About the courses
Introduction to Learning and Teaching (ILT) is an introductory suite of courses in higher education learning and teaching. It is aimed at anyone who has, or expects to have, a teaching, training, tutoring or laboratory-demonstrating role, or can be taken just out of interest by staff members, including PGTAs/PGRs, at the University of Birmingham.
- Postgraduate teaching assistants (PGTAs): the introduction to the programme, ILT001, is compulsory before starting to teach.
- These online courses are available to take on Canvas all year round and are refreshed every September.
- ILT001 takes up to six hours to complete. The remaining ILTs all take up to three hours each.
Choosing your ILT courses
- You can simply pick and choose any topics that are of interest.
- The courses all stand alone, but we recommend taking ILT001 first.
- If you take a total of five ILT courses, you are entitled to the Horizon Award (a certificate of attendance of at least five courses). When you have completed five or more, contact pgcertcoursebookings@contacts.bham.ac.uk to request your certificate.
- Once enrolled on a course, you will need to complete an ‘End of course activity’ to confirm completion. This is usually a discussion board or individual submission to encourage reflection. Participants are generally expected to complete the course by the end of the month they request to complete the course.
- For completers of ILT001, you will be asked to complete a short Microsoft Form and will receive a certificate of completion after this.
Courses available
There are eight courses available. Please see the full list, course descriptions, learning outcomes and registration information.
Requirements for PGTAs
- You must take ILT001 before you teach in order to be allowed to teach as a PGTA at the UoB.
- Under the University's Code of Practice on Teaching and Academic Support Provided by Registered Students you are not allowed to start teaching unless you have taken ILT001. The only exception is if your department has authorised an exemption e.g. based on higher education teaching qualifications.
- If you are asked to teach and have not taken your two ILTs yet, your department will pay for the six hours. If you have already taken them, there is no retrospective payment. If you are not sure about your status on the training and whether or not you will be paid, you should raise this with your department/School..