Innovative Teaching Summer Institute
The Innovative Teaching Summer Institute (ITSI) is a four-day series of collaborative workshops, discussions, and shared reflections all centered on the use of emerging teaching practices and technologies to support effective teaching. ITSI is a unique opportunity for graduate student instructors to work with peers from a variety of disciplines, discuss pedagogical priorities, connect with resources and support, and develop themselves as innovative teachers. Completion of ITSI is certified by CTL and earns priority consideration for CTL fellowships. Program details are below.
Who is ITSI open to?
This program is open to all current Columbia University doctoral students. An upcoming teaching appointment is desirable, but not necessary to participate in the Summer Institute.
When and where will ITSI run?
The 2019 Innovative Teaching Summer Institute ran June 4 – 7 from 9:00 am – 4:00 pm. Our home base was the fifth floor of Barnard College’s Diana Center, with workshops on June 6 running across Columbia’s Morningside campus. ITSI 2020 will run in early June 2020.
What happens at ITSI?
The Innovative Teaching Summer Institute offers Columbia University doctoral students the opportunity to work with peers across disciplines to discuss pedagogy, explore emerging technologies, and develop themselves as innovative teachers. This institute is a collaborative endeavor, in which participants openly share work and ideas with each other.
ITSI fosters interdisciplinary discussion of educational paradigms, pedagogical design, and assessment strategies. Once participants have envisioned assignments with specific learning goals, they are introduced to a variety of digital tools and directed to campus and online resources to help them meet these goals. By the end of the Institute, all participants define, revise, and present an innovative assignment that exemplifies their instructional priorities. See pictures from last year’s ITSI.
At the conclusion of the Innovative Teaching Summer Institute, participants in all days of activities receive a letter of certifying participation that can be referenced on CVs and other descriptions of pedagogical preparation. Certified participants will have:
- Attended the complete Summer Institute program and completed short reflective assignments.
- Developed an innovative assignment to run in a future course, with evolving ideas documented in a series of posts on the Summer Institute website.
- Participated in discussions at the Institute in which they share their ideas for this assignment.
- Drafted language that reflects their teaching priorities as exemplified by their innovative assignment developed at the Summer Institute.
In addition to documenting teaching development, full Summer Institute participation qualifies doctoral students for several programs in the CTL:
- Eligibility to apply for the Teaching Observation Fellowship, a designation that entails a stipend and a series of activities during the academic year.
- Priority consideration for other competitive CTL opportunities, such as the Lead Teaching Fellows program.
- For those on the Advanced Track of CTL’s Teaching Development Program, completion of the Summer Institute satisfies the ‘intensive’ requirement.
The Institute is facilitated by the CTL’s Graduate Student Programs and Services team.
Who should I contact for more information?
Should you have any questions about this program, contact CTLgrads@columbia.edu.
What’s ITSI like? Watch the above video!
ITSI takes a sabbatical
We will not be able to offer ITSI in June 2020, due to COVID-19 disruptions. We look forward to ITSI coming back strong next year, shaped by experiences and insights gained from teaching online. In the meantime, join CTL’s mail list to be alerted about programs graduate students that are being offered online during Summer 2020.
“The biggest thing that impacted me at ITSI was conversation with my peers, and watching other people present their posters and pitch their assignments … seeing the enthusiasm and the love that really goes into people’s teaching and the creative ways in which they hope to make their students equally passionate about what matters to them.”
“ITSI changes your understanding of what teaching can be. People are often thrown into teaching, we don’t always appreciate that it’s a skill you can learn. Having this kind of supportive environment that really allows you to explore and push yourself, [along with] other people doing the same thing, is really inspiring, and it’s a rare experience. Once you go through this, you can then take that experience into your professional life.”
Past Institutes
June 3 – 7, 2019
2019 Summer Institute site (UNI access only)
June 11 – 14, 2018
2018 Summer Institute site (UNI access only)
June 12 – 15, 2017
2017 Summer Institute site (UNI access only)
June 13 – 16, 2016
2016 Summer Institute site (UNI access only)
June 15 – 18, 2015
2015 Summer Institute site (UNI access only)
June 16 – 19, 2014
2014 Summer Institute site (UNI access only)
June 11 – 13, 2013
2013 Summer Institute site (UNI access only)
The CTL is here for graduate students.
The Columbia Center for Teaching and Learning provides an array of support for graduate students in both their current and future teaching responsibilities.