Current Graduate Programming

Winter/Spring 2024 opportunities for graduate students, TAs, and postdocs

Flashpoints in the Classroom (and How Not to Panic…)

In this 90-minute lunch and learn session, participants will explore how to create and facilitate a learning environment that welcomes challenging discussions. How can you provide opportunities to engage others with different and/or opposing views to foster learning? How do you manage your personal beliefs, identity, values–and commitment to inclusion–in your role as an instructor?

This workshop was held on January 31, 2024.

Inclusive Teaching Institute

The Inclusive Teaching Institute for Graduate Students & Postdocs is an opportunity to explore diversity, equity, and inclusion in higher education learning environments.  This interactive workshop invites you to reflect and connect with graduate students and postdocs to share knowledge, explore how and why social identities come into play in the learning environment, consider how to remove barriers and increase accessibility, and create a plan to support student learning. 

The Inclusive Teaching Institute was held February 9 - 16, 2024.

Read more about the Inclusive Teaching Institute.


GET SET Institutes & Workshops

Course Design Institute

This series of four workshops guides you through the basic elements of course design, and strategies to define learning outcomes, align assignments and activities, evaluate student learning, and create a student-centered syllabus. 

The Spring 2024 GET SET Course Design Institute will be held online. Take each workshop individually or as a series. Participants who complete an entire institute (all 4 workshops) may request a letter of completion for their teaching portfolio (only Cornell students are eligible for the letter of completion). 

Read more about the Course Design Institute. 

Backward Course Design: Developing Learning Outcomes
  • Tuesday, March 5, 2024, 12:00 - 1:15 p.m. (online via Zoom)
  • Where do you start when developing a course? Creating learning outcomes and aligning them with assignments and assessments is an effective place to start. This workshop introduces key steps for designing learning outcomes.
  • Click here to register for this session
Developing a Syllabus from Scratch
  • Tuesday, March 12, 2024, 12:00 - 1:15 p.m. (online via Zoom)
  • How do you create a syllabus focused on student learning? This workshop will provide a useful syllabus design template and explore resources for designing and aligning course goals, learning objectives, instructional activities, and assessment strategies.
  • Click here to register for this session
Designing Assessment of Student Learning 
  • Tuesday, March 19, 2024, 12:00 - 1:15 p.m. (online via Zoom)
  • Assessments do not have to be anxiety-inducing exams! In this workshop, we will explore a variety of assessment strategies and discuss which are appropriate and effective for your course.
  • Click here to register for this session
Final Session: Peer Review
  • Tuesday, March 26, 2024, 12:00 - 1:15 p.m. (online via Zoom)
  • This workshop is for those who have completed the earlier workshops and would like a letter to document their participation in the Institute. This capstone experience is an opportunity for you to bring a draft of a syllabus for a course you might teach in your field and receive peer feedback.
  • Click here to register for this session

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University-Wide Teaching Conference

Join other Cornell graduate students, postdocs, and TAs to discuss how to document your teaching experiences and excellence. This conference is an opportunity to have small group conversations about compiling your teaching portfolio with faculty and to build community with colleagues from across campus.

Read more about the University-Wide Teaching Conference.

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Teaching Resources

Teaching Portfolio Program

A portfolio encourages you to document and reflect on your teaching at Cornell. Register at any time to be part of CTI’s Teaching Portfolio Program and gain access to resources, consultations, and support for your teaching.

Teaching Assistant Online Orientation

The TA Online Orientation, designed to prepare new graduate teaching assistants for success in their first few weeks of teaching, is a series of self-paced, asynchronous modules that introduce teaching essentials and resources available to support them while at Cornell.

Teaching at Cornell Guide

The purpose of the Teaching at Cornell guide is to introduce key aspects of teaching and learning at Cornell University through the lens of the five elements the CTI believes to be critical to instructor success. It is intended to begin, not complete, a dialogue on excellence in teaching and learning.

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