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PUTL Modules

"woman writing with a pen on a wooden table with a coffee mug in the background"Professional Development in University Teaching and Learning (PUTL)

An important step in continuing towards an academic career that you can (and should) start now is working on documenting, reflecting on, improving, and articulating your teaching experiences and professional development skills.  

Developing a teaching dossier, incorporating new pedagogical approaches, and effectively showcasing the impact of your work are only some of the goals in the Professional Development in University Teaching and Learning (PUTL) modules at the Centre for Teaching and Learning.  

Within these self-directed modules, you will have an opportunity to reflect on your teaching activities, document your experiences and feedback, highlight transferrable skills, showcase your accomplishments, and explore innovative ways to engage the future directions of higher-education classroom settings. 

These modules are also a great opportunity to include on your CV or resume to highlight your commitment to your personal growth as an educator! 

A Letter of Completion in Professional Development in University Teaching and Learning will be awarded to successful candidates who complete five (5) of the seven (7) modules. This includes the TWO core and THREE of the five optional modules.

Modules can be completed in any order and there is no time limit as long as you are an active graduate student or post-doctoral fellow at Queen’s.

"Core" Modules

1) Foundations of Teaching and Learning

This module recognizes your development in foundational issues and topics regarding teaching and learning. Applicants will need to demonstrate the ability to:

  • Recognize foundational issues and topics of university teaching and learning.
  • Articulate beliefs, attitudes, and philosophies towards university teaching and learning, as informed by foundational concepts of teaching and learning.

Submission Requirements:

Stream 1: Document your participation in 6 workshops related to teaching and learning AND Guided reflection
Stream 2: Document your participation in 6 workshops related to teaching and learning AND Teaching Philosophy

2) Practical Experience in Teaching and Learning

This module recognizes the practical teaching experiences you have gained. Applicants will need to demonstrate the ability to:

  • Participate in a practical teaching experience for the development of skills as an educator.
  • Seek and compile feedback from the practical teaching experience.
  • Analyze feedback to evaluate the success of teaching practices.

Submission Requirements:

Stream 1: Evidence of teaching experience AND Reflection
Stream 2: Evidence of teaching experience AND Two sections of your Teaching Dossier (Teaching Responsibilities/Activities and Teaching Effectiveness)
 

"Optional" Modules

3) Leadership in Teaching and Learning

This module recognizes leaders who contribute to the advancement of teaching and learning across campus through the work that they do (e.g. through a Head TA position, peer mentoring, or a member of a teaching and learning task force or committee, mentoring junior colleagues, taking the initiative to redesign teaching material such as a handbook, or taking the lead on an educational initiative).

Submission Requirements:

Stream 1: Reflection AND Evidence of leadership role AND critical analysis of leadership role

4) Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

This module introduces individuals to the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL), which is the research and investigation of questions and problems concerning university teaching and learning. Applicants will need to demonstrate the ability to:

  • Define and explain the scholarship of teaching and learning in the context of one's own academic discipline.
  • Formulate a SoTL question

Submission Requirements:

Stream 1: Reflection AND Research Question (OR) SoTL Reflection

5) Accessibility, Disability Justice and Intersectionality

The purpose of this module is to build your foundational understanding of disability and accessibility and to reflect upon how we can be intentional in our educational design to create more inclusive teaching practices. Applicants will need to demonstrate the ability to:

  • Explore key concepts of disability, intersectionality and considerations educators need to make about Universal Design for Learning
  • Use knowledge about accessible teaching and learning to create and describe learning experiences.

Submission Requirements:

Stream 1: Reflection AND Adapted learning activity/assessment 
Stream 2: Reflection AND Adapted course syllabus

6) Indigenizing and Decolonizing Teaching and Learning

The purpose of this module is to challenge you to re-imagine post-secondary education in a way that departs from traditional colonial conventions and towards a model that embraces Indigenous ways of knowing and decolonizing practices. Applicants will need to demonstrate the ability to:

  • Build your understanding of Indigenous and decolonizing pedagogies.
  • Critically reflect on your teaching practice and how you can purposefully and meaningfully incorporate Indigenous and decolonizing pedagogies into your role as an educator.

Submission Requirements:

Stream 1: Reflection AND Land Acknowledgement AND Integration into course components
Stream 2: Reflection AND Indigenizing or decolonizing teaching practices

7) Anti-Racism

The purpose of this is to highlight the ways university education replicates patterns of systemic racism from our broader social contexts and how we can disrupt these patterns through our teaching practices. You will have the opportunity to explore anti-racist education and pedagogies through self-directed learning activities. Applicants will need to demonstrate the ability to:

  • Recognize racist institutional structures in post-secondary education and understand how Black, Indigenous, and students and educators of colour are affected by these structures.
  • Explore how you can commit to de-centering whiteness in your classroom by actively creating an anti-racist learning environment.

Submission Requirements:

Stream 1: Reflection AND Identity chart AND Anti-racist teaching practices chart
Stream 2: Reflection AND Diversity Statement 

To self-enrol in PUTL:

  1. From your OnQ homepage, locate the Browse Self-Registration Courses widget on the right hand side.
  2. Click the blue Browse Now button.
  3. Search the keyword “PUTL” in the search field and a list of all courses will show up.
  4. Select the PUTL: Professional Development in University Teaching and Learning course from the search results.
  5. Select the course to open the course details page, and select Enrol in Course.

If you have previously registered in PUTL, just Sign in to onQ!

Consultation with an EDA

Have questions about PUTL or the module deliverables? Make an appointment with an EDA (Educational Development Associate). The EDA can discuss with you which modules best suit your current teaching experience and professional development needs.

To make an appointment with an EDA, please email TA&GradCTL@queensu.ca.

For any additional information regarding PUTL certificates, please contact the EDAs at TA&GradCTL@queensu.ca.