Program Overview

Graduate Student Teaching Certificate of Completion Program

The Graduate Student Teaching Certificate of Completion (GSTCC) Program offers CSU graduate students an opportunity to learn about, reflect on, and enact best practices in teaching at the post-secondary level. Participants will develop greater competence and confidence as current or future teachers by participating in research-based professional-development activities. Program participants who successfully complete the requirements before they graduate earn a Certificate of Completion that demonstrates their commitment to college teaching and can enhance their professional credentials on the job market. The program can be completed in 18-24 months and at no cost.

Program Overview

• The GSTCC Program is designed to provide graduate students with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to become effective teachers in higher education.
• The program focuses on five key learning outcomes:
  • Learning Outcome #1: Inclusive Classroom Climate
  • Learning Outcome #2: Inclusive Instructional Strategies
  • Learning Outcome #3: Classroom Strategies
  • Learning Outcome #4: Teaching Philosophy
  • Learning Outcome #5: Reflection

Certificate Requirements

To earn the Graduate Student Teaching Certificate of Completion, participants must satisfy the five program-specific learning outcomes. The minimum requirements for completion are to enroll in and successfully complete:

• 3 Best Practices in Teaching (BPiT) courses
• 3 designated workshops

GSTCC Learning Outcomes and How to Fulfill Them

• Learning Outcome #1: Inclusive Classroom Climate
  • Develop skills and confidence in creating a supportive, accessible, and inclusive classroom climate
  • Take at least one of the following BPiT Courses:
    • Inclusive Pedagogy
    • Classroom Climate
    • Student Motivation
    • Accessible and Inclusive Electronic Content
• Learning Outcome #2: Inclusive Instructional Strategies
  • Use a variety of inclusive instructional strategies that engage all students, are accessible, and promote critical thinking
  • Take at least one of the following BPiT Courses:
    • Critical Thinking
    • Active Learning
• Learning Outcome #3: Classroom Strategies
  • Identify and use classroom strategies that cultivate an effective, engaging, and productive learning environment
  • Take at least one of the following BPiT courses:
    • Planning an Effective Class Session
    • First Four Weeks
    • Teaching Online: Facilitation and Engagement
  • Take the following workshop:
    • Classroom Strategies – Optimize Your Time and Increase Student Engagement
• Learning Outcome #4: Teaching Philosophy
  • Create a teaching philosophy and persona informed by research-based practices from the Teaching Effectiveness Framework
  • Take all of the following workshops:
    • Writing a Teaching Philosophy workshop
    • Developing a Teaching Persona workshop
• Learning Outcome #5: Reflection
  • Recognize and appreciate reflection as a tool to refine future teaching practices
  • This outcome is accomplished through successful completion of BPiT course Practice and Reflect assignments, participation in Teaching Squares, or a similar experience offered by your department.

BPiT Courses and TILT-Sponsored Workshops

• BPiT courses, offered on Canvas through TILT, are facilitated, asynchronous three-week experiences that foster collaborative learning and provide opportunities to apply your learning to current or future teaching.
• To successfully complete a BPiT course, you must actively participate with others in your course, complete the weekly assignments, and successfully submit the final Practice and Reflect assignment.
• Courses require approximately 5 hours of time per week.

Teaching Effectiveness Framework and Domains

• The GSTCC’s curriculum aligns with the seven essential domains for effective teaching practices articulated in TILT’s Teaching Effectiveness Framework (TEF).
• Domains for effective teaching practices (including curriculum/curricular alignment, pedagogical content knowledge, student motivation, inclusive pedagogy, classroom climate, instructional strategies, and feedback and assessment) are grounded in the scholarship of teaching and learning.
• Each BPiT Course focuses on two of the seven domains of the TEF.

Required Workshops

• Writing a Teaching Philosophy
  • As instructors in higher education, it is increasingly important to have an individual teaching philosophy when applying for college or university faculty positions or when undergoing promotion reviews.
• Developing a Teaching Persona
  • The Latin word “persona” most directly translates to “mask.” Should we wear a mask while teaching? What kind of mask should we wear?
• Classroom Strategies – Optimize Your Time and Increase Student Engagement
  • Do you ever avoid student discussions because it’s too difficult to get their attention, wasting precious classroom time?

Credit Courses for GSTCC

• Credit-bearing, teaching-focused courses across the curriculum can satisfy some Certificate requirements.
• Below is a list of courses that may count toward Certificate completion:
  • 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 Teaching Writing
  • E608 Integrating Writing in the Academic Core
  • 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

GSTCC Resources

• BEST PRACTICES IN TEACHING (BPiT) COURSES
• TEACHING EFFECTIVENESS FRAMEWORK AND DOMAINS
• REQUIRED WORKSHOPS
• CREDIT COURSES FOR GSTCC

Upcoming Workshops

• Developing a Teaching Persona
  • Date: February 13, 2026
  • Time: 9:30 am - 10:30 am
  • Location: MS Teams
• Writing a Teaching Philosophy Presentation
  • Date: March 11, 2026
  • Time: 3:30 pm - 4:45 pm
  • Location: MS Teams
• Classroom Strategies: Optimize Your Time and Increase Student Engagement
  • Date: April 9, 2026
  • Time: 12:30 pm - 1:45 pm
  • Location: TILT 104

The Graduate Student Teaching Certificate of Completion Program is not a teacher certification or licensure program. The Certificate is available to all CSU graduate students who successfully fulfill the program requirements. Upon completion, participants receive a Certificate of Completion and can add the Certificate to their CV/resume.