PhD Students Teaching Academy

United Arab Emirates University recognizes that excellence in teaching contributes to the development of happy, thriving and successful students. Accordingly, CETL supports UAEU’s faculty, instructors, and Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) through the provision of regular professional development opportunities, both online and face-to-face. CETL also offers a selection of certificate programs to enhance instruction at the University. 

Ph.D. Students Teaching Academy Program (STAP), also referred to as ‘The PhD Teaching Academy’ is a rigorous blended program utilizing a flipped classroom approach. It provides foundational education theory and, more importantly, hands-on experience that cultivates the necessary critical and creative thinking of Ph.D. students hoping to pursue teaching careers in academia. Graduates of The Ph.D. Teaching Academy should find they are able to confidently and effectively engage large and small classes, utilizing a range of teaching and learning pedagogies, instructional technologies, and internationally recognized best practices.

The PhD Teaching Academy integrates two main approaches over one semester. The first prepares the Ph.D. student for the considerable expectations usually placed on a highly effective instructor through 10 face-to-face classroom sessions (approx. 2.5 hours each). The second exposes the Ph.D. student to the culture, professional practices outside the classroom and the exigencies of the life of a university instructor. This is accomplished concurrently through a full semester of mentorship with a professor selected from your college. Those students who successfully complete The Ph.D. Students Teaching Academy program will have taken the first steps towards qualifying to become a future faculty at United Arab Emirates University.

The Ph.D. Teaching Academy program is founded on the reality that it is common for graduate students to provide instruction in addition to their research and coursework. Teaching enables graduate students to potentially develop a range of transferable skills and accumulate vital work experience that can benefit them should they choose a career in academia. Teaching experience, when coupled with up-to-date learning theory, self-reflection, and a supportive mentor relationship, not only helps graduate students more effectively communicate their research findings to a wider range of audiences, it produces more effective educators and enriches the student experience.