The Teaching Scholars Program affords advanced graduate students — those who have already received the M.Phil. — the opportunity to prepare and teach independently a course of their own devising.
Students may apply to teach a course either during the academic year or during the summer term.
How to Apply
A complete application includes the following:
- A completed application form (.pdf)
- A proposed course summary, which includes the following:
- Course title
- A one-paragraph course description, suitable for the course bulletin, including any prerequisites
- Rationale for proposed course and its role in the departmental curriculum, with emphasis on innovative aspects of the course
- Proposed course details, including the following:
- Full course description, including designation of main topics, themes, sections of the course
- Top course learning objectives, specifying specific skills and expertise that students will gain
- Identification of unique resources (at Columbia, in New York City, elsewhere) engaged by the course
- Syllabus, to include
- Designation of required and recommended materials
- Week-by-week schedule of reading assignments
- Full description and schedule of all other assigned activities
- Assessment criteria
- A teaching profile, which includes the following:
- List of teaching experience, both formal and informal, to date
- Description of teaching development activities at Columbia and elsewhere
- Description of your teaching strengths, strategies, style – anchored by example(s) or representative anecdote(s)
- Brief indication of the relation of proposed course to your research
- Representative sample of recent evaluations of your teaching, if available
Selection Criteria
- Intellectual quality and coherency of the course
- Strategic design of assignments and other engagements of students
- Innovative use of resources that may be available to students through Columbia University or New York City (cultural or governmental institutions, research opportunities, presentations by relevant local figures, etc.).
- Purposeful use of digital tools and resources
- Fit within department for majors
- Applicant’s active participation in GSAS and other teaching development programs
- Applicant’s ability to deliver proposed course while making progress towards doctorate