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Preparing Graduate Students for Their Teaching Responsibilities

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A Discipline-Based Teaching and Learning Center

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Abstract

Many graduate students, especially those who have just begun their graduate training, feel unprepared to teach. Professional development in teaching is important not only to improve their ability to perform as graduate teaching assistants (GTAs), but also for their future careers. Even those who do not foresee themselves in careers with an explicit teaching component can benefit from learning how to communicate complex ideas to a variety of audiences. The Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) has developed a multifaceted professional development program to address the varied needs and interest levels of GTAs. At the heart of the program is the philosophy that teaching, like research, is a scholarly activity that requires intellectual engagement. Programming includes a mandatory 6-week training course for all new GTAs and a multi-dimensional certificate program for graduate students who seek to develop greater expertise in teaching and learning. In this chapter, we provide an overview of the different components of the professional development program for GTAs, share teaching materials and assessment tools, and review data that support the effectiveness of these activities.

Teaching is hard…but there is hope that I can systematically improve.

I think that knowing how to best teach a subject is difficult, and vital to a good learning environment. Therefore, it is very important to prepare those who will teach.

–Feedback from graduate students who took a 2-credit course on teaching college-level biology and chemistry

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  1. University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

    Gili Marbach-Ad, Laura C. Egan & Katerina V. Thompson

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  1. Gili Marbach-Ad
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Marbach-Ad, G., Egan, L.C., Thompson, K.V. (2015). Preparing Graduate Students for Their Teaching Responsibilities. In: A Discipline-Based Teaching and Learning Center. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01652-8_5

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