Program Description:

The goal of the School of Engineering and Applied Science’s Graduate Teaching Instruction program is to prepare first time graduate teaching assistants to be effective in their various teaching assignments (laboratory sections, problem sessions, office hours, grading, etc.), to understand the expectations of their faculty advisor and their students, and to give them techniques and resources to handle problems that may arise.

The key components of the program are:

1. Discussion of roles of teaching assistants in lecture courses, laboratory courses, office hours and as graders,
2. Sessions lead by outstanding teachers, including both faculty and graduate assistants, many of whom have won university teaching awards.

The time investment by STEM graduate student participants is 50 minutes/week for 11 weeks.

Program Outcomes:

Graduate Teaching Instruction is required of all first-time graduate teaching assistants in Engineering. Some students are entering graduate students, other are more advanced students. We have a large international population of graduate students, many of whom need a year or two in the US before their language skills are sufficient for them to assigned teaching assistantships.

Although some teaching assistants begin the required course with a less than enthusiastic attitude, the end of course student evaluations are usually positive. Ratings of individual sessions typically average 2.5 on a 3-point scale. Many students have spoken openly about what they perceive as tension between time and effort devoted to teaching versus research. This course’s faculty presenters, all highly successful teachers and researchers, explicitly stated as well as implicitly demonstrated that it is possible both to value teaching and research.

We feel that, through this program, we have better prepared and more confident teaching assistants interacting with our undergraduate students, although we have not specific assessments of graduate teaching assistants performance of their teaching duties.

Program Implementation:

Key factors for success: Recognition among administration, faculty and graduate students of the importance of quality instruction and the value of teaching assistants to the educational mission of the school.

Key challenges: General reluctance of students to take a required course not directly related to their major field of study, and reluctance of graduate students’ research advisor to have students commit time for the course.

Required Resources: Graduate Teaching Instruction requires an instructor and a grader (primarily for assessment), both funded from discretionary funds.

Faculty/Staff Time Investment: Graduate Teaching Instruction is the equivalent of a three credit course. Some sessions are led by the instructor, others by other faculty or graduate students. The majority of the coordination for the course must be done prior to the beginning of the semester.