What are the requirements for the PFF Certificate?
| 1 | Develop a CV, obtain feedback from a faculty mentor, and revise the CV based on feedback. |
| 2 | Complete a semester-long mentored teaching experience. |
| 3 | Participate in and reflect on 6 professional development activities related to preparing for an academic career, three of which must be PFF-sponsored events.* |
| 4 | Develop an ePortfolio that, at a minimum, will include your CV, reflections on your participation in the 6 professional development activities (one reflection per activity), and a reflection on your mentored teaching experience. |
| 5 | Submit via e-mail to Dr. Wie Yusuf (jyusuf@odu.edu) your completed PFF Certificate materials as well as a link to your ePortfolio. |
* We encourage you to attend PFF events in person, so that you can meet other graduate students and interact more closely with event participants. However, you can also participate via web conference here.
Completed details about PFF Certificate requirements are available in this downloadable document.
Note: The requirements above apply for graduate students and post-doctoral who began the PFF program after January 1, 2018. If you began the PFF Certificate prior to January 1, 2018 you can remain under the previous PFF Certificate requirements here.
How can I complete the mentored teaching-related experience?
This mentored experience must be for a minimum of one semester during which the student works with a faculty member to focus on teaching issues and processes.
You must document completion of the mentored teaching experience by posting to your ePortfolio a description of the teaching activities completed and your reflection on the experience.
The requirement may be met in ONE of the following ways:
| Serving as a Teaching Assistant or Course Instructor (teaching a course or serving as a TA for a lecture, discussion group, or lab session). | OR Working under a teaching mentor for one semester (including activities such as developing a course syllabus, identifying course readings, developing assignments or class activities, giving guest lectures, visiting classrooms at ODU and other institutions, and reading teaching-related literature). |
| OR Completing a course on teaching in your discipline. The course should be related specifically to the process of teaching and not to specific content in the discipline. Pre-approval to count a course towards the PFF certificate should be obtained from the Career Pathways Steering Committee Chair. | OR Completing the 6-week long course Foundational Strategies for Effective Online Teaching offered by ODU’s Center for Learning and Teaching (see clt.odu.edu for more information). |
The Career Pathways Steering Committee is aware that not all graduate students serve as GTAs involved in teaching. Students who want to complete the PFF Certificate should identify a teaching mentor in their department who would be willing to work with them to complete the PFF Certificate requirement. The Career Pathways Steering Committee Chair may assist students in identifying or arranging a mentored teaching experience.
Where can I find more information about the Professional Development Activities?
Follow our Announcement and Upcoming Events to stay up-to-date on Career Pathways and related professional development activities.
What information do I need to provide for the Professional Development Activity Reflections?
*To receive credit for attending PFF events, you must post a short reflection in your ePortfolio.
Your reflection must address the following:
| A | What three lessons/key points did you take away from this event? |
| B | What one question remains unanswered? If you have no unanswered questions, what one key piece of advice would you offer a colleague about the topics and issues addressed in this event? |
| C | How has this event better prepared you for the research, teaching, and service expectations and demands of a faculty member? |