Guidelines for Approval of Departmental Preparation Courses

Some participants entering TeaCHE will have completed (or will plan to complete) a departmental preparation course for Teachers of Record. In order for this to fulfill the Category 1 requirement, the Academy for Teaching & Learning must approve the departmental course.

Qualifications of the Course

Only courses that meet the following qualifications will be approved:

1. The training course must be offered from your department and a department faculty-member must oversee instruction for the course. As such, the course should include formal meetings led by department faculty and it should require course assignments (a string of extracurricular opportunities, student-led events, brown bag lunches, special seminars, Q&A sessions, etc. would not suffice).
2. The training course must be focused on preparing students for their teaching role in the context of higher education. The course content should include curricular issues, course development and content, teaching techniques, as well as learning concepts and theories (i.e., it should go beyond logistics instruction for graduate assistant work, use of facilities, training on equipment, or the like).
3. Furthermore, for a course to be approved it must meet one of the following:
   • Either it must include a course number from the registrar and count as at least a one-credit-hour course, taken for official credit (no audits or sit-ins),
   • Or it should require at least 15 hrs of meeting time, give stated course objectives, and include formal assignments.
     • If a department's training course does not provide objectives or require formal assignments, TeaCHE participants can make arrangements with the ATL to submit a short essay outlining how the course prepares them for their teaching role and an Activity Tracking Form for a minimum of 10 meetings (to facilitate reflection on the course content).

In the event that the TeaCHE portfolio is completed before the course is completed, the TeaCHE certificate of completion and transcript notation will be held pending completion of the departmental course.

If your departmental course does not meet these requirements, it cannot be used to fulfill Category 1. (There are other means of fulfilling Category 1.)

Getting Approved

To receive approval for a departmental teaching preparation course, the departmental instructor should provide documentation and attest that the qualifications outlined above are met by the department's preparation program.

• the course number from the Registrar (if applicable)
• the course's stated objectives
• a detailed description of course content (readings, lectures, discussions)
• the stated course requirements
• the formal assignments completed in the course
• a schedule of course meetings

Once approved, the departmental teaching preparation course remains valid for subsequent TeaCHE participants. We ask that departments contact the Academy for Teaching & Learning if the teaching preparation course undergoes revision or significant changes.

To inquire about approval for your department's training course, please contact the ATL.