Eligibility & Requirements

Eligibility

Membership in the Teaching Certificate Program requires nomination by a candidate’s Division Chief, Department Chair, or Supervisor. Calls for nomination for 2024-2026 program is now open through September 3, 2024. For more information, please contact us at medicaleducation@childrens.harvard.edu. Individuals may not self-nominate.

Requirements

Program requirements include the following (estimated as 3 hours of commitment per month):

  • Participating in 10 professional development sessions over 2 years focusing on the understanding and application of clinical teaching principles. Certificate members are strongly encouraged to attend the 10 seminars in person. If a member misses the annual seminar for two consecutive years due to unforeseen reasons, the Program will provide one-week access to the session recording.
  • Engaging in preparatory work for the sessions and submitting post-reflection assignments
  • Partnering with other certificate members to engage in discussion of relevant educational topics
  • Observing a master teacher in a clinical teaching setting and debriefing the observation
  • Being observed and receiving personalized feedback 
  • Meeting with a senior educator as a coach, who will discuss the certificate member’s teaching goals and progress, 2 sessions, plus 1 session with Lori and Katie to discuss career goals in health professions education

The professional development sessions focus on the following core topics. We are currently developing online alternatives for many of the sessions.

  • Understanding and applying adult learning principles
  • Leading interactive teaching sessions
  • Providing effective learner feedback
  • Designing and evaluating teaching sessions
  • Teaching critical thinking skills
  • Effectively supervising trainees and students

In addition, teaching certificate members are automatically accepted into the BCH Academy for Teaching and Educational Innovation and Scholarship. Certificate members are encouraged to attend the monthly BCH Academy seminar series.

Teaching Certification may be attained over a two-year cycle.