Since 2022, the Yehuda Elkana Center has offered seminars (courses) and a teaching certificate specifically for faculty and postdoctoral fellows. These teaching seminars are particularly beneficial to colleagues within their first few years of joining CEU, although they are open to colleagues of any rank or tenure. They provide a comprehensive introduction and support to teaching in higher education, as faculty explore together effective approaches to designing courses and assignments, grading, facilitating learning in the classroom, enhancing equity, and growing as teachers whose practice is informed by reflection and scholarship.
These interactive seminars meet every-other-week throughout the term and provide an opportunity to learn from peers in other departments, as well as from Yehuda Elkana Center colleagues.
There is also the opportunity to complete a full Certificate in Teaching for University Faculty, as detailed below.
Both the faculty teaching seminars and certificate are distinct from the courses and certificate for doctoral students also offered by the Center. They are open to CEU employees who already hold a doctoral degree, e.g., faculty, postdoctoral fellows, researchers.
Please contact elkanacenter@ceu.edu for registration.
Certificate in Teaching for University Faculty
The Certificate in Teaching for University Faculty is designed as a two-year, structured experience to support faculty in their early years of teaching at CEU. It can be shortened to one year or extended to three, depending on an individual's experience and circumstances. The Certificate combines small seminars with support for your own, disciplinary-specific teaching projects. The Certificate activities are characterized by peer exchange among participants, presentations by Yehuda Elkana Center colleagues, and shared reflections on the intersection of theory and practice.
The Certificate unfolds in three stages, consisting of 4 US credits (8 ECTS) in total, followed by the submission of a teaching portfolio.
Foundational Stage. (Year 1 fall and winter for most participants)
Teaching in Higher Education for University Faculty, Part I – 1 credit (seminar meets every other week, usually in fall term). Topics focus on student-centered course design, assessment, and grading.
Teaching in Higher Education for University Faculty, Part II – 1 credit (seminar meets every other week, usually in winter term). Topics focus on advanced techniques for facilitating classroom learning (beyond lecturing and discussions), and an introduction to supervising student research and theses.
Intermediate (Semi-Independent) Stage. (Year 2 for most participants)
In this stage, faculty work on deepening and further developing an aspect of their teaching they identify as a priority. Participants can elect one of 3 options:
Stage 2, Option 1: Discipline-Specific Pedagogies and the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning. Over two terms, faculty identify an aspect of their own teaching they would like to study and then carry out a literature review, design a research project that would enable them to see the effectiveness of a teaching approach, and if possible, carry out this research. The experience is designed as a form of semi-independent study, with structured guidance, individualized mentoring, and, depending on cohort size and interest, group reflections.
Stage 2, Option 2: Rather than enrolling in Discipline-Specific Pedagogies, participants may register in advanced, elective courses (also open to CEU doctoral students).
Stage 2, Option 3: Alternatively, with the consent of the program director, participants may transfer credits from prior teaching development courses, summer courses, or external courses on teaching development.
Capstone Stage 3. (Year 2, spring for most participants)
In this final stage, faculty develop, revise, and submit a teaching portfolio. A teaching portfolio is a collection of materials that showcase one's approach to teaching, the knowledge and intentions that guide that approach, and examples from one's practice. It commonly contains an overview of one's teaching, a teaching philosophy statement, syllabi, a lesson plan and/or teaching observation, and a sample assessment. (It is not required to submit student course evaluations as part of the Certificate.) To assist participants in preparing these materials, the Center offers short workshops on the teaching philosophy statement and provides individual feedback.