Excellence in Teaching Program
The Excellence in Teaching Program (ETP), is designed to provide faculty (TFA, LTF) and contract lecturers (CUPE 1 and 2) with opportunities to enhance the impact of their teaching, and participate in a community of educators committed to excellence and equity in teaching and learning.
Faculty and contract lecturers at different career stages and in different disciplines have unique priorities, needs, and interests for teaching development. The ETP provides flexible pathways for participation so that faculty and contract lecturers can focus on achieving specific goals in their teaching practice, and can demonstrate the impact of their teaching on student learning and success.
.svg)
The Excellence in Teaching Program (ETP) is a professional development in teaching program that leads participants through a five-step path:
- Learning: Attend five workshops on topics related to student engagement, assessment, and teaching development and evaluation
- Practice: Participate in the Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW) and Course Design Retreat (CDR), peer-driven experiences in course design and delivery
- Evaluation: Implement and evaluate changes to teaching practice with the support of the CELT team
- Reflection: Summarize the impact of the ETP on course design and delivery, the benefits to teaching practice, and the changes to be made going forward.
- Recognition: Receive a comprehensive letter of recognition for tenure and promotion dossiers.
Participants in the program are required to complete any five workshops from the lists of Core ETP offerings and elective offerings.
Each of our workshops fit into one of three streams:
- assessment,
- student engagement, and
- teaching evaluation and development.
Choose your own priority areas and attend any five workshops that best support your unique teaching development goals.
As part of the ETP, you will also engage in two peer-driven intensive teaching development experiences (the Instructional Skills Workshop and the Course Design Retreat) that are aimed at synthesizing and applying pedagogical innovations in course design and delivery.
Together with a small cohort of faculty as well as staff from across the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching, you will immerse themselves in the design or redesign of a specific course, and experiment with new facilitation and teaching strategies.
Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW)
This 3-day (24-hour) experiential learning workshop is offered within a small group setting and is designed to enhance course delivery and facilitation strategies, including lesson planning, techniques for eliciting learner participation, and suggestions for evaluation of learning. You will have the opportunity to experiment with new strategies and techniques within a safe and collegial environment. Participants receive a certificate upon completion which is widely recognized at many Canadian and international post-secondary institutions.
Course Design Retreat (CDR)
As part of the two-day Course Design Retreat (CDR), you will explore how knowledge development within a subject area influences teaching practice, and will design or redesign a course in a retreat-like setting with other faculty as well as staff from CELT.
Following the Course Design Retreat, you will collaborate with staff from CELT (as needed) to implement and evaluate changes to your teaching practice.
ETP participants interested in blended or online delivery are eligible for (google doc) tailored support in digital learning (external link) , including instructional design, multimedia production, and assistance with the implementation of educational technology.
Our (google doc) Experiential Learning (external link) team is also able to provide support for the development, coordination, and evaluation of high-impact academically relevant experiential.
Once you have completed all components of the Excellence in Teaching Program, you will write a one-page document outlining your reflections on your participation in the ETP, highlighting the changes you’ve made to your teaching and course design, the ways in which you have responded to the evaluation of your teaching practice, and how you will apply what you’ve learned going forward. This document will be used to generate a letter of recognition from the Vice-Provost, Academic.
Faculty who complete the full Excellence in Teaching Program (ETP) will receive a letter of recognition for tenure and promotion dossiers signed by the Vice-Provost, Academic and the Executive Director of the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching.
The letter of recognition will outline the specific outcomes achieved in the program, and emphasize the demonstrated impacts of the participants’ teaching practice on student learning and success.
The Excellence in Teaching Program (ETP) for the CUPE contract academics is a professional development in teaching program that leads participants through a four (4) step path:
- Learning: Attend five (5) self-selected Topic-Based Workshops that meet your individualized professional learning goals.
- Practice: A chance to apply your learnings as you participate in two experiential processes.
- Reflection: Engagement in reflective learning, development, and feedback conversations that will help to build your personal Teaching Philosophy
- Recognition: Receiving a virtual recognition badge upon completion of the program.
Participants in the program are required to complete any five workshops from the lists of Core ETP offerings and elective offerings.
Each of our workshops fit into one of three streams:
- assessment,
- student engagement, and
- teaching evaluation and development.
Choose your own priority areas and attend any five workshops that best support your unique teaching development goals.
As part of the ETP, you will also engage in two professional development experiential experiences (the Instructional Skills Workshop and Virtual Teaching Philosophy Development Sessions). These experiences are aimed at helping you to synthesize and communicate your academic skills, expertise and abilities and using them to build pedagogical innovations for course delivery.
Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW)
This 3-day (24-hour) experiential learning workshop is offered within a small group setting and is designed to enhance course delivery and facilitation strategies, including lesson planning, techniques for eliciting learner participation, and suggestions for evaluation of learning. You will have the opportunity to experiment with new strategies and techniques within a safe and collegial environment. Participants receive a certificate upon completion which is widely recognized at many Canadian and international post-secondary institutions.
Virtual Teaching Philosophy Development
This is a three-step virtual process that is offered in conjunction with a small cohort of CUPE academics as well as staff from across the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching. In these virtual sessions, you will work toward building a teaching philosophy that ties together your own instructional frameworks and goals for teaching, evidence of your teaching expertise, and your learnings from the ETP. As part of the process, you will receive feedback on your teaching philosophy collected from peers within a collegial environment.
Once you have completed all components of the Excellence in Teaching Program, you will have a chance to reflect on what you have learned from the program, review the peer feedback on your teaching philosophy, and use these reflections to update and finalize your teaching philosophy.
CUPE academics who complete the full Excellence in Teaching Program (ETP) will receive a virtual badge confirming their participation and completion of the program.
Please note, as these workshops are listed as core to the ETP, we try to offer them every academic year, however those registered in the program are not required to complete all of these workshops. Workshops that are part of our other ETP elective offerings also count towards the completion of the program.
With so much going on in the world, it can feel overwhelming to figure out where to start to support change. Let’s chat, come meet with us! Join this engaging workshop series designed to boost educators' confidence in creating and refining learning environments that address racism, promote justice, and motivate students to confidently champion change beyond the university. From navigating complex conversations about race and racism in the classroom to building anti-racist principles into the foundations of STEM education to making the connections between universal design and anti-racism, these workshops are a space to exchange insights and practices that to help you initiate, cultivate, and enhance your practice to bring justice into the classroom, no matter your field or expertise.
Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) brings both challenges and opportunities to teaching and learning. Through this workshop series, instructors can develop a deeper understanding of the technology itself, learn how to leverage the technology and educate students on ethical use, and implement strategies to detect unauthorized use of GAI.
The Blending for Flexibility Workshop Series is a friendly, interactive workshop series, for faculty and contract lecturers interested in learning more about blended learning models and strategies.
This can be an opportunity to provide you and your students with more flexibility in terms of scheduling, learning activities, and assessments. Join us as we explore how your students can connect to course content, you, and their peers across a variety of learning spaces by applying principles of blended learning.
Description coming soon.
For more information or questions about the program, contact teachingcentre@torontomu.ca