Certificate in University Teaching (CUT)
Whether you plan to have a career in academia, industry, business, education, public service, or the health professions, UMSL's graduate Certificate in University Teaching (CUT) will be of value to you. This program, jointly sponsored by the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) and the Graduate School, is open to all UMSL graduate students (both masters and doctoral candidates), faculty, and graduate students from other campuses.
Faculty Learning Communities
Faculty Learning Communities are more highly structured than teaching circles but have many similarities to teaching circles in that they center around a common theme and aim to cross disciplines and create spaces to discuss teaching. The group typically consists of 8-12 faculty members and commits to meet for either a semester or an academic year, and works towards a tangible output of some kind. That product can take many forms, such as a scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) project, a shared repository of resources, or another relevant output of the group. If you are interested in pursuing the formation of a faculty learning community around a topic of interest, please email us at ctl@umsl.edu.
HyFlex Consultations
HyFlex (Hybrid Flexible) is an innovative teaching modality designed to make a class available to students in a variety of formats: in-person, online synchronous (through Zoom), and online asynchronous (through Canvas). UMSL is offering a limited number of these courses each semester. The faculty who teach in HyFlex must complete a set of training through the CTL, in partnership with UMSL Information Technology Services and UM Academic Technology.
Online Quality Course Review (QCR)
Online courses must complete the Quality Course Review (QCR) process before launch and undergo re-review every 5 years to ensure compliance with national accreditation standards. The QCR checklist verifies that courses focus on student-centered engagement and proper alignment with certification requirements.
Online Teaching Certification
The Online Teaching Certification Seminar is a required 6-week asynchronous course that all faculty must complete before teaching online, covering topics like course alignment, student-centered design, and engagement strategies. Instructors must recertify every 5 years through a streamlined process that includes core essentials plus two specialized modules chosen from 20 available options to stay current with evolving technologies and best practices.
Professional Development Sprints
Sprints are self-paced professional development mini-courses that help faculty improve their online teaching skills across four key areas: course design, assessment strategies, building community, and learner-centered practices. Each course takes about 3 hours to complete and includes reviewing current research, creating practical materials, and receiving personalized support from a CTL Instructional Designer.
Reflective Teaching Communities
Reflective Teaching Communities (RTCs) emphasize peer support, collaboration, and reflection, not evaluation, and intend to support teaching as a cooperative project. Grouped with faculty with similar teaching interests from a variety of disciplines, participants engage in class observation and feedback in order to discover new ideas and insights for teaching.
Teaching Circles
Pat Hutchings, in her book Making Teaching Community Property, defines a teaching circle as “a small group of faculty who make a commitment to work together over a period of at least a semester to address questions and concerns about the particulars of their teaching and their students' learning.” We currently have one teaching circle that meets regularly over the academic year (see below). If you are interested in forming a teaching circle that centers around a particular topic and would like help making connections and launching it, please contact the CTL at ctl@umsl.edu.
The Part-time Faculty Teaching Circle is an opportunity for part-time (also known as adjunct) faculty to engage with other part-time faculty and tackle those challenging teaching questions pertinent to this group. Our goal is to build a supportive community to help connect you to the campus and campus resources. Topics are selected by our Advisory Group, made up of members of the community such as yourself. The Advisory Group meets twice a year to review the success of the previous semester's sessions and set the agenda for the upcoming semester. The agenda of sessions is set at the start of each semester. If you are interested in joining or have any questions, please contact Jen McKanry at mckanryj@umsl.edu.
THRIVE - Teaching Hub and Resources for Instructional Versatility and Excellence
THRIVE is a pedagogical development community for early career faculty (those in their first five years of teaching) across all UMSL colleges and appointment types. During monthly Zoom meetings, participants will discuss teaching strategies, try out activities for use in class, and share concerns and ideas.
