC Networking Events
  • Only events with the suffixed tag of “NETW” will count toward credit for the category of other GTC Networking Events.

Reflections – Complete two (2) reflective response papers

All Foundations participants must complete:

• One SoTL reflective response paper (after completing three SoTL Journal Clubs)
• One Foundations reflective response paper (after completing all other Foundations program requirements)

Please use the “Foundations Checklist for Completion” form to document and track your progress toward completion of the Foundations program.

University Teaching Foundations Registration

To register, please complete the Foundations Registration Survey. Completing the survey will allow you to be enrolled in the University Teaching Foundations CourseLink site (please note this may take up to one week). The CourseLink site allows Foundations participants to easily track their progress through the program, access journal club articles, workshop materials and additional resources, and submit response papers. In the survey, you can also choose to be added to the Graduate Teaching Community listserv to receive e-mails about upcoming Foundations programming.

Workshop and Event Registration

To register for individual workshops, journal clubs, and networking events as part of Foundations, please view Workshops and Events and locate programming with the prefix “Foundations”.

For more information, please contact the Graduate Educational Developer Team