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OSTEP | GRADUATE TEACHING FELLOWS

Graduate Teaching Fellows | Mid-Career & Senior Faculty Program | TA Coordinators Program | about OSTEP

The OSTEP Graduate Teaching Fellows Program offers support and opportunities for senior graduate students who are nominated by their college, school, or department to develop new, discipline-specific teaching support activities for other GTAs in their units. This program is co-sponsored by Faculty & TA Development (FTAD) and the Graduate School and is supported in part by a strategic investment initiative of the Office of Academic Affairs.

2008-2009

OBJECTIVES

  • Enhance student learning by providing structured, ongoing teaching support to Graduate Teaching Associates.
  • Establish collegiality and sharing of program ideas across disciplines.
  • Provide assistance to units in designing and implementing enhanced GTA programs.

PROGRAM ELEMENTS

Selected Graduate Teaching Fellows will participate in a comprehensive summer seminar, meeting twice per week during second summer session to study important aspects of teaching and teaching support at the university level and examining models for departmental GTA preparation and support programs. They will then meet once per month throughout the academic year to share ideas and assist with each others' project planning.

Graduate Teaching Fellows assist with departmental preparation and ongoing support of new GTAs. While they may participate in their departments’ pre-academic year teaching orientation and help GTAs get off to a good start, the central thrust of these programs will be to provide on-going systematic teaching support throughout the academic year. Teaching Fellows may observe and videotape GTAs, provide constructive feedback, share instructional strategies, or develop and present seminars and workshops. According to the needs of their individual departments, they will help design, modify, and implement the project proposals submitted by department chairs and faculty mentors with the program application. Graduate Teaching Fellows may do any of the following activities:

  • assist with the departmental GTA orientation activities
  • work with faculty to develop discipline-specific brown bags, workshops, or colloquia
  • lead microteaching sessions
  • observe and perhaps videotape GTAs’ classroom teaching
  • provide voluntary individual consultations
  • hold office hours to consult with individual GTAs
  • organize and promote activities within departments
  • address issues of concern such as technology
  • learn and model multicultural pedagogy

DEPARTMENT COMMITMENT

Departments that choose to nominate Graduate Teaching Fellows agree to do the following:

  • provide a faculty member who will serve as liaison to the program and will mentor the Graduate Teaching Fellow in designing a program which truly meets the needs of the department and its GTAs
  • implement the activities designed by the Graduate Teaching Fellow, augmenting the seed money provided in the initial year as needed
  • institutionalize activities based on those developed by the Graduate Teaching fellow and modified by feedback collected by the program as part of the ongoing support offered to departmental GTAs
  • provide the Graduate Teaching Fellow as light a teaching load as possible in the academic year (reduced teaching assignment is beneficial for the Fellow to have the time to participate in the seminar and to plan and implement a program to enhance teaching by other GTAs). Alternatively, departments may wish to put the GTA on a 75% appointment, to compensate for the additional activity

FACULTY MENTOR COMMITMENT

If selected as a participating department/program, the faculty mentor to the Graduate Teaching Fellow agrees to the following:

  • serve as liaison to the Graduate Teaching Fellow program and the department/program.
  • mentor the Graduate Teaching Fellow in designing a program that truly meets the needs of the department and its GTAs.
  • help implement the activities designed by the Graduate Teaching Fellow.
  • meet individually with the FTAD program coordinator and Fellow at least once in the academic year to discuss project progress.
  • attend meetings as scheduled (at least one per quarter) with all Fellows and their faculty mentors throughout the 2008-2009 academic year.

NOMINEE'S COMMITMENT

If selected, Graduate Teaching Fellows agree to the following:

  • register for EPL732 Graduate Teaching Fellows seminar (if there are problems with registering for a credit-bearing class in the summer, please contact us to discuss other arrangements)
  • participate in the seminar to share ideas with other Fellows and assist in each other’s project planning
  • assist with departmental preparation and ongoing support of new GTAs
  • work with a faculty member to devise a program to provide on-going systematic teaching support throughout the academic year to GTAs in home department
  • participate in two meetings per quarter during the 2008-2009 academic year
  • meet individually with the Graduate Teaching Fellows coordinator and faculty mentor at least once in the academic year to discuss project progress
  • complete a final assessment report of the program

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

  • Each fellow will receive one summer stipend of $1000 from FTAD
  • Each unit will receive up to $400 in programming funds to be used in support of the activities designed by the Graduate Teaching Fellow

Eligibility & Selection Process

Graduate Teaching Fellows must be:

  • nominated by a department, school or college
  • have a strong interest in teaching at the college or university level
  • have had two or more years of university teaching experience, and
  • have maintained good academic standing and progress to degree.

Nominations will be reviewed by a steering committee for OSTEP. Consideration will be given to the level of departmental support, the quality of the teaching enhancement project they propose, diversity (e.g., gender, ethnicity, disciplinary distribution), and commitment to the program. Selection of participants will be jointly made by the committee and FTAD.

Application forms (MS Word) can be submitted electronically to rohdieck.1@osu.edu or mailed to the address below. Due date is April 7, 2008.

THE PROGRAM

For more information about the Graduate Teaching Fellows program, please contact:

Stephanie Rohdieck
Faculty & TA Development
260 Younkin Success Center
1640 Neil Avenue
Phone: 614-292-3644
E-mail: rohdieck.1@osu.edu