In an effort to provide professional development for graduate students who may wish to teach in the future, the Graduate School has hired a new administrative coordinator to offer school-wide instruction in teaching at the college level.
Douglas James, who arrived this spring and has done research on teaching and education at Northwestern University, is spearheading the effort. Graduate School Dean Lewis Siegel said it is the first time the school has offered anything like this at the school-wide level.
"The sequence of programs is a background of strategies grounded in teaching," he said. "Those skills need to be developed like research skills, and this program will go alongside the mentoring and training [graduate programs] already have in their departments."
The Graduate School will offer six workshops on course planning and design, learning objectives, learning and teaching evaluation, classroom technology and other strategies for graduate students who are currently teaching assistants or are preparing to be TAs. The teaching program is open to all graduate students and post-doctoral students if space is available.
Siegel said between 20 and 25 students have already signed up for several of the workshops.
Administrators stressed that the programs will not be mandatory and that they will not replace current resources for mentoring and teaching skills already in place at the department level and the Center for Teaching, Learning and Writing.
"Ultimately, the Center for Teaching, Learning and Writing's focus is to make TAs TAs," Siegel said. "Our goal is for doctoral students to also get professional development."
Many departments also have highly-structured programs for instruction and teaching. For example, the biology, physics and political science departments offer specific certificates in teaching.
"There are a number of departments that offer a range of training for TAs, some at a very basic level and some teaching in the disciplines," said associate dean of the Graduate School Leigh Deneef.
James said the workshops would provide opportunities for some graduate students to learn about teaching who would not otherwise do so, such as those in clinical settings in the medical sciences, who do not have the chance to be TAs for undergraduates. He added that given the tough job market for emerging academics, the workshops would provide them skills to stand out when looking for a position.
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