Description of the Program

The Ohio State University recently initiated a program, mandated and funded by the Provost, which requires all units that hire graduate teaching associates (GTAs) to provide them with a specified baseline of training, offer ongoing support, and appoint a suitable faculty or staff member to oversee these efforts. To support the requirements of the mandate, the Provost dedicated funds for the university’s Faculty and TA Development office (FTAD) to enhance their university-wide training program, develop additional resources to promote department-based programming, and provide an infrastructure for sharing more specialized training modules across departments. Programs include:

• University-wide TA orientation conference: Before the start of each fall quarter, a three-day conference helps new (and some returning) TAs from academic units across campus get oriented to teaching, addressing both general concerns and some specific to Ohio State. Due to the conference format, STEM students are able to attend sessions designed specifically for them, such as “Teaching in the Laboratory” and “Active Learning in Science, Engineering, and Quantitative Disciplines.” The full conference program is available at http://www.osu.edu/education/ftad/ta/conference.html.
• Grants to enhance unit GTA efforts: Each year, up to 10 seed grants of $5,000 are available to departments seeking to initiate new GTA training and support programs.
• Support for GTA coordinators: $500 is available annually to support professional development activities for each unit’s GTA coordinator.
• Professional development opportunities for senior GTAs: Outstanding senior GTAs have the opportunity to serve as mentors via the orientation conference, the graduate teaching fellows program, and/or the “Bringing it Home” program. Almost all sessions of the university-wide orientation are led by one of approximately 40 senior GTAs hired for this purpose. Graduate Teaching Fellows are nominated by their departments to design and execute a GTA enhancement program within their unit. Bringing it Home funds assist departments in offering programs for their GTAs. Such programs are intended to help connect the general campus-wide orientation to the specific issues of teaching in their discipline.
• Awards for exemplary GTA programs: Up to 2 awards of $2,500 are given annually to units with exemplary GTA programs.
• Organizational development consultation: A dedicated FTAD staff member oversees the awards and grants outlined above, meets with GTA coordinators, and offers individual private teaching consultations to GTAs.

The mandate identifies specific baseline methods and content to be provided in GTA training (the text can be viewed online at http://www.osu.edu/education/ftad. The initiative further requires that each unit report annually to the Office of Academic Affairs to explain how it is meeting the GTA training requirement.

Outcomes of the Program

Currently in its first year, the program has not been in place long enough to provide adequate data for systemic impact analysis. However, benchmark data on existing practices and training resources offered by academic units is being collected through the reporting mechanism. Preliminary review of the unit reports suggests that further clarification of requirements and expectations is needed. Among graduate programs in STEM fields, approximately half of the reporting units require their GTAs to attend the university-wide orientation. Another third of the units provide their own workshop or seminar tailored to the discipline.
While the requirement to provide GTA training applies to all academic units, support and resources available allow for broad flexibility in meeting the requirement. The reporting process facilitates university oversight of the content and quality of GTA development activities.

Some notable achievements include:
• Chemical Engineering: The department hosted their first-ever departmental TA orientation workshop. This workshop was developed with the support of a Graduate Teaching Fellow and with additional support from a Bringing it Home grant.
• Physics: Physics is conducting a year-long seminar series, supported by a Graduate Teaching Fellow. Graduate students are required to complete the seminar, which introduces them to the problems and possibilities inherent in teaching physics to undergraduates.
• Biology: For the autumn 2003 campus-wide orientation, the Introductory Biology Program initiated post-conference teaching workshops open to GTAs from all disciplines. Other campus organizations followed suit.
• Engineering: A seed grant was given to the First-Year Engineering Program, and GTA training workshops were supported through Bringing it Home funds.
• Geology: The department used Bringing it Home funding to provide training for its GTAs.
• Senior GTAs from biology, physics, geology, electrical engineering, and computer science served as mentors in the university-wide FTAD orientation program.
• Representatives from FTAD were asked to deliver presentations to TAs in geology, statistics, chemical engineering, chemistry, and first-year engineering.

In addition to participation by academic unit, individual GTAs also took advantage of FTAD resources:
• 171 GTAs in STEM fields participated in the 2003 university-wide orientation.
• 237 GTAs attended workshops sponsored by FTAD in the past 12 months.
• 11 GTAs participated in individual consultations with FTAD staff.

Implementation of the Program

Key to the impact of the mandate is the fact that it did not originate from the university’s central administration, but instead was a response to graduate students who called for more training. The need for improved professional development and support for Graduate Teaching Associates was voiced by graduate students in a survey of the graduate student experience [Graduate Quality of University Experience (G-QUE)] conducted by the Graduate School. In response to queries about their GTA responsibilities, students reported that preparation and support available to them was insufficient. (A report of the G-QUE findings is available at www.gradsch.ohio-state.edu.)

Even units that recognized the need for enhanced GTA development, however, face challenges in meeting that need. For example,
• Units vary widely in terms of the resources and teaching expertise at hand to develop their own training programs. Smaller programs with few GTAs, in particular, are challenged by the investment required to develop their own training for only a few GTAs.
• Centrally-sponsored orientation and training can serve important needs but cannot be custom-tailored to address specific needs of some programs.
• Innovations and expertise that individuals and specific programs develop lacked an infrastructure for sharing that expertise more widely across departments or through changes in administration.

To aid units in meeting the requirements of the mandate, the Provost dedicated funds for FTAD to provide a university-wide training program. In addition, a set of resources were developed to promote department-based programming tailored to local needs. This centrally-supported, yet locally-driven, approach to GTA preparation offers the following advantages:

• The central resources and infrastructure provided by FTAD assists with the initial investments required to create new programs at the department level and lends stability to the local initiatives.
• Departments are encouraged and enabled to take ownership of GTA preparation relevant to their discipline.
• FTAD provides an infrastructure for sharing more specialized training modules across departments, thereby promoting the transfer and adoption of innovations.
• The mandate ensures that GTA training becomes institutionalized in graduate education and does not depend on the priorities of particular individuals in a given department.