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Center for Teaching Innovation

Current Graduate Programming

Spring 2023 opportunities for graduate students, TAs, and postdocs

GET SET Institutes & Workshops

The Spring 2023 GET SET 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). 

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.

Read more about the institute. 

Backward Course Design: Developing Learning Outcomes
  • Tuesday March 7, 2023, 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.
Developing a Syllabus from Scratch
  • Tuesday March 14, 2023, 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.
Designing Learning Activities
  • Tuesday March 21, 2023, 12:00 - 1:15 p.m. (online via Zoom)
  • How can you involve students more fully in classroom activities that support your course's learning outcomes? This workshop addresses ways instructors can construct classroom activities to encourage active engagement with course content and promote in-class participation among students.
Final Session: Peer Review
  • Tuesday March 28, 2023, 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.

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University Wide Teaching Conference

Join other Cornell graduate students, postdocs, and TAs to discuss inclusive teaching strategies across disciplines. An opportunity for networking and interdisciplinary teaching discussions with faculty and colleagues from across campus.

Read more about the conference.

  • Saturday April 22, 2023, 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. (in person)

  • Registration will be open by April 1. Additional registration information is forthcoming.

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Graduate Courses

Several courses are offered for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars interested in significantly accelerating their preparation to teach effectively in a higher education setting. These courses include Teaching in Higher Education, Assessment in Higher Education, Teaching & Learning in the Diverse Classroom, and the International Teaching Assistant Program course. 

Read more about our courses.

Teaching in Higher Education (ALS 6015)

This one-credit course addresses teaching challenges that face current and future instructors (i.e., graduate students, teaching assistants, and post-doctoral fellows) to better prepare them for success in higher education. It is a seven-week course offered in the first half of Spring 2023.

Assessment in Higher Education (ALS 6016)

This one-credit course—a complement to ALS 6015: The Practice of Teaching in Higher Education—addresses topics including: principles and frameworks of assessment, course-based assessment methods and technologies, curricular integration of assessment, and social and political issues in assessment. It is a seven-week course offered in the second half of Spring 2023.

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Teaching & Learning in the Diverse Classroom Online Course

Teaching & Learning in the Diverse Classroom is a non-credit, four-week, self-paced online course for anyone at any level of diversity expertise. Modules explore strategies for inclusive course design, social identity and self-reflection, and pedagogical practices that effectively support student engagement and belongingness across differences.

Participants are also encouraged to join the learning community on inclusive teaching for graduate students & postdocs. This five-week online program that runs concurrently with the Teaching & Learning in the Diverse Classroom course and participants meet weekly to discuss ways to create and sustain inclusive learning environments; identify practical, evidence-based strategies appropriate for your discipline; and future teaching plans.

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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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