Program description
Main content
The Program for University Pedagogy offers courses to support staff in completing their required basic pedagogical competence. The program consists of four key parts, 3 required courses and several options for the completion of electives. The three required courses are UPED 600: Introduction to Teaching at University and Course Design, UPED 601: Documenting and Evaluating Teaching Effectiveness, and UPED602: Pedagogical Project. You can read a description of each course in the Course Descriptions page.
In addition to these three courses, one can select up to 6 Elective Courses focused on a wide variety of topics including educational technologies, equity and accessibility in teaching and learning, supervision, feedback, assessment, and teaching strategies (e.g. team-based learning, experiential education, interactive lecture strategies, etc.).
From the Elective courses, all participants will be required to complete at least one course focused on supervision, one on educational technologies and one on equity and accessibility in teaching and learning. Elective Courses are typically shorter than Core Courses and allow participants to develop breadth in their teaching knowledge as well as a place to gather new ideas for their teaching practice.
Program Progression
Participants who are beginning the program start with UPED600. Following this, it is possible to complete courses in whichever order one chooses. However, we recommend that participants pursue the following sequence:
Semester 1: UPED600 plus one or more Elective Courses,
Semester 2: UPED601 plus one or more Elective Courses,
Semester 3: UPED602 plus any remaining courses.
Participants are considered to have completed the program when all requirements of courses are completed (both attending courses and completing course assessments or projects). Below is an illustration to provide an overview of the progression through the program.
Program Learning Outcomes:
At the completion of the program, participants will be able to
- Design and implement learning activities and assessments that are in alignment with course and program learning outcomes
- Critically analyze, develop, and continually refine course and program designs
- Reflect critically on their teaching practice using multiple lenses—including literature, colleagues, students, and personal experience–in order to become capable and critical in their pedagogical practice and decision making
- Develop and employ a variety of active learning strategies and create a student-centered learning environment
- Select, design, and utilize a variety of formative and summative assessment forms that provide learning-enhancing feedback and are educative, authentic, and aligned with intended learning outcomes
- Provide research supervision at the bachelor, master, and doctoral level that is ethical and respectful, focused on feedback and development, and attentive to the individual
- Select and make appropriate and effective use of digital tools to improve student engagement, interaction, and learning
- Collect, analyze, and communicate information about their teaching practices and students’ learning in a teaching portfolio as well as in collegial settings in order to contribute to the quality of teaching in their department, the university, and their discipline
- Create an accessible and inclusive learning environment by reducing barriers to learning and addressing inequalities in courses and classrooms