Center for the Advancement of Faculty Excellence (CAFE)

Best Practices in Teaching

woman with glasses on a computer

Build

Once you’ve designed your course,
use a variety of tools to build a course
that accomplishes your goals.

Teaching in Different Formats
Creating Accessible Courses
Flexible Teaching for Emergencies

A network of people around the world

Teach

Make your course design come to life
as you work with your students.

Inclusive & Equitable Teaching
Teaching in Different Formats
Flexible Teaching for Emergencies

woman looking at cell phone with chat bubbles floating around her

Improve

“The best teaching is critically reflective”
Stephen Brookfield

Inclusive & Equitable Teaching
Reflective Teaching

Additional CAFE Resources for Course Design

Building an Effective, Inclusive, Syllabus for CPP

These resources are designed to support CPP instructors in creating clear, effective, and inclusive syllabi. Whether you’re refining an existing course or building a syllabus from the ground up, the tools below offer practical guidance, examples, and descriptions of syllabus elements. You can use the customizable template aligned with best practices to create your own inclusive syllabus!

Student Resources for Your Syllabus or Canvas Course

Faculty may include the following links in their syllabus or Canvas course under campus or student support resources. Proactively directing students to these services can help address academic, technical, or personal challenges before they impact learning. Each resource includes a brief description of available support. Links are curated by CAFE and are periodically reviewed to ensure accurate, up-to-date information.

Publicly Available and Self-Enroll Courses

This series of courses in best practices are self-paced, non-facilitated, asynchronous courses available either publicly or to self-enroll with your CPP Bronco credentials.

Course Name and Description Course Link

Intro to Teaching with Canvas (Self-Enrollable)

If you’re new to Canvas or you want a refresher on basics, the self-enroll Intro to Teaching with Canvas Course will allow you to walk through basic steps for using Canvas to offer a good experience for your students (and therefore an easier experience for you.

enroll

Fundamentals of Accessibility eCertificate

All students should have the joy of learning, the freedom to grow, and the benefits of education! Accessibility of course materials and Universal Design for Learning helps make that vision a reality. In this self-paced, self-enrollable, certificate course get background and practical strategies, and also develop empathy for the needs of all students.

enroll

Course Design for Cal Poly Pomona

The goal of Course Design for Cal Poly Pomona is to support faculty to create courses that are informed by knowledge of the Cal Poly Pomona student body and our institutional mission and values.

public