The UT System is committed to helping faculty grow in their teaching. One tool they are making available to UT faculty are the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE) microcredential courses that can lead to the Effective Teaching Certification. There are four microcredential courses:
- Promoting Active Learning
- Inspiring Inquiry and Preparing Life-Long Learners
- Creating a Productive Learning Environment
- Designing Learner-Centered Courses.
The courses consist of six asynchronous modules that last six weeks. Each week you will be expected to complete one module (about two hours), implement one of the strategies in your class that week, and then write a reflection on what you used and the impact on student learning.
We are offering two of these courses this semester:
- Creating a Productive Learning Environment: August 12 – September 29 (RSVP by July 26)
- Promoting Active Learning: September 9 – October 27 (RSVP by August 16)
Next year we will be offering:
- Promoting Active Learning: January 13 – March 2
- Inspiring Inquiry and Preparing Lifelong Learners: January 13 – March 2
- Designing Learner Centered Courses: May 12 – June 29
- There will be in-person and asynchronous options for this course.
ACUE offers the only teaching certification endorsed by the American Council on Education. Certifying faculty in ACUE’s Effective Teaching Practice Framework is proven to propel students’ success and increase retention of first-year students.
Here are some quotes from faculty who completed all four courses to obtain their Effective Teaching Certificate:
Ying Ding:
"Learning is transitive and also transformative. Put myself in the shoes of my students, teaching becomes reflective and rewarding. Teaching and learning are not separate processes, they are two sides of the same coin."
Ashley Coleman Taylor:
"I can actually be the grounded, organized, and innovative pedagogue of my dreams!"
Kasey Faust:
"Go through each exercise/module even if you don’t think it is relevant to your course-- you’d be surprised how many ways you can improve your teaching when you think creatively on how to apply new approaches."
Kristie Loescher:
"There are many more opportunities to support student success than I realized - I am setting myself new goals in this area."
Monica Milonovich:
"I self-identified some of my blind spots...I was able to apply the strategies real-time to my courses...I love learning new things and promoting change."
Jen Moon:
"There’s such a wide variety of things to do for each classroom challenge. I feel like I have a great toolkit and will be trying new things a little bit at a time. I certainly won’t run out of ideas."
Emily Porter:
"I learned that I have a lot more to learn about teaching than I thought!"
Jessica Toste:
"I learned that my courses align with a lot of the effective practices framework, but there is still so much room for continued improvement. There was an “a-ha!” moment when I realized that I didn’t have to tackle it all at once. I can work from the foundation I have and implement small changes each semester."