The Center for Teaching and Learning offers a selection of courses to support graduate students’ work in the classroom and along their career path, including courses in pedagogy for teaching assistants and future faculty and communication courses for international students. Although the courses are open to students from any discipline, most CETL courses use permits to ensure the course is an appropriate fit for the graduate student before registration.

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TA Development Courses

CTL partners with interested schools to offer courses to support the development of teaching assistants. These courses are jointly designed by the schools and CTL and are taught by faculty or advanced graduate students in the academic unit.

CETL 8000 Graduate Teaching Assistant Preparation Sections: AP, BIO, CHM, EAS, ECE, MAT, COC, and PHYS This course is an introduction to the procedural information and practical skills needed to be an effective graduate teaching assistant. Offered fall and spring as needed by departments. This course is restricted to graduate TAs hired by the department offering the course. A corresponding course (CETL 2000) is offered for undergraduate TAs.

CETL 8801/8802 Communication Skills for International Teaching Assistants This course helps international students who will be TAs develop the skills and strategies to carry out teaching responsibilities for their departments and communicate more effectively with undergraduate students in their classes. The course focuses on language use for instructional purposes and provides an orientation to American classroom culture and basic pedagogy. Language goals for the participants include clearer pronunciation, appropriateness in presentation of information, interaction and rapport with students, and improved listening comprehension. See the Sample syllabus.

Tech to Teaching Courses

The Tech to Teaching certificate prepares graduate students and postdocs to teach in higher education. These courses are one way participants can satisfy the program’s learning outcomes.

Tech to Teaching Foundation Level Courses

Preference for these courses is given to members of Tech to Teaching. Additional students may enroll as space is available. Participants interested in joining Tech to Teaching should review the material on the website and then join the Tech to Teaching Canvas course.

CETL 8713 Fundamentals of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education In this highly interactive and practical course, graduate students explore and apply principles of learner-centered teaching that are based on research about how people learn. Through readings, lectures, activities, practice, and peer review, students will explore the principles of good teaching. This is usually the first course in the Tech to Teaching foundations level and can be taken for a letter grade or pass/fail. Registration requires a permit request. See the sample syllabus.

CETL 8717 Course Design for Higher Education In a well-designed course, instructors start with the end in mind as they make decisions about what and how to teach to support student learning. In this course, students learn the skills of backward design as they build their own course. Students’ portfolios will include a syllabus, assessment plan, sample lessons and assignments, and additional exposure to learner-centered teaching techniques that demonstrate their ability to design future curricula. This is usually the second course in the Tech to Teaching foundations level and can be taken for a letter grade or pass/fail. Registration requires a permit request. See the sample syllabus.

Fundamentals in Teaching and Learning for Postdocs Each spring, the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) offers a 10-week course exclusively for Georgia Tech postdoctoral scholars, focused on preparing you to teach in higher education. This non-credit course allows you to discuss and explore principles of effective teaching grounded in research about how people learn and who our students are. You will have the opportunity to explore how learning works, develop course materials in line with principles of good teaching practices, and engage with research on teaching and learning in a way that will inform your future work as an educator. By the end of the course, you should be able to synthesize your experiences and views into a statement of teaching philosophy that can be used for future professional activities (e.g., on the academic job market) and engage in teaching from an informed and educated perspective. The course is not for credit, open to postdoctoral scholars only, and satisfies all ten (10) foundation-level learning outcomes in Tech to Teaching. Offered in the spring semester only, register for this course through the CTL website. If you have any questions, please get in touch with Dr. Tammy M. McCoy at tammy.mccoy@gatech.edu.

Tech to Teaching Capstone

The Tech to Teaching Capstone is a mentored teaching experience for participants who have completed the foundation-level learning outcomes. Working with a faculty mentor, participants will gain insight into the realities of teaching a college course by serving as a co-instructor or instructor-of-record. In addition to teaching, participants will engage with peers in a weekly seminar to gather feedback, reflect on their teaching, learn about academic life at different types of institutions, and finalize their teaching philosophy statement.

The capstone is open only to Tech to Teaching members who have completed the foundation-level learning outcomes. Participants should make arrangements with their school to teach or co-teach a course and then complete the Tech to Teaching capstone application form. Students may elect to take the capstone seminar for credit or not-for-credit.

CETL 8718 Teaching Capstone Participants should register for CETL 8718 if they will serve as a co-instructor or an instructor-of-record. Prerequisite: completion of the foundation level of Teach to Teaching or approval by the Center for Teaching and Learning. Registration requires the capstone application.

Language Institute Courses

In partnership with the Language Institute, these CETL courses are available to international graduate students seeking support for oral and written communication in English. No permits are required to register for these courses.

CETL 8723 Academic Writing for International Graduate Students This course helps international graduate students enhance their academic writing skills in English through analysis and production of academic writing samples.

CETL 8797 Oral Communication for International Graduate Students In this class, students will work on fluency, accuracy, and appropriateness in spoken communication to prepare them to participate more effectively and confidently in their academic communities.

CETL 8796 Presentation Skills for International Graduate Students This is an advanced oral skills class designed to help graduate students improve their verbal ability in English for effective communication in academic/professional situations.

For additional language and culture resources, see the Language Institute.

CTL Course policies

Please review the following information before you request a permit for a course:

  1. Students must meet all of the course requirements for any course they request a permit for. 
  2. When a permit is issued, the student should receive an email.  However, students must use OSCAR as their confirmation that the permit has been issued. The permit will appear in OSCAR.
  3. CTL receives a large volume of permit requests, and all permits are processed manually by a person (not automatically and immediately by a computer), so the process takes time. See the CTL permit schedule posted at the top of this form.
  4. Permits allow the student to register for the course (if open). It is the student's responsibility to register for desired courses in OSCAR after receiving the permit. A permit does not obligate the student to take the course.
  5. OSCAR reports the number of available seats, not the number of available permits -- if you see seats open on OSCAR as registration approaches, please understand that other students might already be holding permits to register for those seats.
  6. Students choose to enroll in CETL 8713, CETL 8717, and CETL 8718 as graded or pass/fail. If the course is to be used toward the doctoral minor in higher education, the course must be graded. 

If, after reviewing the information above, you still have questions, email them to ctlhelp@gatech.edu.