10:14 a.m., Aug. 10, 2009----The University of Delaware's annual conference for graduate teaching assistants (TAs) is being held Monday-Wednesday, Aug. 24-26, at the Trabant University Center and Gore Hall, starting with a buffet luncheon with seating by disciplines.

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The event helps orient newly appointed TAs to their instructional roles, creates awareness about UD students, offers models and strategies for effective teaching, minimizes some of the anxiety that first-time TAs often feel when beginning to teach and offers instructional resources.

This year, 42 TA Fellows, faculty and staff from departments across the University will share their instructional practices and experiences by leading 28 concurrent sessions on various teaching topics. The sessions are designed to demonstrate and talk about effective teaching approaches, address questions and policies, and host an open forum for discussion and interaction with peers. The sessions are followed by discipline-specific training at the department level.

The conference is part of an orientation series for new graduate students cosponsored by the Office of Graduate and Professional Education and the Center for Teaching Effectiveness (CTE), an office that provides consultations, programs and resources to help faculty and TAs excel in teaching and provide an engaging student learning environment.

“As the event brings together TAs from across disciplines and with varied teaching appointments, we strongly recommend that departments highlight those sessions that are most pertinent to their TAs' instructional roles,” Gabriele Bauer, assistant director of CTE, advises.

More information is available at a special conference Web site. To register, call (302) 831-2027 by Aug. 14, or register online.