Program Overview

Teaching Professionals Program

Fit for Teaching

The Teaching Professionals Program is a 12-month certificate program designed for PhD candidates, postdocs, and junior professors from all disciplines who have little to no teaching experience and wish to further their academic teaching skills. The program is offered in English and German, alternating between the two languages.

Program Overview

The program consists of four components, taking participants through the entire teaching process, from theory to developing their own teaching concept, conducting the course, and finally reflecting on it. With the support of experts, participants will develop a professional teaching identity and contribute to raising the quality of education and teaching. Upon completion, participants will receive a certificate for their future job applications.

Program Goals

The program aims to introduce attitudes, actions, and methodologies for teaching practice, enabling participants to:

• Transfer, implement, and reflect on their acquired higher-education didactic skills in their own teaching project.
• Reflect on and further develop their role as a teacher.
• Facilitate and guide students' skill acquisition.
• Develop meaningful and targeted assessments of their teaching.
• Develop an individual counseling approach to guide students in a respectful, goal-oriented manner based on specific needs.
• Benefit from colleagues' individual feedback and shared experiences to improve their teaching.

Conditions of Participation & Further Information

The program is aimed at PhD candidates, postdocs, and junior professors from all disciplines who have little to no teaching experience. Participants are divided into three groups:

• University of Potsdam
• Partner Institutes
• External Participants The participation fee is based on the participant's affiliation with one of these groups. Participants from the University of Potsdam must be members of the Potsdam Graduate School, which is free and can be applied for at any time. During the workshops, free childcare can be arranged in Potsdam.

Testimonials

Participants have expressed their satisfaction with the program, citing it as one of the most helpful experiences during their stay in Germany. They appreciate the opportunity to apply the skills they learned to their future teaching assignments and the useful didactic tools and interaction with professionals they received.

Awards and Recognition

The program received an award from the Stifterverband für die deutsche Wissenschaft in 2010 as part of the nationwide "Exzellente Lehre" competition.