Certificate in College Teaching (CCT)

1. Click here to review the core competencies.
2. Speak with their adviser or another music faculty member to obtain an agreement to be the music faculty mentor.
3. Develop a draft plan of activities and timeline to attain each competency.
4. Complete the Application Materials. Fill out the College Teaching Portfolio checklist. Click here to link to the CCT Requirements webpage where you can download the checklist document.
5. Send the materials via email to Mitchell Robinson, associate professor of music education for review and approval. The chair of the music education area will review the College’s recommendation with the Graduate School.
6. If approved by the College, submit a Graduate Certificate Application to the Graduate School.  Log in as a returning user and use the credentials you initially used when you applied for admission to your current degree.  Once logged in, start a new application, and select Graduate Certificate as the type of application.  There is an application fee.  Prior to paying, send an email to MUSIC.admissions@msu.edu to request the fee be waived.
7. Send a copy of the approved college application (from #5 above) to the Secretary of Graduate Studies (musgrad@msu.edu) for College records.

Eligibility: students must be in an M.A., M.M., D.M.A., or Ph.D. program in the College of Music and have a commitment to developing their teaching competence.

Application to Certificate in College Teaching Program

Interested students should consult with the College CCT coordinator (contact information below) about certification requirements. Applicants must:

1. Complete the CCT Application Form. Click here to download the pdf.
2. Write a Statement of Interest, expressing a commitment to the program.
3. Obtain a letter of support from the student’s graduate research advisor/major professor.

Submit these materials electronically to:
Dr. Mitchell Robinson
Associate Professor of Music Education
College of Music
208 Music Practice Building
East Lansing, MI 48824

Certificate in College Teaching Course Work

CCT participants must complete MUS 964: College Music Teaching Seminar (2 credits, fall of even years/spring of even years) with a grade of 3.0 or higher. The course is described below:

Certificate in College Teaching Core Areas of Competency

While working on the Five Core Competencies, students should:

1. Be diligent in recording their work (e.g., attending workshops, completing a class) related to each competency. Click here to browse a list of potential upcoming CCT program seminars.
2. Write the reflection required as soon as possible after each competency is completed.
3. Be sure to complete steps required by the Graduate School for specific competencies (e.g., mentored teaching project worksheet, portfolio checklist).
4. Work closely and regularly with your music faculty mentor.
5. Enroll in MUS 964: College Music Teaching Seminar.
6. Maintain all work in a portfolio. Click here to review a variety of portfolio samples from the Graduate School, including resources on how to create ePortfolios.

The CCT program was assembled around the following five core competency areas:

Competency in these five core areas is a requirement of the CCT. Participation in workshops, seminars, specific courses, course-specific training programs and professional meetings may count toward completion of the core areas. Each of these competencies can be satisfied through the course work, assignments and activities required in MUS 964. However, participation in additional activities is strongly encouraged

Certificate in College Teaching Mentored Teaching Experience

The Mentored Teaching Experience is a requirement for all students enrolled in MUS 964, and is meant to be an opportunity for students to work closely with a faculty mentor(s) to broaden their teaching experiences and develop their teaching skills. The Mentored Teaching Experience MUST go beyond simple laboratory or grading assignments. It should culminate in a Teaching Project developed by the graduate student in conjunction with a faculty member and focused on one aspect of teaching (i.e. testing, curriculum development, etc.). The project should include:

1. A proposal, which will be approved by the instructor and faculty mentor
2. The work of the project itself
3. A reflection on the project written by the student to be included in the portfolio
4. A review of the project by the faculty mentor. The Teaching Project can focus on one of many aspects of college teaching, depending on the possibilities and preferences of the student and faculty mentor. (Optional: Students may also wish to document their project with a paper intended for publication on a topic regarding an issue in higher education in music; bibliography must contain a minimum of 10 citations. Also submit a list of the possible journals to which you plan to submit the article.)

Certificate in College Teaching Portfolio

The teaching portfolio that is required of all students enrolled in MUS 964 will demonstrate and document the participant’s accomplishments and growth during the CCT. The CCT program coordinator will review and evaluate the portfolio, initiating discussions of the contents with the program participant where appropriate. The completed portfolio should be a high quality, professional document that may be used by the participant as evidence of teaching experience during future interviews for academic positions.
Each student will prepare and submit the following items, which will be included in the Teaching Portfolio (click here to link to the CCT Requirements webpage where you can download the portfolio checklist):

• A complete curriculum vitae and a cover letter; the cover letter should be designed with the type of job or position you hope to secure in mind.
• Mentored Teaching Experience: see above.
• College Degree Program Status Study Project: Choose a college/university music education program that you either know well or would like to know more about, and, through web search, email queries, phone conversations and other forms of “snooping,” gather information on either bachelors or masters level degree programs. Possible lines of inquiry include:
  • Type(s) of degrees offered (BA, BM, BS, BFA, BMEd; MA, MM, MFA, MMEd, etc.), and how are the same/different
  • Accreditation held, from what body (national ass.–NASM, NCATE (National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education), Teacher Education Accreditation Council, Accreditation Committee; state boards—Professional Standards Commission of the State of Georgia (PSC), etc.
  • Barriers/standards for getting in (entrance requirements), moving up (admittance to music ed/college of ed, etc) and getting out (graduation requirements)
  • Whether the degree(s) is/are tracked (vocal, instrumental, etc.) or untracked
  • Nature of student teaching experience (semester or full-year, single or multiple placements)
  • 4 year vs. 5 year, results in B or M?
  • Is certification offered at graduate level?
  • # of credits required
• Course Design Project:  Drawing on the assigned readings and class activities, you will design an undergraduate, semester-long course in your field and write much of the supporting material.You should choose a course that you realistically expect to teach in your first year as a faculty member, such as the introductory course to your discipline, a near-universal general-education/service course, or an upper-division core course for the major.  Your course design will help you shine in job interviews some day. You should choose your course as soon as possible in the semester so that you can start making basic “design” decisions, beginning with your textbook/book selections.   Since you won’t have time to build relationships with publishing houses, ask faculty in your department to let you browse through their textbook/course-book collections.  They usually receive more complimentary copies “for course consideration” than they know what to do with.  Your department may also have its own library of course-relevant books. Your project should include the following components:
  • A complete course syllabus, following the guidelines and models discussed in class.  Decide on a specific year and semester (current or future), and insert all the expected holidays in the schedule.  Assume the following: a three-credit-hour undergraduate course that meets MWF for 50 minutes OR TuTh for 75 minutes; a  reasonable class size of 25-150, depending on the course; no TA, but 25 hours of  grader time for a course over 100.  Make up your office location, office hours (at least three per week), and everything else you need to bring realism to your syllabus and course design.  Do not, however, make up books and articles that do not exist.
  • A one-page graphic syllabus of the course visually representing its organization.
  • A class-by-class listing of your classroom activities in which at least half the classes are primarily “student-active.”  This means that most or all of a class period revolves around a modified lecture, directed discussion on a specific topic, one or more small-group activities, one or more writing exercises, web research,  solving a case or other kind of problem, a problem-based learning exercise, a role  play, a simulation or game, a service learning or field work assignment, student  peer feedback, etc.  Be sure to describe each student-active element in sufficient detail – for example: Monday, October 1:  Modified lecture on sight-reading approaches.   Midway I will pose the question, “What methods would be appropriate in regard to developmentally appropriate practice guidelines and what we know from research about how children learn music?”  Student groups of 3-4 will have three minutes to develop an answer, and I will call randomly on 5 groups.  Disagreements should spur class discussion for another 10 minutes.
  • An original supporting class handout that presents a lesson/knowledge graphically, in addition to the graphics syllabus.  This item could be in the form of a poster, a PowerPoint presentation, or another graphic representation. It should serve to visually depict, clarify, elucidate, explain, complement, analyze, synthesize, simplify, or summarize materials presented in an assigned reading, your lectures, or your student-active classroom activities.
  • At least two different assessment techniques.  Be sure that these measures constitute an “authentic” approach to assessment, and derive data that are useful in understanding the nature and extent of student learning.  They are for your informational benefit as an instructor and are not graded.
  • The final exam (two hours or take-home) or capstone assignment (if a final exam is inappropriate for your student-learning objectives), plus a grading key or rubric.  The exam or assignment should be cumulative and comprehensive, and most importantly, it should reflect your ultimate student-learning objectives for  your course.  Your final exam (if you choose this option) should include a variety of assessment items: some multiple-choice, some true-false, some matching or fill-in-the blanks, some short-answer or identifications items, and a short essay.

Completing your Certificate in College Teaching

The CCT participant must complete and illustrate competency in the above requirements to earn the Certification in College Teaching. The CCT program coordinator, along with the faculty mentor, will consult with the participant to develop a program appropriate for the student. The CCT program coordinator will determine when the participant has met all the CCT requirements. Upon completion of the program, the participant will receive a certificate from the College of Music and Michigan State University indicating the participant’s knowledge about and experience in teaching at the college level. Note: the participant will not receive a degree or state certification in teaching. Participation in the CCT program will also result in a notation on the participant’s transcript.

After completing all requirements, students should:

1. Organize all their work in a portfolio and review for clarity and accuracy.
2. Use the Graduate School checklist to ensure that all competencies are documented in the portfolio.
3. Submit to music faculty mentor for review and approval.
4. Send a final PDF copy of the portfolio and mentor approval to the Secretary for Graduate Studies in the College of Music, who forwards the complete portfolio to the Graduate School after review.
5. Notify the mentor, the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies, and the Secretary of Graduate Studies in the college when the Graduate School approves transcript designation.