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Certificate of Practice

The Certificate of Practice in University Teaching is designed to assist participants in their evolution as instructors by providing a framework for their professional development. Only current Caltech graduate students are eligible to participate (Caltech postdocs should instead join our 5P program).

The Certificate of Practice program seeks to achieve three major outcomes for participants:

  1. synthesis and application of effective methods for teaching and learning
  2. assessment and implementation of a teaching philosophy
  3. refinement of pedagogy through feedback and self-evaluation

Participants in this program progress through several phases as outlined below:

  • Plan a program to develop your teaching skills.
  • Learn about approaches to teaching and factors influencing student outcomes by participation in a class on pedagogy.
  • Apply your knowledge in a teaching environment with feedback from CTLO and/or CFAM.
  • Reflect on and Refine your teaching through evaluation, feedback, and mentoring by an experienced educator.
  • Record the development of your teaching pedagogy and practice through a teaching portfolio, incorporating a teaching philosophy and representative documents from teaching. 

To enroll in the Certificate of Practice program, please email the Associate Director of University Teaching, Melissa Dabiri. The CTLO Associate Director will schedule a meeting with you to create your Plan and enroll you in the Certificate of Practice Canvas site.

More details about this program as well as templates for each phase of the program are available in the links below.

Please note that the portfolio must be completed and returned for review by May 16th in order to receive a transcript notation before commencement.

A complete description of the CFAM Certificate of Practice in University Teaching is available below:

Plan Certificate Form - A written record of your plan for the Certificate, to be submitted before the initial meeting with the CTLO Associate Director.

Learning Experience Form - Reflection on your learning experience (ex. E110, etc.). Due two weeks after the course ends.

Teaching Experience Form - Description of and plan for your teaching experience. Must be completed for each teaching experience. Due before your teaching experience start date. See the below table for examples of valid teaching experiences.

A table showing the various teaching experiences that qualify for apply points.

Teaching Reflection Form - Reflection on your chosen teaching experience. Must be completed for each teaching experience. Due 2 weeks after your teaching experience end date.

Feedback Reflection Form - Reflection on feedback collected during your teaching experience (ex. Student survey, classroom observation by CTLO). Due two weeks after you receive feedback results.

Some potential Refine experiences are:

  • Implement a course assessment strategy that utilizes student feedback or other resources to make improvements in a course.
  • Design and carry out a mid-quarter survey for your students which assesses specific aspects of your teaching (i.e., not just "What is going well?" and "What can be improved?").  This may refer to getting feedback on specific active learning techniques you are incorporating, evaluating the impact of inclusive teaching practices you have implemented, etc.  Reflect on how this midterm feedback affected your teaching for the remainder of the term.  
  • Receive feedback on your teaching through observation of a classroom session by members of CFAM or CTLO. Document how this review is utilized to improve your teaching.

The following guidelines and resources can be used to develop your Teaching Portfolio (Phase 5 of the Certificate of Practice).

Your Teaching Portfolio has 4 components:

  1. Statement of Teaching Philosophy: The statement of teaching philosophy (or teaching statement) serves as the foundational document for your teaching portfolio. It gives the reader an overview of your approach to teaching and provides evidence of how you have implemented that approach in your own experiences.  If you took E110 to complete the Learn requirement, then you already have a Statement of Teaching Philosophy -- however, you should update it to reflect where you are now.  If you did not take E110, the CTLO regularly offers workshops on how to write an effective teaching statement.
  2. Teaching Activities: This section describes your experience doing activities related to Teaching – these can be formal teaching, research or service-oriented activities.  This is essentially your teaching CV -- include all of your teaching-related activities, not just those completed during the Certificate of Practice.
  3. Evidence of Teaching Effectiveness: This goal of this section is to demonstrate what you do and give evidence that your strategy works. You can include summaries of student/peer/mentor evaluations, certificates, awards, etc. Complete evaluations and copies of certificates and awards can be placed in the Appendices. Share the general themes and patterns that you see in student or observers comments and give concrete examples (quotes or numbers) to support your themes/ patterns.
  4. Appendices:  This section may include copies of evaluations, certificates, awards, authored questions, course notes, slides, or any other information that would support the previous sections of your teaching portfolio. Be sure to give some context for any materials that you have developed that you include here (e.g. how and why you developed them, for what course, what pedagogical strategies you included)

CoP Teaching Portfolio Guidelines - A resource to help you prepare your teaching portfolio. [pdf]

Teaching Statement Resources - Helpful links with information on writing a Teaching Statement and examples of Teaching Statements. [pdf]