Aalto University pedagogical training for faculty

The aim of pedagogical training is to strengthen the learning-centred culture, enhance the quality of teaching and learning, and support the development of teachers’ pedagogical expertise at Aalto.

The basis of pedagogical training is the participants themselves as experts in their own fields and in their interest in teaching development. All exercises and development tasks are closely connected to the participants' own teaching work, enabling an inquiry-based approach to improving one’s teaching within one’s discipline.

Our teaching groups are multidisciplinary, allowing educators from different fields to enrich their own teaching with diverse perspectives on education and its development. 

Using active learning methods, we promote a development-oriented approach to learning and teaching at Aalto. The methods include e.g., participatory contact sessions, group work during and between the teaching sessions, independent development tasks, and various online learning approaches.
 

Learning outcomes

After having completed the core courses (20 ECTS), you will be able to

1. Identify main concepts of university pedagogy and factors affecting learning and teaching.
2. Describe and explain your pedagogical approach.
3. Plan, implement, assess and develop teaching considering the alignment.
4. Identify and systematically utilise relevant feedback data and self-reflection in the development of your teaching.
5. Observe and evaluate teaching in different learning environments.
6. Participate in pedagogical dialogue in a multidisciplinary group and share your competence and good practices.
    

The training is intended for Aalto University teaching staff and is free of charge. It provides an excellent opportunity to network with other educators and to become familiar with Aalto’s teaching and learning culture. We encourage all those in teaching roles and interested in developing their teaching to apply for the courses.

Additionally, if it has been a long time since your previous pedagogical studies, participating in the course can be a good way to update your expertise.

If there are more enrolled participants than the courses can accommodate, we prioritise individuals appointed on tenure and lecturer tracks and those who have a lot of own teaching responsibilities.

• The course offerings for the autumn semester is published and registration opens in mid-May.
• The course offerings for the spring semester is published and registration opens in mid-November.

Registration for Aalto's pedagogical courses is done via a Webropol form, linked to the relevant course's event page on aalto.fi. You can find a list of these course event pages in the news article above.

Please note that registration cannot be completed through the Sisu or Workday systems.

Registration for courses closes approximately 3–4 weeks before the course begins. Participants will receive confirmation of their acceptance or rejection about 2–3 weeks before the course starts.

Competence is what matters, not where it is acquired. If you have already completed pedagogical studies at another organization, you already have the necessary expertise and can demonstrate your acquired skills with official documents from that particular organization. In Aalto University's teaching competence assessment process, any pedagogical training or competence acquired by any organization is considered an advantage. ​

However, Aalto's pedagogical training provides an excellent opportunity to network with other educators and become familiar with Aalto's teaching and learning culture, which is why we recommend participation in the courses for everyone. ​

Also, if it has been a long time since your previous pedagogical studies, it may be beneficial to attend a course to update your skills.

A! Peda Intro is an introductory course for Aalto's pedagogical studies, laying the foundation for other pedagogical courses, familiarizing participants with Aalto's learning culture, and networking with other Aalto members. Therefore, we highly recommend participation in A! Peda Intro, even if you have completed a similar course at another institution.​

If you have completed a similar course elsewhere, please contact the course instructors to confirm your eligibility for the courses. ​

There is no need to transfer pedagogical studies completed elsewhere to Aalto as they are recognized as they are.

We do not transfer credits for pedagogical studies completed elsewhere because: ​

• Competence is what matters, not where it is acquired. If you have already completed pedagogical studies at another organization, you already have the necessary expertise and can demonstrate your acquired skills with official documents from the particular organization. ​

• Aalto University does not offer a degree in pedagogy (e.g., 60 ECTS teacher pedagogical qualification), for which pedagogical studies could be transferred, so there is no need to transfer studies completed elsewhere.

The completion of a pedagogical course can be evidenced with the transcript of records together with the course description. You can print your own transcript of records from Sisu, and the course description should be available for download in the course workspace in MyCourses.

You can also request a certificate for completing Aalto's pedagogical studies. To be eligible, you must have completed at least 20 credits of pedagogical courses at the Aalto University, such as four core courses. Please note that all completed courses must be registered in Sisu before submitting the certificate request form.

The certificates are signed by the Vice President of Education two times a year:

• To get your certificate in June, please send the request by the end of May
• To get your certificate in December, please send the request by the end of November
   

→ Click here to proceed to the certificate application form

For further questions, please contact MyTeachingSupport

We offer pedagogical courses at Aalto University as staff training with varying amounts of credits annually, but it is not possible to complete a 60-credit teacher pedagogical qualification at Aalto. Several educational institutions in Finland offer the 60-credit pedagogical studies. You can find more information about this on the Studyinfo / Opintopolku website. ​

Recognition of prior learning and other previously acquired expertise are always handled on a case-by-case basis by each institution, according to their specific credit transfer policies. Therefore, Aalto's pedagogical studies are not directly transferred as part of pedagogical studies at any other institution. However, it is possible that the pedagogical studies completed at Aalto University may be utilized as part of completing a degree.

In the design of the core courses offered by Aalto University, we have considered the offerings of pedagogical studies at other universities in Finland, and the main contents of our courses are aligned with the content of basic pedagogical studies offered by other Finnish universities. We regularly engage in discussions about the provision of pedagogical studies and their equivalence, for example, with the University of Helsinki. ​

The core pedagogical courses at Aalto University are designed to provide sequential support for the development of competence and to provide a comprehensive understanding and basic knowledge of university pedagogy, as well as to support teachers in the planning and development of their own teaching.