Becoming a College Instructor

Available Courses

Date Format Price

Date: Self-Paced

Format: Babson On-Demand™

Price: $300.00

This course provides new instructors with tools to cultivate an intentional teaching identity grounded in authenticity, clarity, and learner-centered practice. Participants explore how first impressions shape learning, how to develop an effective teaching persona, and ways of crafting communications that build trust from the start. The course examines how today’s students learn across generations, attention patterns, and modalities. It provides strategies for getting to know learners quickly and fostering inclusive, psychologically safe classroom communities. Instructors also refine their choreography and delivery skills, learning to use voice, movement, presence, and narrative elements to create engaging learning experiences. Finally, the course introduces ways AI can strengthen classroom community and support meaningful connection without replacing human judgment.

What You Will Learn Who Should Attend What is Included Credential Earned

Identify and articulate a personal teaching identity that reflects intentional choices about presence, expectations, and learner experience.
Develop a teaching persona that communicates authenticity and supports positive classroom culture from the first interaction.
Analyze how early classroom impressions shape learning, including the impact of the first minutes of class.
Explain key differences in how today’s students learn, including generational traits and attention-span challenges.
Apply strategies to get to know students quickly, building trust and connection in diverse classroom settings.
Foster an inclusive learning community, recognizing factors such as psychological safety, bias awareness, and respectful engagement.
Demonstrate effective choreography and delivery skills, including voice, movement, presence, and nonverbal communication.

This course is designed for new and existing higher education educators who want to teach with greater intention, confidence, and impact, including:

Industry professionals becoming adjunct instructors who are transitioning from practice to teaching and want to transform expertise into meaningful learning experiences
PhD and DBA students or emerging scholars preparing to step into the classroom with confidence and clarity about how students learn today
Experienced educators seeking to refresh their teaching practice with modern methods and reflective redesign

Recognition and Credentialing: A digital badge that serves as verifiable proof of learning and achievement, which can be displayed on platforms such as LinkedIn and included on your resume and portfolio
Course Content and Learning Outcomes: You gain relevant knowledge, practical skills, and frameworks designed for educators.
Flexibility: Our self-paced badge course offers digital courses that allow flexibility for busy educators.
Expert Instruction: Experienced faculty, industry leaders, and professionals with real-world expertise teach our courses.
Networking Opportunities: You gain access to a network of peers, alumni, and industry professionals.
Assessments and Engagement: To earn a credential for completing this badge course, you must complete assignments, quizzes, case studies, and/or interactive projects

Upon completion of this course you will earn a digital badge.

What you need to know

Course Structure

Costs and Program Discounts

Course Leaders

Heidi Neck

Jeffry Timmons Professor of Entrepreneurship and Academic Director of the Babson Academy

Professor Heidi Neck is at the forefront of shaping the future of entrepreneurship education. She leads programs that train faculty worldwide to teach entrepreneurship through practice-based, experiential methods, including Babson’s Symposia for Entrepreneurship Educators and the Babson Collaborative. Neck has authored six books and over 45 academic works, including the widely used textbook Entrepreneurship: The Practice & Mindset. She has received multiple national awards for her contributions to entrepreneurship education.

Beth Wynstra

Associate Professor

Beth Wynstra teaches courses in Dramatic Literature, Theater History, Acting, and Public Speaking. She holds a Ph.D. in Theater Studies from the University of California at Santa Barbara and a certificate in Directing from the Yale School of Drama. Beth is the Faculty Director of the Center for Engaged Learning and Teaching at Babson.

Kristi Girdharry

Associate Teaching Professor

Kristi Girdharry is Associate Teaching Professor of English and Director of the Writing Center at Babson College where she co-leads The Generator, Babson's interdisciplinary AI lab. In addition to supporting faculty and students on their generative AI journey, The Generator has been recognized through receiving a 2026 NERCOMP Distinguished Team Award and being featured in the 2025 EDUCAUSE Horizon Report.

Jonathan Sims

Associate Professor

Dr. Jonathan Sims is an Associate Professor of Strategic Management at Babson College, where he has been a faculty member since 2013. He holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Management from the University of Texas at Austin's McCombs School of Business, an MBA from the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business, and a B.A. in Political Science from Emory University.

Jonathan’s research primarily centers on open innovation communities and teaching pedagogy. His work has been featured in journals including Innovation, R&D Management, Academy of Management Learning & Education, MIT Sloan Management Review, Industrial and Corporate Change, and Strategic Organization.

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Professional & Executive Education