PARTICIPATE | OSTEP TA COORINDATORS PROGRAM
The OSTEP TA Coordinators program offers faculty and staff a year-long opportunity to focus on their roles as unit TA coordinators within a community of peers. This program has been designed to support the professional development of TA coordinators at Ohio State by establishing collegial relationships across disciplines and reinforcing a culture that brings the scholarship of teaching and research together.
Have you recently taken on the role of TA coordinator and looking for resources and support? Is there some aspect of the training program offered to TAs in your unit that you would like to improve? Do you want to make changes, but feel like you lack the time and resources to do so? Would you benefit from hearing what other units around campus are doing to support the development of TAs?
If you answered yes to any of the above questions, consider applying to the OSTEP (Ohio State Teaching Enhancement Program) TA Coordinators Program.
Program Goals
The OSTEP TA Coordinators program offers faculty and staff a year-long opportunity to focus on their roles as TA coordinators within a community of peers. They will work during the 07-08 academic year on individual plans for increasing their own knowledge base about TA development issues and enhancing the TA support offered in their units.
Program Rationale
TAs can receive training through many centralized efforts at Ohio State, but most of the day-to-day support and specific TA preparation occurs within individual units. Some units offer thorough programs and have TA coordinators that spend a great deal of time designing, enhancing, and implementing these. Other units offer less support to TAs and are asking TA coordinators to develop new programming. TA coordinators in either of these situations (and anywhere in between) bring a tremendous amount of knowledge, energy, and commitment to their work; but, they can run the risk of feeling under-resourced and may lack both access to the scholarship on TA development issues, as well as the time to apply those ideas to their programs. This community will provide a space for TA coordinators to share ideas on how to enhance both their own professional development and the training and support received by the TAs.
Program Elements
All faculty and staff who fulfill the role of a TA coordinator in their unit are eligible to apply for the program. This year-long program is appropriate for faculty and staff involved in designing and implementing initial teaching preparation and on-going teaching support for the TAs in their units. The goal of this program is to assist TA coordinators in enhancing their abilities to do this important work.
Faculty and staff selected for the program will:
- Develop and implement a personal TA coordinator enhancement plan (e.g., develop a needs assessment for TA support, generate financial and/or unit support for TA development activities, create a database/webpage of teaching resources for use by TAs, learn about unique options for ongoing TA support, design a college teaching course, etc.)
- Attend the OSTEP reception in May 2007.
- Participate in monthly sessions organized by and supported by the resources of FTAD.
Participants may also choose to:
- Attend any number of conferences that have sessions on TA development issues (such as the Lilly National Conference on College Teaching (opens new window), Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education (opens new window), American Association of Colleges and Universities (opens new window), and the Council of Graduate Schools (opens new window))
- Attend events organized by FTAD (e.g., special-topic seminars or forums, workshops, and/or book discussion groups).
- Present or facilitate a session at an FTAD-coordinated event to discuss the project or report results of the implementation.
- Prepare a scholarship of teaching project for publication or conference presentation.
Program Implementation
- The program will start in autumn quarter 2007 and end in spring quarter 2008. If possible, we may start the program summer of 2007 in order to have more time to plan for TA support in the 07-08 academic year.
- Each participant will receive $750 for TA coordinator enhancement activities (e.g., attending a teaching conference, purchasing books on TA development, purchasing software, etc.
- Each participant's unit will also receive up to $250 to use towards TA development activities (e.g., workshop costs, hiring facilitators for orientations, purchasing books on teaching for use by TAs, etc.)
- Check out the list of former and current participants.
Selection Process and Criteria
- Eight participants will be selected from all applicants.
- Applications will be reviewed by a steering committee for OSTEP. Consideration will be given to the quality of the proposed project, the diversity of disciplinary fields, and the commitment to being a member of a community. Selection of participants will be jointly made by the committee and FTAD.
To apply, complete and submit the on-line application form, or download the application form (MS Word). You can then type on the document and send as an attachment by email to rohdieck.1@osu.edu. Or, if you prefer, print out a copy and mail to the address below. Application deadline has been extended to April 7, 2008.
more information>> Stephanie Rohdieck