Updated 26 February 2009

Teaching Fundamentals Certificate

This certificate is open to all currently-registered students at the University of Toronto who are interested in improving their teaching skills, and who will be working as teaching assistants at the University of Toronto .

It is open to both graduate and undergraduate students who are currently working as teaching assistants, or who soon will be. You do not have to hold a teaching appointment at the time of registration in order to register for this certificate.

This basic level certificate recognizes participation in a minimum of six (6) TATP-sponsored workshops.

A list of the TATP workshops currently being offered at UTM is available on the Workshop Series registration page. Workshops are identified as either Introductory (Stream A) or Advanced (Stream B). Please note that the TATP runs two workshop series at UTM one in the fall and one in the winter. The St. George campus also offers a workshop series in the summer/spring term.

This certificate must be completed within one calendar year (September 1 – August 31).

BENEFITS

The Teaching Fundamentals Certificate (1 year) provides graduate students and undergraduate students with the opportunity to interact with fellow TAs and experienced faculty members to learn more about teaching and learning at the postsecondary level. The Fundamentals certificate is meant to introduce certificate program participants to effective teaching strategies and techniques and to broaden their understanding of how undergraduate students learn. Through participation in their choice of 6 (six) interactive workshops, Teaching Fundamentals participants can:

• identify survival skills for working with students for the first time
• identify and practice grading strategies
• identify and practice techniques for managing in-class discussions
• practice strategies for handling difficult students
• develop time management skills for juggling teaching duties and thesis work
• identify different learning styles
• develop their own approach to teaching through seeing how others teach
• discuss common TA concerns with fellow TAs and faculty members from across all three campuses

REQUIREMENTS

The Teaching Fundamentals Certificate is open to both graduate students and undergraduate students, as long as they are currently-registered students at the University of Toronto. The Fundamentals Certificate is open to students on any of the three campuses: St. George, UTM and UTSC.

The Teaching Fundamentals Certificate is ideal for those graduate students who are interested in pursuing academic teaching as a career but who do not have time to complete the Advanced University Teaching Preparation (AUTP) Certificate . It is also appropriate for undergraduate students who will be working as TAs for the first time and would like additional professional development to help prepare them for their teaching duties.

Participation in a minimum of 6 (six) TATP-sponsored workshops within a 1-year period is required to obtain the Teaching Fundamentals Certificate. The TATP runs two Workshop Series at UTM during the year: one in the fall, and one in the winter. St. George Campus also offers one in the spring/summer. Teaching Fundamentals participants must register separately for individual workshops of their choosing. See our Workshop Series registration page for details and a list of currently-offered sessions.

You do not need to hold a TA appointment at the time of registration in order to enroll in the Teaching Fundamentals Certificate Program.

The Teaching Fundamentals Certificate must be completed within 1 (one) calendar year (September 1 – August 31).

If you have any questions about the certificate program, please visit our FAQ page for questions specific to the UTM program please contact academicskills.utm@utoronto.ca.

REGISTRATION

There are two steps to completing the Teaching Fundamentals Certificate: interested students must first register for the Certificate program itself and then register for the six individual workshops they would like to attend.

IMPORTANT POLICIES

All participants in the TATP Certificate Program must read the following policies before registering :

Attendance Policy

Protocol for Participants

SIGN UP NOW!

Register for the Teaching Fundamentals Certificate .

Register for individual workshops in the TATP Workshop Series.

Attendance form to keep track of workshops attended for credit in the AUTP program.

PLEASE NOTE: The Teaching Fundamentals Certificate will NOT get you a job as a teaching assistant at the University of Toronto, nor will it be useful for getting into teacher's college (such as the Initial Teacher Education program at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education or OISE). The workshops offered as part of the Fundamentals Certificate focus only on postsecondary teaching and are meant to prepare TAs for working with students in University of Toronto undergraduate courses.