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Grad course nurtures budding academics
“In academia, we are trained to be experts in our fields and to be researchers. Most of us land jobs on this basis that then require both research and teaching, and it is automatically assumed that if you’ve gotten your Ph.D., you are capable of teaching well,’’ Collins said. “The problem is: we are never taught how to teach.’’ The Higher Education Teacher Certification (HETC) program, a free program that teaches graduate students how to get information across to students in a well-organized way, uses a mix of reading, WebCT and seminars. Gabrielle Bauer, a teaching consultant with UD’s Center for Teaching Effectiveness, crafted a program flexible enough to fit grad students’ schedules and relevant to a variety of disciplines. The aim is to strengthen the quality of undergraduate instruction, make teaching assistants at UD more effective and preparing graduate students for future faculty careers, Bauer said. UD’s MBNA Career Services Center collaborated with Bauer on “Academic Job Search,” one of the four HETC courses. Marianne Green, assistant director of career services, co-taught the course, conducting mock interviews and critiquing the grad students’ curricula vitae and cover letters. “Gabrielle Bauer has done an amazing job developing this program, and she deserves a lot of credit,’’ Quiring said. “Although I found the entire program to be beneficial, some of the most helpful things that I learned were job-search skills.
“We lucky graduate students at the University of Delaware now have a program that gives us the tools to succeed as teachers in the college classroom,’’ Collins said. “The HETC program not only helps us explore teaching methods in a supportive environment, it also does a very good job of preparing us for our job search.” Banjo Oriade, a physics graduate student, compared the Higher Education Teaching Certification program to a springboard that will land him in a faculty position. “It certainly helps to know, or know where to look for information, about effective teaching, research, service and the tenure-track process at a higher education institution,’’ Oriade said. For grad student Jack Peruggia, the certification was a helpful complement to the professional training process already in place in the English department. “The academic job skills course was most helpful, as it offered practical experience in interviewing skills, cover-letter writing and resume production,’’ he said.
Collins, who said she, too, is a much better teacher after taking the certification program, thinks others would benefit too. Quiring, who just accepted an assistant professor position in Texas A&M’s geography department, said those who take the HETC program will have a different job-hunting experience, too: “The capstone of the course is completing a teaching portfolio. This is a challenging and time-consuming task that I would not have undertaken had it not been for this course,” Quiring said. “The teaching portfolio that I developed was extremely valuable during my job search, since universities commonly ask for evidence of teaching effectiveness.” Article by Kathy Canavan To learn how to subscribe to UDaily, click here. |
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