Graduate Student Teaching Certificate of Completion Program

Learn - Reflect - Practice

The Graduate Teaching Certificate of Completion Program has been redesigned to take advantage of the Best Practices in Teaching courses and a refresh on some of the workshops. The program outlined on this page is only open to students who have registered for it prior to June 1, 2023. To enroll in the new Graduate Student Teaching Certificate of Completion Program,  Follow this link to the redesigned GSTCC page.

Those who are currently enrolled in the old program may complete the program as originally designed by January 5, 2025, or transfer their status to the newer version. After January 5, 2025, the old program will no longer be available.

Why Earn a Graduate Teaching Certificate of Completion?

If you are among the 70 percent of graduate students who plan to teach at a college or university after completing your degree, the Graduate Teaching Certificate of Completion Program will give you a head start.

The Program…

  • Is flexible, allowing you to complete the requirements within one year.
  • Allows you to participate in a community of faculty, staff, and students who are dedicated to excellence in teaching.
  • Offers a self-directed course of study, so you can focus on the aspects of teaching in which you are most interested. Whether you want fundamental knowledge about post-secondary teaching, or want to gain expertise in specific areas, the Graduate Teaching Certificate program allows you to create a relevant and meaningful course of study.
  • Provides you with important credentials. In an increasingly competitive academic job market, potential employers want evidence of both scholarly achievements and teaching ability. The teaching Certificate can significantly enhance your professional prospects.
  • Offers you opportunities for experiential, hands-on learning through its internship, tutoring, and teaching options.
  • Results in a Teaching ePortfolio, which illustrates your teaching expertise. The ePortfolio is both a comprehensive collection of pedagogical knowledge and a valuable tool in academic job searches.

You will learn to:

  • Determine appropriate goals for student learning outcomes.
  • Understand and work effectively with diverse student populations.
  • Design courses, including selecting and sequencing course materials, and developing course assignments.
  • Employ evaluative procedures which validly assess student learning.
  • Use innovative pedagogical approaches, such as teaching with technology, optimizing available Learning Management Systems, practicing sustainable service-learning strategies, and so on.
  • Reflect on and revise your pedagogical practices throughout your teaching career.

General Requirements

To complete the full program, students must attend 10* Pedagogical Workshops/Seminars and write and submit the workshop/seminar review form. Faculty and staff from across the university offer a variety of pedagogical workshops each semester. You will find many of them in the Professional Development section of the TILT website. These can be any combination between the 10 Workshops/Seminars or 6 Short Courses over the time span of enrollment to achieve the 12 credits needed.

*For those required to participate in a 1-3 credit pedagogical course by their department for the GTA program, this number is only 6, as the other 6 workshops will be covered by the class. You will still be required to complete 10 Workshop/Seminar Review forms as a reflection on what you’ve learned. If you have already taken the credit course you will need to fill out review forms for 6 things you learned in the course.

Students can combine and include more than one avenue of teaching in order to meet the 20 hour requirement. Students can also include more than 20 hours in their portfolio if they have participated in more than the required amount.

If you are a GTA, your experience in the classroom will contribute to your teaching expertise. If you are not a GTA, you can enroll in a teaching internship course, or you can apply to work as a tutor in one of CSU student services programs such as the CSU Writing Center or The Academic Advancement Center or as a research mentor with the Graduate-Undergraduate Mentor Program.

Apply using the Experiential Learning Form

The primary record of your work on the Graduate Teaching Certificate will be presented in a PDF OR website portfolio. This portfolio will reflect your beliefs about and experience with teaching.

Please see the certificate checklist for an up-to-date list of portfolio requirements. Once you have completed developing your portfolio, please submit it for review to Karen Falkenberg and Kira Marshall-McKelvey.

A credit course in Post-Secondary Teaching is no longer required, however, it will continue to count toward your certificate if you are taking or have already completed one. If a credit course in teaching is required as part of your disciplines’ degree program, you may choose from the following departmental teaching theory and practice courses, however, you will will need to complete six reflections throughout the semester regarding how the content might be implemented in your own pedagogy. Additional Option: Present a Peer-To-Peer Workshop Research, put together, and present a workshop on a topic related to teaching/pedagogy for fellow graduate students in place of 2 of the workshops/seminars required for the certificate. Contact Dr. Kelly Bradbury if you are interested in this option. Applying for the Certificate To complete work on your certificate, you must submit your Portfolio for review. You may do so at any time. It will be reviewed by a member of the Graduate Teaching Certificate of Completion Review Board. When it is approved, your name and a link to your Portfolio will be listed on the TILT Web site.

After getting permission from the instructor, visit a class session of an instructor who has at least 1 year of teaching experience and uses active learning strategies. This observation opportunity is meant to expose you to a variety of teaching practices and personas. We encourage you to observe an instructor outside of your home discipline. You will then fill out the TILT teaching observation form and include it in your final teaching portfolio.

Graduate Teaching Certificate Resources

Certificate Forms

Workshops and Courses

Sample Portfolios Graciously Provided By:

Contact Info
Dr. Kelly Bradbury

Dr. Kelly Bradbury

Director, Graduate Student Teaching Certificate of Completion Program

Credit Courses for Graduate Teaching Certificate

  • BZ 560 Teaching and Communicating Science
  • E501 Writing and Composition
  • E502 Language, Literacy and Learning
  • E503 Investigating Classroom Literacies
  • E504 Situating Composition
  • E526 Foreign/Second Language
  • E603 Computers in Writing
  • E633 Seminar in Writing Across the Curriculum
  • E607 or E608 gtPathways
  • EDUC 619 Curriculum Development
  • EDUC 628 Models of Teaching
  • EDUC 629 Classroom and Communication
  • EDUC 713 Teaching, Learning and Professional Growth
  • GRAD 792 Seminar in College Teaching
  • MIP 580A3 Teaching & Mentoring Undergraduate Research
  • SPCM 570 Instructional Communication Theory & Practice *
  • SPCM 675 Speech Communication Pedagogy
  • Departmental 684 and 784 Supervised College Teaching courses

* Online Course

What the Graduate Teaching Certificate Can Do