PhD Candidate receives Great Teaching Certificate

Melody (Yu-Hua) Xu, PhD candidate in the department of Tourism, Hospitality & Event Management was one of the few HHP students to receive last October her Great Teaching Certificate for completing the course taught by the UF Center for Teaching Excellence.  

As a researcher assistant, Melody wanted to expand her pedagogy knowledge and improve her skills with further training. She affirms this will definitely impact her future teaching opportunities as well as differentiate her among candidates when searching for teaching jobs after graduating.  

The training delivered knowledge on teaching techniques exploring student involvement, active learning, student assessment and being inclusive to marginalized groups. “It opened my eyes to see teaching is not just delivering the course, but having good communication, taking care of your students, being innovative, and making the class a good experience” says Melody. By interacting with instructors from different areas and experience levels, she could get feedback from peers on the course and apply the learning to improve her "Case International” section during Dr. DeMichele’s classes, part of her supervised teaching requirements.  

She enjoyed pursuing this Teaching Excellence certificate and affirms “It has shaped my teaching philosophy!”