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3:35 p.m., Aug.7, 2003--UD’s annual conference for graduate teaching assistants (TAs) will be held from Monday through Wednesday, Aug. 25-27, at the Trabant University Center and Gore Hall. Registration will begin at 8 a.m. daily in the Trabant University Center.

The conference, part of a series of orientations for new graduate students, is designed to meet the needs of first-time TAs with an explanation of their instructional roles and responsibilities and to introduce them to general teaching and learning issues, including best practices.

TAs will attend instructional sessions on topics ranging from facilitating effective group work and designing a learner-centered syllabus, to the development of a teaching portfolio. Because the conference hosts TAs from several disciplines with varied teaching responsibilities, it is strongly recommended that departments instruct TAs to take sessions that are most relevant to their instructional departmental roles. The online agenda is available at [www.udel.edu/cte/tacagenda2003.html].

After attending the morning sessions, which will be conducted by 22 experienced TAs representing a range of disciplines and instructional roles, new TAs will participate in discipline-specific training sessions with their respective departments. Training sessions also will be available on several topics, including library resources and web publishing.

The conference is cosponsored by Graduate Studies, the Graduate Student Senate and the Center for Teaching Effectiveness.

Registration deadline is Friday, Aug. 15. To register, call 831-2027 or visit [www.udel.edu/cte/tacreg_form.html].

Article by Jerry Rhodes