UMD CITS Teacher Responsibilities

  • Participate in annual course-specific training workshops (see more on annual workshops below)
  • Create an approved syllabus for the course that is shared with students and faculty liaison
  • Create and assign a paired-assessment
  • Participate in UMD campus visits and customized training
  • Inform students of testing dates and deadlines for papers and projects on the course syllabus, approved by the UMD faculty mentor prior to the beginning of the term.
  • Use UMD approved textbook(s) and curriculum
  • Use UMD course-specific grading rubric to determine UMD grades
  • Notify students of their progress on a routine basis
  • Post UMD grades on MyU Faculty Center, within 3 working days of the end of the course
  • Provide instructions to students on how to access the UMD approved online course evaluation module
  • Prior to the first year of teaching in the program, new CITS instructors work closely with their UMD faculty mentor and attend new instructor training/orientation

Annual Workshops

Workshop Attendance

CITS teachers are required to attend professional development workshops annually as part of the CITS program as well as for NACEP Accreditation. These events provide opportunities for UMD faculty liaisons and CITS instructors to engage in meaningful discussion regarding course syllabi, course content, expectations, and course rigor.

In addition to the annual workshop, newly approved CITS teachers must attend a new teacher orientation session led by their course specific faculty liaison and a policies and procedures orientation session led by the CITS coordinator prior to the instructor teaching the course. 

All instructors approved to teach a UMD CITS course, including those who are temporarily not teaching or who haven't started teaching yet, are also expected to attend all workshops and professional development. This ensures that instructors stay current with trends in their fields and understand any changes to UMD courses.

What to Expect

Annual Workshop: The annual workshop is held in August. You will participate in whole group sessions that provide system-wide updates at UMD, as well as breakout sessions with your discipline specific group. You will be required to sign in for documentation purposes. At the conclusion of each workshop, Certificates of Attendance are provided to teachers documenting the professional development contact hours.

New Instructor Trainings: In addition to the annual workshop, there will be two trainings for new instructors prior to teaching the course. One training will be a course-specific instructor training that will provide information on course philosophy, curriculum, pedagogy, assessment. This training will be led by your faculty liaison. The second training is the CITS policies and procedures training led by the CITS coordinator that will cover information such as CITS policies, campus visits, and MyU support.

Unable to Attend?

When circumstances prevent a CITS instructor from attending a workshop, the instructor be expected to meet with their faculty liaison to complete a make-up professional development. Once workshop attendance is recorded, all non-attendees will receive an email to arrange to meet with their liaison either in person or via phone, email, Google Meet, or Zoom. During this meeting, faculty liaisons will discuss what occurred at the discipline-specific professional development session.

If an instructor develops a pattern of repeated absences over a two-year period, the CITS UMD faculty liaison or CITS director will discuss the situation with the instructor and may notify the high school administration of the problem. If participation does not improve, instructors will be subject to noncompliance. 

Noncompliance Policy:

All CITS Teaching Specialist faculty members are expected to adhere to UMD CITS policies and procedures as well as to the University of Minnesota course outcomes, academic rigor, and assessment standards. Failure to do so is considered non compliance. If minor issues arise, they will be addressed on a case by case basis by the faculty liaison, the CITS Coordinator, and/or the CITS Director. If significant issues arise, the following steps will be taken:

  1. The CITS coordinator will schedule a meeting with the instructor, the faculty liaison, the high school Principal, and the CITS Director. The issues will be addressed, and a corrective action plan will be created.
  2. The faculty liaison and the CITS coordinator will work together to follow up with the CITS instructor as outlined in the action plan to determine if the issues have been resolved. 
  3. If non compliance issues remain even after following up, the CITS Director will notify the CITS instructor and the high school principal that the course will be cancelled for the next academic year. In addition, he CITS instructor will no longer be eligible to instruct that course through the UMD CITS program.