Graduate Teaching Program (GTP)

Foundational Teaching Practices

This module is designed to prepare aspiring educators with the essential skills and knowledge necessary for successful teaching in higher education. Key topics include:

• The multifaceted roles and responsibilities of educators,
• Essentials of lesson planning, and
• Creating vibrant, inclusive, and impactful learning environments.

Foundational Assessment Practices

This module is crafted to empower educators with the fundamental skills and insights for implementing impactful assessment strategies in higher education settings. This includes exploring topics such as:

• Making meaningful connections with our students,
• Rationales behind various assessment practices,
• Diverse assessment methodologies, and
• Principles for constructive feedback needed for learning and growth.

Foundational Course Planning

This module is designed to equip educators with foundational knowledge essential for creating comprehensive, engaging, and effective courses.

The "Foundational course planning"  module explores the narratives of learners, emphasizing the significance of constructive alignment in building impactful and enriching learning experiences.

Teaching Indigenous Students and Content in a Good Way: Foundations

Education is seen by many Indigenous communities as essential to decolonizing efforts across Turtle Island; as noted by Justice Murray Sinclair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, “education got us into this mess and education will get us out of it”.

This module will teach you the appropriate terminology to use when talking with Indigenous people or discussing Indigenous content in a Turtle Island context. Learners will take the time to listen to and read about the experiences of Indigenous students in post-secondary institutions and will engage with Indigenous programming on campus.

Finally, learners will learn about the Four or Five R’s of Indigenous education, a foundational Indigenous pedagogical framework, and consider how to apply these Four or Five R’s to both relationships with students and Indigenous content.

Developing Your Teaching Identity

This module presents the components of the teaching dossier, focusing on the basics of writing a teaching philosophy statement.

For graduate students, the prospect of finding a teaching position after their studies are complete can be both daunting and exciting. For those wishing to teach at a Canadian university, a teaching dossier documenting personal development and achievements as an educator is an essential document.

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion: Foundations

This module on incorporating equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in postsecondary teaching and learning provides strategies and techniques to promote inclusive learning environments. It covers a range of topics, including:

• Understanding diverse student identities,
• Creating inclusive curriculum,
• Fostering equitable assessment practices, and
• Promoting inclusive pedagogical approaches.

By addressing these issues, the EDI module will empower you to create a more equitable and inclusive learning environment for all students.

Fundamentals of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

This module aims to help you learn about scholarly, evidence-based approaches to teaching and student learning in postsecondary education.  Explore various SoTL topics, such as:

• Conceptual frameworks,
• Methodologies, and
• Practical teaching applications of research findings.

After completing this course, you will be able to conceptualize an ethically reasoned SoTL inquiry by aligning an educational problem to a research question and other research project components and reflect on and critically evaluate an SoTL inquiry for its impact.  

The “Fundamentals of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning” module will provide an opportunity for participants to study diverse educational contexts and gain hands-on practice analyzing existing SoTL projects.

Well-Being in Teaching and Learning

Teaching in higher education is a very rewarding profession, but it can also be very demanding.

• How do we find harmony between our professional and personal lives? How do we prioritize our own well-being?
• How do we support our students’ well-being?

The “Well-Being in Teaching and Learning” module uses the PERMA model of well-being (Seligman, 2011) to answer these questions. Pedagogies of kindness, care, compassion, and healing are also highlighted to give you some tools to help you embed well-being in your courses.

When you have completed this module, you will have the information you need to support your own and your students' well-being and to help you thrive in academia.

The capstone project module is the culmination of your GTP Program journey, aiming to consolidate your knowledge, skills, and practical experiences. Throughout this module, you'll show your skills in planning and assessing constructive teaching methods, exemplifying your readiness to embody inclusive teaching practices.

This task will ask you to apply your teaching skills in a real-world setting, showcasing your growth as an educator and dedication to fostering decolonization, Indigenization, inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility in education.

Upon completion, you will receive the GTP Foundations certificate and will be better prepared to begin your teaching career equipped with compassion and commitment to help your students have amazing learning journeys.