Pathways to Expertise in Student-Centered College Teaching

Scholar in Student-Centered College Teaching:
Completion Steps and Submitting to the Engaged Teaching Scholar Showcase

What does it take to be named an Engaged Teaching Scholar?

Engaged Teaching Scholars are an exemplary group of graduate student and postdoc instructors who have already completed all of the pedagogical training for the Specialist in Student-Centered College Teaching certificate, and then go the additional steps to implement this training as an instructor, reflect on their teaching, and then share their insights with other instructors.

Scholar in Student-Centered College Teaching is the highest level in the Expertise in Student-Centered College Teaching program, and comes with a letter of recognition that outlines the accomplishments of achieving this level.

Earning this recognition involves having completed three interconnected parts that draw from and build on the pedagogical training involved in the Specialist level:

Part 1: Application of teaching knowledge in an independent teaching experience
- Outcome 1: Facilitate a teaching experience that implements evidence-based practices, including teaching with an awareness of how people learn, using assessments aligned to learning outcomes, and actively creating an inclusive and equitable environment.
Part 2: Reflection and assessment of a teaching experience in a community of instructors
- Outcome 2a: Reflect on the application of and observation of equitable and evidence-based teaching practices as part of a learning community of instructors.
- Outcome 2b: Write a teaching statement that distills and articulates one’s own concepts of teaching and learning, and the significance to their teaching experience.
Part 3: Create a teaching artifact to share with the larger teaching community through an online showcase
- Outcome 3: Create a scholarly and reflective teaching artifact based on assessment of their teaching experience that advances shared knowledge of effective pedagogy and/or scholarship.

How do I level up from Specialist to Scholar?

The Scholar level does not require additional pedagogy training, but instead asks you to both reflect on an independent teaching experience and contribute to an online Scholar Showcase to advance shared knowledge of effective teaching practices. If you are also a Summer Graduate Teaching Scholar, you likely only have the showcase contribution remaining to complete.

To earn Scholar recognition, for instructors who have already completed the Specialist level, your next steps are to:

[Part 1] Teach as a course instructor or another independent teaching experience

- Ideally, this will involve teaching as a course instructor at UCSD or another institution. To teach as a course instructor, please contact your department and/or consider the Summer Graduate Teaching Scholar program. You might also look into UCSD Academic Connections or consider teaching at a local community college.
- If you will not have the opportunity to teach as instructor of record, please contact Engaged Teaching (engagedteaching@ucsd.edu) to propose another teaching experience in which you will have agency to design and implement teaching strategies as the primary instructor.

[Part 2] Discuss your teaching experience with a community of instructors and submit a teaching statement

- Find a community of instructors to talk with: this might come from participating in teaching community meetings/chat with Engaged Teaching (or other teaching community in your discipline), meeting with an Engaged Teaching Graduate Teaching Consultant, participating in Peer Review of Teaching, regularly meeting with a faculty mentor, etc. Ideally this takes place during your teaching experience, but can also come after.
  - - For example - Summer Graduate Teaching Scholars and other summer instructors: This would be fulfilled if you engage with the Summer Teacher's Lounge, Peer Review of Teaching program, SGTS Google Chat Space, SET/Portfolio workshop, or SGTS End of Summer Celebration.
- Draft and submit a teaching statement after your teaching experience
  - - Submit on the form below (where you will submit your showcase contribution)
    - For guidance on drafting a teaching statement: resources and writing consultations.
    - If you are a Summer Graduate Teaching Scholar, your final reflection can serve in place of this.

[Part 3] Create a teaching artifact to contribute to the Engaged Teaching Scholar Showcase

- You might create an Annotated Syllabus, Teaching Portfolio, Teaching Strategy Highlight, Blog or Scholarship of Teaching and Learning publication. Read more about options to contribute by expanding the next section.
- Submit your contribution here (this form is required for your letter of recognition to be created)

What exactly can I contribute to the Engaged Teaching Scholar Showcase? [expand for details]

Why contribute to the Showcase?

For you: You get to create an artifact that provides a snapshot of your reflective and scholarly teaching practice. This also contributes to earning the title of Scholar in Student-Centered College Teaching. Both the artifact itself and the letter of recognition for the Scholar level can be included in your teaching portfolio and listed on your CV.
For others: You contribute to an online repository of high-quality teaching resources that fellow instructors might adapt, utilize, or be inspired by.

What can I contribute?

Options to contribute to the Showcase include any or all of the following (submit here when ready!):

Annotated Syllabus: The syllabus can communicate many pedagogical choices, including course design, expectations, policies, and initial tone to connect with students.
1. Add highlights and reflective notes either directly on your syllabus (by adding comments on the document itself) and/or on an associated document with clear references to sections of the syllabus.
2. Please highlight/ add notes for at least 5-6 intentional choices you made - briefly share 1) why you made that choice (feel free to cite relevant literature!), 2) how it went in practice, and 3) what you would keep or change next time you might teach this course.
3. Examples: Did you have a course policy that you were grateful to have in place? A policy you wish you would have thought of or would change next time? Did your grading plan work well or need tweaks? Particular phrasing you would adjust or keep?
Teaching Portfolio: Submit a teaching portfolio that includes at least a teaching statement, sample syllabus, and a summary of your SETs. Suggestions for the portfolio can be found here.
Teaching Strategy Highlight: Is there an activity, assessment, strategy, or policy you are proud of or that you think others might appreciate implementing? Complete this teaching highlight document to share it with future instructors in a ready-to-use format. (Did you already publish something like this elsewhere? You are welcome to share that instead.)
Blog or Scholarship of Teaching and Learning publication: You might wish to publish a blog reflection about your teaching experience (ideally incorporating at least a few literature resources) or perhaps you did some research on your classroom and published that– please share with us! You can share the link and we will compile these in a shared space.

I've done all the steps and I'm ready to submit my Scholar materials - where do I do that?

- Click here for the form to submit your teaching artifact and teaching statement/ reflection! (this form is also required for your letter of recognition to be created). Feel free to email Erilynn at engagedteaching@ucsd.edu with any questions.

FAQs [expand for details]

What is the “online repository” for the showcase?

Our plan is to eventually make this a more formal online repository, either through a google site, escholarship, etc. For now it is a google drive folder -- simple, yet shareable to the incoming cohorts of UC San Diego instructors through Engaged Teaching programs!

Who will see the showcase content?

The intention of contributing to the showcase is to advance shared knowledge of effective pedagogy, and you can choose what type of artifact you are most interested in and comfortable sharing with other instructors.

Initially the showcase will shared through a folder or site only accessible by ucsd.edu emails (for access by current and future UCSD instructors, such as those in Advanced College Teaching/ Summer Graduate Teaching Scholars).

We will not move your showcase contribution(s) to an external facing site without your permission, either via the initial submission form or after being contacted later. You are welcome to update or anonymize your contribution at any point as well - just email engagedteaching@ucsd.edu.

How would I cite this on my CV/ resume?

This depends how you have your CV/resume arranged, but this might go either under a section such as “Recognition/Awards” or “Professional Development”:

Scholar in Student-Centered College Teaching

Scholar Showcase Contribution: Annotated Syllabus of XYZ (or title of your showcase submission)

Letter of Recognition awarded by the UC San Diego Teaching and Learning Commons, Summer 2025

You can also list your Specialist certificate (from completing Advanced College Teaching) - that might go under “Professional Development”, “Relevant Training”, or a similar section:

Specialist in Student-Centered College Teaching (you could link this to the digital badge of your certificate or to this site)

Certificate of Recognition awarded by the UC San Diego Teaching and Learning Commons, Spring 2025

Can I submit more than one teaching artifact?

Absolutely! You can contribute as many as you like - if you have something to add later, you're welcome to come back and add more.

I’m interested in the blog post option - what might that look like?

A few past Summer Instructors have written blog posts on their teaching experiences (both the good and the tough parts), feel free to read if you’d like: Engaged Teaching and Learning: Ready, Set, Action! (Blog by Melissa Troyer, SGTS 2017); This Shit was Hard: Thoughts from Teaching my First College Course (Blog by Richard Gao, SGTS 2019)

How is this similar or different to the Summer Graduate Teaching Scholar title?

You become a Summer Graduate Teaching Scholar by participating in the SGTS program. The Expertise in Student-Centered College Teaching program is intentionally aligned/overlapping with SGTS requirements. Those in SGTS have already completed the Specialist level (SGTS pedagogy training), Part 1 (engaging with the SGTS summer teaching community and with a faculty mentor), and Part 2 (the SGTS final reflection). SGTS instructors generally only need to complete Part 3 to earn the additional recognition as Scholar in Student-Centered College Teaching.

What if I didn’t submit the SGTS reflection or wasn’t in SGTS?

No worries! All UCSD graduate students and postdocs who complete the required components are eligible to earn the Scholar in Student-Centered College Teaching recognition. When you submit the showcase artifact, you will also submit a ~1-2 page reflection or teaching statement that discusses the following prompts:

Your growth as a teacher, and how you achieved this growth.
What your goals for the course were, and how you designed the course to achieve these goals.
What worked well (and how do you know)
What did not work well (how do you know) / Areas for improvement

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Scholar in Student-Centered College Teaching: Completion Steps and Submitting to the Engaged Teaching Scholar Showcase