Intensive for International TAs Discusses Culture Shock, Teaching Styles, and "Harry Potter"

International graduate students often find themselves navigating unfamiliar waters when they begin teaching in United States college classrooms. To address this situation, the University of Colorado-Boulder offers a yearly cultural intensive for international TAs. The 2008 intensive, on Aug. 22, used humor and practical advice to prepare TAs for surprises they may encounter.

"The talk on culture shock was one of the best talks," said International Graduate Teacher Service coordinator Vivek Kaila. One of the presenters, Tina Tan, drew a graph of the emotional state of international students during their first six months in the United States. She divided the graph into four phases - the "honeymoon" phase, the "hostility" phase, the "humor" phase, and the "hope" phase. As their culture shock lifts, foreign students feel increasingly at peace with life in the United States and regain their optimism.

"International students may go through this cycle not once, but many times," Kaila explained. "I could relate. That's dead on. That's how a lot of foreign students feel." Read more...

Fall Intensive Helps Teaching Assistants Start a Successful Semester

New and experienced TAs at the University of Colorado-Boulder learn key teaching techniques every year at the Fall Intensive sponsored by the Graduate Teacher Program and the Colorado Preparing Future Faculty Network.

This year's intensive, which took place on Aug. 20-22 – the week before classes start at UC-Boulder – was structured around four central themes: teaching methods, diversity, professional development, and assessment and evaluation.

"The initial goal is to help graduate students who are going to teach the next week be prepared to step into the classroom," explained GTP director Laura Border. The intensive also offers higher-level workshops for continuing students. Read more...

Delta Program Hosts Networking Social and Open House

The Delta Program in Research, Teaching and Learning welcomed visitors to its networking social and open house on Sept. 26 on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. The gathering brought together graduate students interested in discovering the many programs and courses that Delta offers.

"I've known about [Delta] since before I came to the UW," said Benjamin Stein, a new doctoral student in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Stein discovered Delta and CIRTL by looking up resources for engineering educators. "I like to hear different takes on education in general," he said.

The social offered ample opportunities for people to meet their colleagues from different departments. Delta staff described internship opportunities, the certificate program, and ways to connect with the larger CIRTL Network.

Graduate students appreciated the networking time. When asked what attracted him to Delta, Stein said, "First and foremost, I'm interested in people."

Introducing the CIRTL Guidebook Collection:
Offering Faculty the Tools to put the CIRTL Pillars into Practice
Creating A Collaborative Learning Environment guidebook

The CIRTL Guidebook Collection is now available online, and features eight versatile course guidebooks: Expeditions in Learning guidebook, Instructional Materials Development Course guidebook, The College Classroom Course guidebook, Informal Science Education for Scientists: A Practicum guidebook, Effective Teaching with Technology guidebook, Creating a Collaborative Learning Environment guidebook, the Internship Program guidebook, and the Diversity in the College Classroom guidebook. These eight guidebooks stem from the work of a community of research-active faculty, graduate students, post-doctoral researchers, and academic staff in the STEM disciplines. Guidebook users benefit from the CIRTL research, implementation, and evaluation of the various courses used to develop the guidebooks. The guidebooks are designed to introduce faculty members to the Delta courses and programs and provide a time-saving way for them to offer similar courses in their departments or at their universities. Read more...

Visit the Guidebooks page to download the guidebooks.

CIRTL Diversity Resources Now Available

The CIRTL Diversity Institute brought together a critical mass of scholars (“CIRTL Scholars”) to produce materials and resources that will reform STEM higher education based on the idea that STEM students' learning is enhanced when classes, laboratories, and discussion sections foster engagement of all students irrespective of race, gender, or socioeconomic background. The objective of the Diversity Institute was to create and disseminate a resource base that will enable faculty and future faculty to enhance diversity in STEM fields by creating inclusive classrooms. These resources are now available on the Diversity Resources web site.

Visit the Diversity Resources website for more information.

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