CTL 501: Scholarly Approaches to Teaching and LearningPLEASE NOTE: CTL 501 will be offered in Fall 2024.This 12-week course is open to graduate students from all disciplines who have taught (or will teach during the seminar semester) at Princeton. The course engages participants in critical discussions of current scholarship in the fields of learning and pedagogy, with opportunities to apply new pedagogical approaches in their own teaching practice. Participants will refine their understanding of teaching as they meaningfully reflect on the approaches and critical skills gained in their own disciplines as part of a liberal arts education. Course Objectives By the end of this course, students will be able to:Apply current educational research to their own teaching.Compare and contrast different theories of teaching and learning.Understand and apply various approaches to teaching, especially inclusive teaching principles.Articulate their own position on the current debates on teaching and learning.Employ a pedagogical vocabulary.Reflect critically on their own teaching practices. Course Outcomes By the end of the seminar, students will produce a Teaching Portfolio that includes:A syllabus for a new course, including an assessment plan that focuses specifically on student learning outcomes.A reflective statement of teaching philosophy. Applicant Requirements Teaching experience (AI or similar) at Princeton before or during the seminar semester If accepted, applicant’s advisor must approve participation in the seminar Application PLEASE NOTE: CTL 501 will be offered in Fall 2024. The course will meet on Fridays from 10:00 AM to 12:30 PM.Admission into the course is by application only. Applications should include the following: A cover letter in which you describe the value of this experience for your professional development;A short essay (up to one page) describing a significant teaching moment and what made it important for you as a teacher. Applications are due by Friday, August 16th. Queries and applications should be submitted to: McGraw Center for Teaching & Learning[email protected] FAQs about CTL501 When will this course be offered again? At the moment the course is offered once a year, in the fall semester. Who takes this seminar? The seminar began as an informal, non-transcripted course (then known as the Teagle Seminar) in the 2010-11 academic year, and was first offered as CTL 501 in fall 2016. Over 200 graduate students and faculty members have participated over the years, coming from almost every academic department at the university. Can I take the course if I am in dissertation completion status (DCE)? Yes, with permission of the Graduate School DCE students are permitted to enroll in CTL 501. Can postdocs take this course? We’ve learned from the Dean of Faculty that postdocs are not able to register for courses. However, it has occasionally been possible, when there has been space, for postdocs to informally audit CTL 501. This requires them to commit to attending and completing the work, although they can’t get transcripted credit for it. What’s the difference between McGraw’s Teaching Transcript and CTL 501? The two are not mutually exclusive. Both offer ways to signal your interest in and commitment to excellent teaching, as well as to deepen your preparation to teach well wherever you go next after Princeton. The seminar offers you a chance to be part of a cohort, meeting weekly across a semester for interdisciplinary conversations informed by the scholarship on teaching and learning, producing teaching materials in dialogue with the work of the class, and to signal completion of this accomplishment on your official University transcript. The Teaching Transcript offers a less formal and more flexible set of opportunities to advance your thinking about teaching, which you can then communicate to employers on your CV. Seminar participants may count their participation in the seminar for the pedagogy workshop component of the TT, and in the end, many students chose to complete both programs. How much work is this course? It is difficult to quantify exactly since like any course, the amount you get out of it will depend in part on the amount you put into it. For each class meeting, there will be some reading and thinking to be done in advance, and then we’ll meet to put the ideas in dialogue and apply them to our teaching practices. Most participants have reported finding the workload manageable and the assignments highly relevant, thought-provoking, and useful. How are students in CTL 501 graded? The grading scheme is */NC, which means that students who complete the course on time and in a satisfactory manner receive a * on their transcripts, and those who do not (and fail to withdraw before the deadline) receive NC.
