SGPS 9500 The Theory and Practice of University Teaching

SGPS 9500: The Theory and Practice of University Teaching is an interdisciplinary, for-credit, pass/fail graduate course that introduces graduate students to the theories, practices, and contemporary issues of post-secondary teaching. Together with the course instructors, you will explore teaching elements such as course design, active learning, and assessment. We will also engage in current and pressing conversations in higher education, including critical digital pedagogies, decolonial approaches to teaching, and proactive accessibility practices, all while critically considering the possible futures of university teaching and learning. 

This course offers participants the opportunity to deepen their engagement in teaching theory and practice through small-group microteaching sessions, constructive peer feedback, case study development, and the creation of professional teaching artefacts, such as teaching philosophy statements. You will also develop either a teaching dossier or course outline. Together, we will engage with the scholarship of teaching and learning alongside reflection on lived experiences to inform and strengthen our teaching practices. By the end of the course, you will have explored reflective, values-aligned, and evidence-informed approaches to teaching that can be applied across diverse disciplinary contexts. 

This course will run during the winter semester in person on Tuesdays from 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM in-person. 

Please note that this course is only open to graduate students from across Western University. Once the course cap has been reached (30), registrants will be placed on a waiting list in case other registrants should cancel prior to the beginning of the course. The deadline to register in this course is Monday, November 30, 2026. Registrants will be added to the OWL Brightspace page at the end of the fall semester, prior to the winter closure. 

This course meets the microteaching requirement for the Western Certificate in University Teaching and Learning. The teaching philosophy, as well as the dossier or course outline can also be used in your final written submissions for the Certificate. If you have any questions about the status of your registration in this course, please email us at ctl@uwo.ca.