Have an impact on campus and expand your teaching portfolio with a paid position!
The Center for Teaching will host its annual New TA Orientation (NTAO) on August 22, 2024. The center is hiring graduate students to facilitate workshop sessions at the event, which reaches hundreds of incoming graduate students every year and impacts their campus experience in significant ways.
NTAO participants report being more confident and prepared for their first days of class. The orientation provides them with concrete examples of teaching strategies they can employ in their first weeks of class while they build connections with peers from across the university.
These outcomes rely on Iowa’s experienced graduate student instructors, who facilitate the topical workshops that make up most of NTAO. Interested graduate students can learn more about the topics covered at NTAO and apply to be a facilitator here. This opportunity pays $250 upon completion and is an excellent way to add professional teaching development to your CV while learning from colleagues across campus. Facilitators will be part of a team of peers and work in small groups to prepare for the workshops they are leading through three meetings in July and August. All obligations for this role will occur via Zoom, including the orientation itself.
Applications are due Monday, May 13. Applicants must be graduate student instructors with at least two semesters of University of Iowa teaching experience (including as a grader, teaching assistant, etc.).
The Impact of New TA Orientation
Visit the New TA Orientation webpage to see program assessment and outcomes for past participants.
Hear from Previous Facilitators
In addition to preparing the next cohort of graduate student instructors, you’ll benefit from your experience. Here is what some of last year’s facilitators had to say:
"Professionally, I gained experience working in a team. We don't get to collaborate much as Ph.D. students, but co-facilitating meant that I got to meet students from other disciplines and practice working towards a common goal with them, despite us having different approaches."
"I enjoyed working with graduate students from other disciplines. I also enjoyed getting feedback on my teaching/facilitating styles. These will all help me become a better instructor in my future career."
"It is great to think about the way you are teaching and how you can improve it. Sharing advice with others made me think about my own experience and made me wonder how I can improve my teaching practice."
"Considering new ideas - I felt like I took away a lot of things that I want to consider trying in my classes I am teaching this semester. Students would share their concerns or thoughts which inspired thinking on my behalf."
"It was so helpful being able to practice leading a group on Zoom, since usually I teach in person. It helped my public speaking skills, my leadership skills, and made me more familiar with teaching online. It was also great being able to help these new TAs since I am very familiar with that feeling of nervousness on the first day of teaching!"