ECE TAs are encouraged to contact their TATD Fellow Mentor throughout the semester with any questions or TA concerns. New TAs are required to meet with mentors at a mid-semester check-in. TAs are required to attend two workshops per semester.
Being a graduate student is a balancing act. We are expected to give full effort to our research, our TAship, our courses, all while trying to maintain personal wellbeing. This workshop is designed to provide practical strategies and insights on how to maintain a healthy balance between our various roles as graduate students and our personal lives. We will try to not only strategize techniques to maintain a balance, but discuss how to manage the pressures and challenges that come with being a graduate student. This workshop will focus on time management, setting boundaries, exploring self-care practices, strategies for managing stress, and how to build a supportive network of peers and mentors. Whether you’re struggling with burnout, overwhelmed by all the demands, or just want to improve your time management, this workshop will hopefully help as both a student and a person.
Being a graduate student, you need to utilize your time more efficiently, balancing grading responsibilities with personal academic work, ensuring TAs can manage their time effectively while maintaining high standards of integrity and fairness in their teaching roles. This workshop will discuss skills and strategies to grade assignments fairly and efficiently. Further, discuss common challenges such as bias and grading disputes.
Not all students grasp course material at the same pace, and TAs are often the first line of support for those falling behind. This workshop will explore practical strategies for identifying struggling students and creating a supportive learning environment. Attendees will learn how to offer individualized support, coordinate effectively with professors and campus resources, and balance support with broader TA responsibilities. Through the discussion of real-world scenarios and collaborative exercises, participants will gain actionable insights to help them more effectively recognize and support students who are struggling in their courses.
Managing large classes can be overwhelming, especially when it comes to maintaining engagement, grading efficiently, and addressing individual student needs. Particularly, in these large class settings, a balance must be achieved when providing assistance to individual students. A lot of the time, when a student asks for help, directly providing essential information for the answer is the easiest path forward, but it may not be fair to other students or productive toward learning. This workshop covers tools and techniques for TAs to help with managing large classes, including strategies for active learning, handling high volumes of grading, and how to provide assistance to students for a variety of contexts and assignment types.
Explores how TAs can effectively balance teaching responsibilities while fostering their own intellectual growth. This talk will highlight strategies for deepening subject mastery, staying current with advancements in the field, and leveraging teaching as a powerful self-learning tool. By actively engaging in both roles, TAs can enhance their expertise, improve their communication skills, and cultivate a lifelong learning mindset.
TAs are often presented with decisions for which there is very little guidance and no obvious right answer. In many of these cases, education research can provide useful input (e.g., Is there anything I can do to address this learning deficit? What should be prioritized in recitation?). This workshop will cover topics such as active learning, narrative-based lessons, STEAM, and general advice.
As a graduate student, you interact with peers, professors, and students daily. This can be overwhelming whether you are coming from undergrad, industry, or anywhere else. This workshop will discuss strategies for developing positive connections and keeping open communication with those to help you succeed in graduate studies. Networking tips from this talk will hopefully remain useful beyond TA-ship and RA-ship duties.
Teaching Assistant (TA) responsibilities often come with tight deadlines, unpredictable workloads, and the need to balance academic, personal, and professional commitments. Effective time management is essential to thrive in this multifaceted role. This session will provide practical strategies for staying organized and efficient as a TA, including time-blocking, prioritizing tasks, leveraging productivity tools, and managing unexpected challenges like last-minute grading or student support. By focusing on actionable techniques, this talk aims to equip TAs with the skills to reduce stress, improve productivity, and maintain a healthy balance between their teaching duties and graduate school demands.
September 21: "International Student Concerns: Teaching in the US"
Time/location: Thursday, September 21 at 10:00 am in AVW 2460
Facilitated by Mohamed Elnoor
Teaching in the US as an international student can present unique challenges. This workshop will focus on addressing the concerns and needs of international TAs and instructors. We will explore cultural differences in classroom interaction, regulations, and expectations specific to the US educational system. The workshop will include discussions on overcoming communication barriers and understanding student expectations, with a focus on practical approaches for effective teaching.
September 26: "How to be an Efficient TA Focusing on Professor-student Dynamics and Personal Work-life Balance"
Time/location: Tuesday, September 26 at 10:30 am in AVW 2460
Facilitated by Infiter Tathfif
Being a GTA, on top of the daunting coursework, can be challenging. The key to being an efficient TA depends mostly on three factors: Professor, students and personal work-life balance. In this session, I will talk about each of these three factors and share my own experience. Moreover, the participants will have opportunities to share their own thoughts through group discussions, leading to effective solutions.
October 2: "Leading Group Discussion for First Time TAs"
Time/location: Monday, October 2 at 10:00 am in AVW 2460
Facilitated by Justin Welter
Tips for TAs leading discussion groups or office hours with larger attendance, such as how to prepare for group discussions, foresee questions students will likely have, prioritize answering questions, and answer questions in ways that will get across to the majority of students when the group size is too large for a TA to work one-on-one to address each student's individual needs.
October 11: "Effective Time Management Techniques for Work-Life Balance as a TA"
Time/location: Wednesday, October 11 at 11:00 am in AVW 2460
Facilitated by Ayooluwa Ajiboye
Work-Life balance as a graduate student can seem like a foreign concept at times. This is due to the great amount of stress we all face from our coursework, to our research, to our TA work and trying to lead a healthy and happy personal life. Additionally, for the new students, these stressors are exacerbated by the time taken to acclimatize to the environment, the university culture and expectations set by the department and our advisors. Regardless of the rigorous amount of tasks, it is certainly important to try to maintain a healthy work-life balance to sustain both our physical health and mental health. There are certain strategies and methods we can use to try to maintain a work-life balance to yield the best productivity in our academic goals. Effective time management is the key to maintaining a work-life balance as a graduate student and a TA. In this workshop, we would be discussing the different stressors faced by graduate students including the TA-role and how to use time-management to overcome these stressors. We would be discussing methods to effectively utilize your time, enjoy your time and prioritize your tasks. Also, we would look at the different tools that help you manage your time as a TA.
October 25: "The TA in the Middle"
Time/location: Wednesday, October 25 at 1:30 pm in AVW 2460
Facilitated by Mustafa Doger
TAs are usually positioned somewhere between the professor and students from academical perspective as well as in terms of age and experience. The role of the TA as a bridge between professor and students will be discussed in this workshop. Both the advantages and downsides of this situation will be elaborated. Approaches to handle such situations will be discussed.
October 30: "Effective Strategies for Engaging and Motivating Students in the Classroom"
Time/location: Monday, October 30 at 9:30 am in AVW 1146
Facilitated by Lahiru Wijerathna
This workshop aims to equip graduate teaching assistants with practical strategies to enhance student engagement and motivation in their classrooms. As teaching assistants play a vital role in supporting undergraduate (and graduate) education, this workshop will provide them with valuable tools to create a stimulating and inclusive learning environment. Participants will explore various techniques and approaches to actively involve students, promote their intrinsic motivation, and facilitate deeper learning experiences. Through interactive discussions, collaborative activities, and real-life examples, participants will gain insights into effective instructional methods and leave with actionable ideas to implement in their teaching practice.
November 8: "Making the most of your Office Hours"
Time/location: Wednesday, November 8 at 2:00 pm in AVW 2460
Facilitated by Sydney Overton
Office hours are a great time for students to directly interact with the TA. During this time students may ask homework questions, course questions, and provide feedback about the course in general. In this workshop, I will discuss how to make the most out of your office hours to help you and your students. We will cover how to approach/prepare for office hours and how you might choose to conduct your office hours to optimize the time.
November 16: "Mastering the Mic: Public Speaking for Graduate Students"
Time/location: Thursday, November 16 at 2:00 pm in AVW 2460
Facilitated by Faisal Hamman
Public speaking is a vital skill for graduate students, whether it's for presenting research at conferences, delivering engaging lectures, acing job interviews, networking, or explaining complex topics to diverse audiences. Yet, the fear of public speaking is a common obstacle that hinders their ability to effectively engage with academic and professional opportunities. This workshop, "Mastering the Mic," aims to equip graduate students with the confidence and techniques needed to excel in classrooms, discussion sessions, and various public speaking scenarios.
Week of February 13: "Developing a Good Professor-TA Relationship"
Time/location: Tuesday, February 14 at 10:30 am in AVW 2460
Facilitated by Michael Moore
It is often hard as a TA to determine how involved you should be with the professor you TA for. How often should you communicate? What course-related decisions should you make on your own? Which decisions should you delegate to the professor? How much autonomy do you have in designing your lab/discussion sessions. This talk will address these points and more in hopes of creating a better dynamic between you and your professor.
Week of February 20: "TA'ing for Graduate Classes"
Time/location: Tuesday, February 21 at 1:00 pm in AVW 1146
Facilitated by Mustafa Doger
Over the last year, I was a TA for two different graduate courses (ENEE627 & ENEE662) and I realized how different and difficult it is to be a TA for graduate courses. During this workshop, I will talk about things that are easier as well as things that are more different & difficult and how to cope with them. I will share some of my experiences and tips for teaching graduate courses.
Week of February 27: "Improving Mid-Semester Evaluations: Strategies for Meaningful Student Feedback"
Time/location: Thursday, March 2 at 1 pm in AVW 2460
Facilitated by Faisal Hamman
This workshop aims to equip TAs with practical strategies for enhancing mid-semester evaluations in order to gather more meaningful student feedback and improve teaching practices. The workshop will be divided into three main sections: crafting quality evaluations, fostering student engagement and response, and utilizing feedback to enhance teaching and learning outcomes.
Week of March 13: "Building Good Habits to Balance Classes, Research, and TA Duties"
Time/location: Wednesday, March 15 at 12:30 pm in AVW 2460
Facilitated by Joseph Messou
Balancing classes, research, and TA duties as PhD students can be challenging. Most of the time, excelling at all these tasks comes at the expense of sleep, which is not sustainable. In this workshop, we will go over tips to develop good habits in order to stay on track when things are difficult and not feel overwhelmed.
Week of March 27: "Time Management Strategies"
Time/location: Thursday, March 30 at 10:30 am in AVW 1146
Facilitated by Sahan Liyanaarachchi
Juggling between course work, research and TA can be an exhaustive task. I would like to discuss a few techniques & tools for effectively managing your time, both as a grad student and a TA.
Week of April 3: "Those Left Behind: Strategies to Support the Bottom Cohort"
Time/location: Wednesday, April 5 at 3:30 pm in AVW 2460
Facilitated by Michael Pedowitz
Over the course of one's experience as a TA it is common to encounter students that are putting in a significant amount of effort but fall behind in coursework. The purpose of this workshop is to discuss challenges and strategies in working with these students.
Week of April 10: "How to Address Conflicts Between Yourself and the Instructor"
Time/location: Wednesday, April 12 at 2 pm in AVW 2460
Facilitated by Sahar Zargarzadeh
I believe there are lots of cases that we might face a conflict with the instructor of the course. Sometimes the issue is very simple and minor that we can talk about it and reach to the same conclusion, but sometimes it's not. I want to let TAs talk about their related experiences and guide them through how to approach the problem.
Week of April 17: "How to Grade Uniformly"
Time/location: Wednesday, April 19 at 1 pm in AVW 2460
Facilitated by Utku Noyan
Grading uniformly refers to the practice of consistently applying the same standards to all students in a class or course when evaluating their performance and assigning grades. It is important for ensuring fairness and promoting a level playing field for all learners. The following are key steps in grading uniformly:
-
Establish clear and concise grading criteria
-
Use objective methods of assessment such as tests, quizzes, and standardized rubrics
-
Consistently apply the same grading standards to all students
-
Avoid subjective bias and favoritism
-
Provide regular and constructive feedback to students
-
Use data-driven decision making and keep accurate records of student performance
By following these steps, educators can ensure that their grading practices are transparent, fair, and consistent, leading to a more equitable and effective learning environment for all students
Week of November 7: "Your Rights as TAs"
Time/location:
Facilitated by Sahar Zargarzadeh
The other day I was speaking with my TA friends, and I realized that while all of us are mostly aware of our duties as TAs, we don’t usually know about our rights! This inspired me to offer a workshop on this subject. I would like to let GTAs know about the rights that they didn’t imagine they have!
November 1: "Receptive Teaching: The Importance of Soliciting and Adapting to Students Feedback"
Time/location: 3:00 pm; 2460 AV Williams
Facilitated by Michael Moore
As TAs, we oftentimes find ourselves so hyper-focused on delivering course content to our students that we forget about something that our students can offer us — their feedback. Feedback allows us to calibrate our teaching styles to best suit our students. While the most common way that we collect feedback is through mid-semester evaluations, these occur far too late in the semester to be of any impactful use. In addition, even with the mid-semester feedback, it is difficult to translate it into actionable methods to better our teaching styles. In this workshop, we will discuss several ways to solicit feedback from students throughout the semester, as well as how to adapt our teaching styles based on this feedback, with the ultimate goal being to enhance the learning environment for our students.
October 26: "What Makes a Teacher Exemplary?"
Time/location: 11:00 am; 2460 AV Williams
Facilitated by Faisal Hamman
Teaching assistants (TAs) serve as a bridge between students and professors, enabling them to form a lasting impression when teaching. New TAs often develop teaching methods through trial and error, an unsystematic approach that might result in fragmented or unfounded beliefs about what makes a teaching method effective. The aim of this workshop is to provide TAs with the pedagogical knowledge required to be outstanding teachers within the classroom. I will outline four key dimensions of effective teaching that exemplary teachers excel in: lesson organization, lesson clarity, lesson interest, and classroom climate. We will go over numerous techniques utilized by these instructors to assist TAs in enhancing students' learning experiences. The workshop participants are encouraged to share their ideas, experiences, and pedagogical knowledge. By initiating a conversation on "what makes a teacher exemplary?" I hope to help TAs develop effective teaching strategies that can be implemented in the classroom.
October 21: "How to Engage Students "
Time/location: 1pm; Zoom
Facilitated by Utku Noyan
The best books, and course materials in the world will not engage students about learning and eager to work hard. Passion, both intrinsic and extrinsic, is a critical aspect in students' performance at all levels of their education, and TAs may play a crucial role in giving and promoting that motivation in students. Of course, that's easier said than done since every student is driven differently, and it takes time and a lot of effort to get a classroom full of children engaged about learning, working hard, and pushing themselves to thrive. Even the most well-intentioned and knowledgeable TAs often struggle to keep students on track, so whether you're an experienced or fresh TA, we'll examine how we can engage our students to urge them to unleash their full potential.
October 14: "Tools to Adapt to a Student's Learning Style "
Time/location: 10:00 am; AV Williams 2460
Facilitated by Joseph Messou
Learning styles vary depending on the student and the level of the class. While most graduate students are already independent and will ask precise questions during office hours, a lot of undergraduate students are still trying to build good learning habits. As TAs, our job is to help clarify certain topics seen in class and assist students with homework problems. This can be done in different ways and most of the time depends on the student asking the question. In this workshop, we will cover tools to adapt to a student’s learning style and become helpful TAs.
October 5: "Learner-Centered Teaching"
Time/location: 12:30pm; AV Williams 2460
Facilitated by Mustafa Doger
I will talk about learner-centered teaching which puts emphasis on students capabilities and how to make most of them. I will explain basic steps of learner-centered teaching strategies that motivates students and facilitates learning.
September 28: "Post COVID-19 Teaching Changes"
Time/location: 1:00 pm; 2460 AV Williams
Facilitated by Michael Pedowitz
Covid 19 produced a marked shift in both student readiness, engagement and expectations. At the same time it shifted teaching paradigms and opened up new ways of learning g for students. In this workshop I will discuss the challenges and benefits of these changes and how to take them into account moving forwards.
September 22: "Adjusting to the TA Life "
Time/location: 12:00pm, AVW 2460
Facilitated by Sahan Liyanaarachchi
I would like to discuss the problems I faced as a TA and give a brief description about how I overcame them. I would also like to divide the attendees into groups of 5 or 6 and allow them to discuss the problems they face and come up with solutions as a group.
April 7: "Making a more interactive classroom"
Time/location: 3pm; AVW 2460
Facilitated by Fatemeh Alimardani
I will speak about the use of interactive teaching approaches in this workshop, urging more attention to the content of the lesson. Interactive education is all about teaching students in a way that engages them directly in their learning process. Not only will I speak about the use of interactive methods of teaching, but I'll also give you some examples of methods used as well.
April 1: "Teaching students from diverse backgrounds"
Time/location: 2pm; Zoom
Facilitated by Lei Pan
Sometimes we may have students with diversified background in our class, with different academic standing and other factors. There is no one size fit all teaching solution that could be effective among everyone. In this workshop, I will help you think through several hypothetical scenarios to better understanding the needs of students with diversified background.
March 15: "How to TA labs efficiently"
Time/location: 11:00am, Zoom
Facilitated by Wei-Hsiang Wang
It usually takes effort and time to TA lab-based courses, TA needs to prepare pre-lab report, post-lab report, and answer students questions. Often times, during a lab session, students have different questions you need to investigate. In this workshop, I am going to provides some tips on leading labs more efficiently.
March 7: "How to motivate students to learn instead of focusing on the grade "
Time/location: 3:00pm, AVW 2460
Facilitated by Joseph Messou
Unfortunately, as years go by, it seems that more and more students no longer care about learning and only want a decent grade to pass the class. Having a good GPA is important and may be enough to get an interview. However, it takes more to go beyond the interview stage. This is when students are expected to convert their GPA into knowledge and skills obtained from their different classes. As TAs, in addition to grading and helping students during a lab, office hours, or a discussion session, we also have the ability to impact students in the long term. In this workshop, we will cover strategies to help students focus on learning instead of the grade.
February 28: "Making grading an easier and more time-efficient process"
Time/location: 11am, AVW 2460
Facilitated by Arafat Hasnain
Giving feedback on assignments is one of the critical aspects of being a teaching assistant. However, grading can also seem like an arduous task if not managed properly along with other responsibilities of being a graduate student. This discussion driver workshop will provide tips on being an efficient grader with consistent grading methods and proper communication.
February 23: "Teaching as an International Teaching Assistant"
Time/location: 12pm, AVW 2460
Facilitated by Matin Mortaheb
Some international graduate students are worried when they learn that they are required to teach, especially in interactive classes. This may be caused by a lack of confidence in communicating in another language as well as being unfamiliar with that culture. The idea behind this workshop is to give international teaching assistants (ITAs) several tips and techniques that can be useful to be applied to their teaching methods to boost their confidence in communicating with students and have effective teaching in the classroom.
February 17: "TA assignments: How to handle a lack of expertise"
Time/location: 2pm, AVW 2460
Facilitated by Michael Pedowitz TA assignments are often made with careful consideration to your skills. But one can TA a course they have a very limited background for. The purpose of this workshop is to discuss ways to mitigate this and other administrative parts of being a TA
Fall 2021
November 12: "Strategies for Motivating Students"
Time/location: 11:00 am; 1146 A.V. Williams Building
Facilitated by Fatemeh Alimardani
The best lessons, books, and materials in the world won’t get students excited about learning and willing to work hard if they’re not motivated. Motivation, both intrinsic and extrinsic, is a key factor in the success of students at all stages of their education, and TAs can play a pivotal role in providing and encouraging that motivation in students. Of course, that’s easier said than done, as all students are motivated differently and it takes time and a lot of effort to learn to get a classroom full of students enthusiastic about learning, working hard, and pushing themselves to excel. Even the most well-intentioned and educated TAs sometimes lack the skills to keep students on track, so whether you’re a new TA or an experienced one, we will see how we can motivate our students to encourage them to live up to their true potential.
October 26: "Making Good Use of Office Hours and the Virtual Discussion"
Time/location: 12:00 pm/ Zoom
Facilitated by Wei-Hsiang Wang
Regular office hours can not be sufficient for all of the students. They may have time conflict or they do not even start to do the homework by your office hours. Most of the questions come one day before the deadline via emails. Sometimes it is difficult to answer questions simply using email, and may lead to time consuming while you cannot always set up a zoom meeting to discuss with them. In this workshop, I aim to discuss some issues I had before and give some tips.
October 20: "How to Prepare Students and Ourselves for the Transition to In-person Classes?"
Time/location: 12:00 pm/1146 A.V. Williams
Facilitated by Matin Mortaheb
As students, faculties, and TAs acclimate to shifting in-person classes, many will struggle with changes in routine and the loss of whatever daily online habits they had settled into during distance learning. Some students can even feel like they are experiencing withdrawals from their digital lives. In this workshop, I will introduce several useful methods which may help you as a teaching assistant to adjust yourself to the in-person teaching methods while at the same time getting benefit of what we had designed for virtual setting, and also to help you to motivate your students to do this transition better.
October 14: "Grading, Student Success, and Building a Rapport"
Time/location: 2:00 pm; 1146 AV Williams
Facilitated by Michael Pedowitz
The purpose of this TATD is to look at grading standards, how to define student success, and how to effectively communicate and get buy-in from students on these goals in your classes. This is driven by my experience that students often feel that TA's are arbitrary or uninterested in helping them learn the material in the class. Therefore the workshop will be split into several sections, overviewing grading and the communication of these schemes to students, harmonizing student and TA views of success. And final the communication of your views as a TA on these ideas in a receptive and respectful way.
Thursday, October 7: "How Much Help Should I Give the Students?"
Time/location: 10:30 am; 2460 AV Williams
Facilitated by Ehounoud Joseph C Messou
A recurring challenge during office hours is to determine how much help you should give students. While we want to encourage students to learn on their own, directing them to the book cannot be viable since our main goal is to help them learn and not point out useful resources. At the same time, students will always try to get the answer from you. In this workshop, we will go over tips to find the right balance and be a helpful TA.
Friday, October 1: "What Have We Learned From TAing Online?"
Time/location:12 pm; Zoom
Facilitated by Lei Pan
In the past three semesters, online classes have been an integrated part of the learning and teaching experience. Now with most classes returned to in-person meeting, what can we learn from the online experience and make both students and TAs experience better?
September 20: "Leading Effective Discussion Sessions"
Time: 12 pm; 2460 AV Williams
Facilitated by Arafat Hasnain
Discussion sessions are an essential element of university education. They can complement regular lecture sessions and aid the students in their understanding of the course material. There are various challenges associated with leading discussions as teaching assistants, especially in the virtual classroom environment. In this workshop, we will go over various approaches for teaching in discussion sessions that hold the students’ attention and also provide an effective medium of learning.
April 14: "Helping Students Make Informed Decisions On Potential Career Paths"
Time: 2 pm; Zoom
Facilitated by Skylar Hoffert
Finding a career path for engineering students is quite difficult, considering how many potential applications of engineering knowledge exist. In this workshop, we will discuss ways that you can encourage different students to pursue different career paths and help them to find related experience. Given the disparity of interest for undergraduate students, this can be challenging this workshop will provide you with more ideas on how to assist students who are searching for a career path.
April 8: "Subduing Ego and Promoting Self-Esteem in Students"
Time: 3:00 pm; Zoom
Facilitated by Charles Turner
We all struggle with identity and self-worth to various degrees. However, this is not an indicator of competence or aptitude for academics. If we understand the difference between self-image and self-esteem, we can improve the experience of our students and increase the chances of their success. This workshop will explore this concept and discuss ways of changing our method of instruction.
March 31: "What to Expect When Teaching"
Time: 2:00 pm, zoom
Facilitated by Semih Kara and Lei Pan
We would like to share and discuss some of the situations that you as a TA can or cannot expect. Semih will focus on the unexpected situations a TA might encounter, and Lei will discuss what are the perks that you can take advantage of, especially given that online teaching has made a lot of things easier. Our goal is to relieve you from the stress of being a TA with our experience.
March 12: "Enhancing the Communication With Students"
Time: 11:00 am; zoom
Facilitated by Xiaomin Lin
I will talk about inclusion and diversity in the classroom. And then I will talk about communication enhancement. Last but not least, I will about how to set up a good online office hour/recitation.
March 2: "How to Evaluate Students More Efficiently and Fairly in Virtual Education?
Time: 1:00 pm; zoom
Facilitated by Matin Mortaheb
Grading is inherently a burdensome process. Although there are many ways to make grading more efficient, many factors should be considered to make sure that the efforts of students are fairly assessed by the applied grading method. In this workshop, I will introduce several useful grading methods for different grading scenarios happening in virtual education which may help you as a teaching assistant to reduce the load of grading while keeps its fairness.
February 26: "Encouraging Active Learning During Office Hours"
Time: 11:00 am; zoom
Facilitated by Levi Burner
Last semester, my workshop was titled “Helping Students Apply their Coursework”. It introduced a method of structuring conversations with students in order to help them bridge the theory to practice gap. This semester’s workshop will pick up where the last left off with a more detailed exploration of question/answer conversational strategies and visual aids (especially for online classes) to encourage active participation of students in office hour’s style conversations. A particularly interesting case will be what to do if you do not know the answer. There will be a breakout session since that was well received last semester.
February 19: "Leading Effective Discussions"
12:00 pm; zoom
Facilated by Arafat Hasnain
Discussion sessions are an essential element of university education. They can complement regular lecture sessions and aid the students in their understanding of the course material. There are various challenges associated with leading discussions as teaching assistants, especially in the virtual classroom environment. In this workshop, we will go over various approaches for teaching in discussion sessions that hold the students’ attention and also provide an effective medium of learning.
November 13: "Practicing Mindfulness- Virtual Edition"
Time 2:00pm; Zoom
Facilitated by Charles Turner
Practicing mindfulness has become a popular topic for managing emotions and stress, as well as enhancing clarity and focus on one's tasks each day. This is especially critical in today's virtual/teleworking environment where you or your students might be feeling the effects of isolation. We can use these principles to promote a calm, relaxed, yet enlivened classroom environment. This workshop will discuss these principles and provide some practical exercises for TA's to apply in the virtual classroom and their own personal life.
November 4:"Balancing Your Time as a Student, TA and Researcher"
Time 2:30pm; Zoom
Facilitated by Semih Kara
Many of us can be overwhelmed under the multifaceted nature of the PhD process, since we are expected to sucessfully function as students, TAs and researchers. This workshop aims to hear out the difficulties that you might be having in this regard and introducing tips to overcome these concerns, as well as providing an environment for the fellow TAs to share their experiences and suggestions on how you can enhance your multitasking abilities. Some of the topics to be discussed includes time and load management, tips for gaining efficiency in TA and student chores and overcoming the burnout syndrome. Seeing that we have many specific tasks (e.g. grading, doing homework, carrying out experiments and proving results) of several nature, we will discuss on the micro-perspective of how to become more efficient in these tasks. We will also talk about the macro-perspective of how to place these tasks into our daily life. Finally we will talk about the burnout syndrome and share what motivated us to take this path. As a result of this workshop we hope that you will feel more control over your tasks and be motivated to embrace the difficulties of the PhD process.
October 22: "Seeing the Forest for the Tree: Helping Students Apply Their Coursework"
Time 12:30pm; Zoom
Facilitated by Levi Burner
Engineers naturally seek practical application of theoretical knowledge. However, students encountering a subject for the first-time sometimes struggle to see utility in the subject. Further, successful real-world designs often require creative application of theory. In both situations, students need to build top-down associations of practical requirements with theoretical concepts. This workshop will discuss how TA’s can encourage this process with confidence boosts, tips, and examples.
October 16: "Leading Effective Discussion Sessions"
12:00pm; Zoom
Facilitated by Arafat Hasnain
Discussion sessions are an integral part of learning in university. Discussion sessions can supplement regular lectures and are very important for the understanding of course material for students. In this workshop, we will go over different strategies for leading discussion sessions that are engaging and helpful to students.
September 30: "Stimulating the Curiosity of Engineering Students"
2:00pm; Zoom
Facilitated by Skylar Hoffert
An immensely helpful skill for educators to possess is the ability to stimulate curiosity in students. Rather than always asking questions to your students and expecting an answer back - a good learning plan should encourage students to ask questions on their own in an effort to understand the material. This workshop will discuss some strategies that TAs could use to stimulate some curiosity in the minds of their students and allow TAs to discuss successful related strategies.
September 23: "How to Survive Virtual Lab Sessions"
11:00 am; Zoom
Facilitated by Lei Pan
Communicating with students over Zoom can be awkward, especially when feedback from students are not instantaneous. For lab sections, they usually last for at least 2 to 3 hours. Therefore, a new method for interacting with students during lab sessions is needed to make the virtual session more engaging.
September 16: "How to Adapt to the Virtual Teaching Environment as a Teaching Assistant"
12:00 pm; Zoom
Facilitated by Matin Mortaheb and Xiaomin Lin
By switching to virtual classrooms in this semester, teacher assistants will need to figure out how to adapt their instruction to facilitate active learning in the virtual setting classrooms. Therefore, the overall goal of this session is to make you prepared for the Zoom typed discussion classroom or office hours. The session consists of two parts. Matin would like to share some techniques and examples that can be used to improve the student engagement in the virtual classroom. Xiaomin will introduce some of the helpful online tools for managing the class and he also will share some of his past experiences in the virtual classroom.
March 4: "Practicing Mindfulness Inside and Outside of the Classroom"
12:30 pm; 1146 AV Williams Building
Facilitated by Charles Turner
Practicing mindfulness has become a popular topic for managing emotions and stress, as well as enhancing clarity and focus on one's tasks each day. We can also use these principles to promote a calm, relaxed, yet enlivened classroom environment. This workshop will discuss these principles and provide some practical exercises for TA's to apply in the classroom and their own personal life.
February 27: "Satisfactory Performance as a TA"
1:00 pm; 2460 AV Williams Building
Facilitated by Jinjing Han
Based on the TA evaluation form, there are three questions for students to evaluate a TA. In this workshop, I am planning to discuss how to treat students with respect, how to be well-prepared for class, and how to be an effective teacher. In addition, I will also discuss the comments I received in the past 2 years and discuss what are students really looking for, and how to satisfy students.
February 21: "Expect the Unexpected: Learning to be an Adaptable TA"
1:30 pm; 2168 AV Williams Building
Facilitated by Semih Kara
We will be discussing how to adapt to assisting classes that the TA has forgotten or the instructor does differently than what the TA is used to. I see instances of the first one in classes such as introductory digital logic (or other introductory classes) and I believe the second issue happens often in graduate classes. I am aiming to talk on different ways to coop with these situations, such as attending classes, going through the syllabus with the instructor beforehand and following every step of the course, using student’s homeworks to help preparing rubrics, etc. as well as how this might effect time management.
February 4: "What's All This About 'Research'?"
2:00 pm; AV Williams 2460
Presented by Professor Bruce Jacob
Professor Jacob will take some time to talk to TAs about why you should do research, how to do research, and how to go about finding/picking a research advisor.
November 14: "Balancing Your Time as a TA, Student, and Researcher"
2:00 pm; AV Williams 2460
Facilitated by Semih Kara
As the end of the semester approaches many of us are overwhelmed under the multifaceted nature of the PhD process, since we are expected to successfully function as students, TAs and researchers. This workshop aims to understand the difficulties that you might be having in this regard and introducing tips to overcome these concerns, as well as providing an environment for the fellow TAs to share their experiences and suggestions on how you can enhance your multitasking abilities. Some of the topics to be discussed include time and load management, tips for gaining efficiency in TA and student chores and overcoming the burnout syndrome. Seeing that we have many specific tasks (e.g. grading, doing homework, carrying out experiments and proving results) of several natures, we will discuss on the micro-perspective of how to become more efficient in these tasks. We will also talk about the macro-perspective of how to place these tasks into our daily life. Finally we will talk about the burnout syndrome and share what motivated us to take this path. As a result of this workshop we hope that you will feel more control over your tasks and be motivated to embrace the difficulties of the PhD process.
October 28: "How to Ensure That Your Students Get the Maximum Benefit of a Discussion Session"
1:00 pm; AV Williams 2460
Facilitated by Sajani Pallegoda Vithana
A discussion session is where the students train themselves to apply the subject matter they learn in class, while clearing out their doubts on the material. TA's should make sure that they create an interactive environment during the discussion session in order to let the students get a better understanding on the concepts and to improve their critical thinking skills. Moreover, TA's could use simple techniques such as briefing the material before moving on to questions and conducting a short Q&A session, to ensure that the students get the maximum benefit of the discussion session.
October 21: Community Event "Coffee With Your TATD Mentor"
3:00 pm; AV Williams 2460
Facilitated by Marissa Stewart from TLTC
This Community Event will consist of a brief workshop regarding the benefits of feedback. This topic can be particularly helpful as mid-semester evaluations are being held and TAs are in the process of requesting feedback from their students and even mentors or professors. The second half of the event, TAs and their mentors will have time to talk over coffee and pastries.
October 17: "Motivating Your Students to Be More Independent and Prepared"
10:00 am; AV Williams 1146
Facilitated by Yuqi Zhao and Xiaomin Lin
Learning is mainly done by a student himself/herself. The recitation would be more effective and efficient if the students come prepared. Thus, motivating the students to be more independent and prepared before coming to the discussion (lab) session is an important task for all TAs. In this workshop, we aim to focus on tips we learned from our past TA experience.
October 10: "Discussion Sessions: Understanding a Student's Perspective"
11:00 am; AV Williams 2460
Facilitated by Sai Saketh Rambhatla
Most TAs do a good job in making the discussion session as smooth and coherent as possible but what does the student think? We as TAs work hard to prepare well for the session but do we keep the student in mind during our preparation. This workshop starts by highlighting how differently the student perceives the discussion session and ends it with some ways to address such issues.
October 1: "Making the Most of Your Office Hour"
2:00 pm; AV Williams 2460
Facilitated by Xin Tian
Office hour lasts usually about one hour every week. How to make full use of this one hour to help as many students as possible is an important lesson for TAs to learn. In this workshop, I aim to focus on tips I learned from my past TA experience. 1) Collect questions before office hours to have an expectation of what questions may be asked. (Or we can have a sense from students’ emails). 2) Summarize and make a list of questions that most students don’t fully understand. Solve those common questions together to save time and avoid repeating. 3) Avoid spending too much time on one question. 4) Be prepared and know the lectures. 5) Try to use illustrations like logical drawing, block diagram, etc. to facilitate explanation.
September 26: "Grading to Teach"
1:00pm; AV Williams 2460
Facilitated by Andrew Goffin
Instead of focusing on how to grade efficiently (that's likely covered by others), this talk will talk about how to develop a rubric and grade assignments to best educate students. For example: distribute points so the most important concepts are worth the most, write comments to lead students to the correct conclusion when they are wrong.
September 16: "Three Steps to an Engaging Lab Session"
12:30 pm; AV Williams 2460
Facilitated by Lei Pan and Jinjing Han
Students spend more time with a lab TA than the professor. Also unlike a discussion session TA, the lab TA plays a more important role in the class since students learn directly from him/her. Thus it is important for us, as lab TAs to convey course material to students in the valuable three hours. We would like to share our experience with you on how to design an engaging lab session in three steps: before the lab session, during the lab session, and after the lab session.
Week of February 12: "Balancing TA Work with Lab and Course Work"
Time/location: Monday, February 12 at 11:00 am in AVW 2460
Facilitated by Justin Welter
The demands of TA work, combined with numerous lab meetings, research, homework, and other course deadlines, can leave TAs feeling stretched thin and unable to fit everything into their week. With so many tasks from different sources all vying to fill up a busy graduate student’s day, effective time management skills are essential. Common problems students face, effective ways to overcome these issues, and tips on avoiding feeling overwhelmed will be discussed during this lecture geared towards busy graduates who work as TAs, GAs, and students all at once.
Week of February 19: "Thriving as a Graduate Teaching Assistant"
Time/location: Wednesday, February 21 at 10:30 am in AVW 2460
Facilitated by Lahiru Wijerathna
The role of a Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) requires a blend of organizational prowess, effective teaching strategies, and adept time management. This workshop is crafted to empower GTAs by delving into the core aspects of their responsibilities. Through interactive activities, group discussions, and personal reflections, participants will explore the intricacies of crafting engaging teaching materials, implementing effective teaching techniques, managing out-of-classroom expectations, and delivering constructive feedback.
Week of February 26: "Grading Techniques"
Time/location: Tuesday, February 27 at 2:00 pm in AVW 2460
Facilitated by Mustafa Doger
Most teaching assistants are required to grade homework as well as midterms and finals. Different grading approaches may be needed for different assignments, each with different focus, i.e., effort, time manageability, fairness, creativity, etc. Useful grading techniques for different tasks will be discussed in this workshop to facilitate the grading for teaching assistants.
Week of March 4: "How to Conduct Engaging Discussion Sessions"
Time/location: Wednesday, March 6 at 10:30 am in AVW 2460
Facilitated by Infiter Tathfif
As TAs, we are assigned to conduct weekly discussion sections. In this workshop, I will talk about what you can do as a TA beforehand and during the discussion session so that the sessions are fruitful and students are benefitted maximally.
Week of March 25: "Balancing between Classes, Research, and Life"
Time/location: Wednesday, March 27 at 11:00 am in AVW 1146
Facilitated by Mohamed Elnoor
Finding the right balance between academic and personal life is a common challenge for graduate students. This workshop focuses on strategies for effectively managing classes, research, and personal time. We'll discuss practical approaches to time management, setting realistic goals, and techniques for maintaining a healthy work-life balance. The workshop will include a mix of presentation and interactive discussions.
Week of April 1: "Focus and Flourish: Enhancing Productivity with Attention Management"
Time/location: Wednesday, April 3 at 10:30am AVW 2460
Facilitated by Faisal Hamman
Attention management is essential for graduate students, who often juggle coursework, teaching responsibilities, and research. "Focus and Flourish" is a workshop tailored for these students to improve productivity by better focusing their attention.
Week of April 8: "Providing Effective Feedback for Improving Student Performance"
Time/location: Tuesday, April 9 at 1:00 pm in AVW 2460
Facilitated by Ayooluwa Ajiboye
Feedback is a very essential tool required in all facets of life to facilitate growth. This concept could not be further emphasized in an academic environment. This is because student feedback is the platform upon which students can weigh the quality of their efforts and determine how much they have truly learned. When it comes to student feedback, the method with which the feedback is delivered is just as important as the feedback itself in order to maximize the improvement in student performance. Providing feedback to students is a delicate yet essential part of the learning process as it can shape their mindsets and leave them with a long-lasting impression regarding the subject matter of the class.
Week of April 15: "Inspiring and Guiding Students: Fostering Engineering Independence and Critical Thinking"
Time/location: Wednesday, April 17 at 1pm in AVW 2460
Facilitated by Sydney Overton
As TAs, we have an opportunity to empower our students to be autonomous and self-motivated engineers. During this workshop I will discuss what it means to be an independent engineer and learn some of the strategies that inspire students to embrace autonomy and nurture critical thinking skills essential for success in university and industry.
Week of September 16: "TAing and Research-informed Lessons"
Time/location: Thursday, September 19 at 11:00 am in AVW 2460
Facilitated by Matthew Hankins
Sometimes TAs are presented with decisions for which there is very little guidance and no obvious "right answer". E.g., how will you structure your discussion/recitation sections? In many of these cases, education research (or more specific iterations for STEM or EE education) can provide useful input. This workshop will touch on topics of active learning, narrative-based lessons, and STEAM. It will also feature group discussion with peer TAs and more general advice based on years of TAing experience and student evaluations.
Week of September 23: "Leading Effective Discussions (Engage, Explore, Excel) & Effective Focus Techniques for TAs"
Time/location: Wednesday, September 25 at 11:00 am in AVW 2460
Facilitated by Charana Sonnadara & Hassan Chaudhry
Designed to equip new Teaching Assistants with essential strategies to maintain student attention and foster an engaging learning environment. This interactive workshop will explore practical techniques for capturing and sustaining student interest, creating dynamic lectures, and encouraging active participation. Participants will learn how to utilize various engagement tools, and implement best practices to enhance student focus; transforming the classroom into a hub of attentive and enthusiastic learners.
Teaching assistants are often responsible for conducting discussion groups or office hours, where they need to conduct discussion sessions for larger or smaller audiences. It is challenging to answer every question students have. Still, effective discussion sessions that anticipate questions students are likely to ask during these two sessions can make the sessions productive and engaging for the students. In addition, with the given time constraints, prioritize the questions that you would think to answer the questions that might help the majority of students.
Week of September 30: "Teaching vs. Project Managing: How to effectively balance learning with progress in a project-based course"
Time/location: Wednesday, October 2 at 11:00 am in AVW 2460
Facilitated by Benjamin Shani
In many project based courses, especially various labs and senior capstones, completion of a deliverable can prove important to both individual students and the course as a whole. As a result, it becomes enticing for TAs to provide students with as much guidance as possible to ensure project progress. Simultaneously, properly guiding students through material and enabling their own exploration proves essential, and becoming too hands-on with students may impede the learning process. Therefore, sometimes the responsibilites of teaching and project managing conflict. This workshop will explore strategies for effectively teaching students relevant material while also ensuring project timelines and deliverables are met.
Week of October 7: "Enhancing Student Engagement and Learning through Effective TA Practices"
Time/location: Monday, October 7 at 11:00 am in AVW 2460
Facilitated by Sidra Gibeault
It is often overlooked just how impactful teaching assistants are on a student’s educational experience. This workshop will highlight the vital role of teaching assistants in fostering a passion for the course material and providing an environment where students feel comfortable asking for help. We will explore several strategies to help students learn the course material more effectively, as well as ways to make yourself more approachable to students. Additionally, we will discuss how to establish healthy boundaries with students to ensure a professional relationship while demonstrating genuine care for their academic success.
Week of October 21: "Communication is the key ! The TA, Students and Professor triangle"
Time/location: Monday, October 21 at 11:00 am in AVW 2460
Facilitated by Ubaid Bakhtiar
Explore the vital role communication plays within the TA-Student-Professor triangle. The workshop will discuss strategies for TAs to maintain clear, consistent communication with professors to ensure alignment on course objectives and expectations. The discussion will delve into techniques for engaging students, encouraging active participation, and addressing their concerns. The workshop will also provide practical advice on how to navigate situations where one or both parties—professors or students—are non-communicative. Can use case studies and interactive discussions with participants to initiate dialogue, build and create an inclusive classroom atmosphere.
Week of October 28 : "TA, Research, Classes: How to Maintain All 3 Effectively"
Time/location: Wednesday, October 30 at 11:00 am AVW 2460
Facilitated by Russell Chiu
Balancing these three responsibilities while being a relatively new student can be very challenging. With many tasks, it is easy to fall behind in one category and try to catch up later in the semester. This workshop will discuss several strategies to manage these responsibilities and avoid being overwhelmed later in the semester. We will also discuss ways to maximize your time while taking on the busy life of a graduate student, TA, and researcher.
Week of November 4: "Navigating the Role of a Teaching Assistant as an International Student in the U.S"
Time/location: Monday, November 4 at 11:00 am in AVW 2460
Facilitated by Gershom Seneviratne
The role of a Teaching Assistant (TA) is crucial in the academic landscape of U.S. universities, especially for international students who bring diverse perspectives to the classroom. This workship is designed to equip international TAs with the knowledge and skills needed to excel in their roles. We will explore key aspects of the U.S. academic environment, including cultural nuances, communication strategies, and effective teaching practices. Attendees will learn how to overcome common challenges faced by international TAs, such as language barriers and different pedagogical expectations, while also leveraging their unique backgrounds to enrich the learning experience for students. Through practical tips, real-life scenarios, and interactive discussions, this presentation aims to empower international TAs to confidently navigate their responsibilities and contribute meaningfully to their academic communities.
Week of November 18: "Gaining Confidence in Teaching and Applying it to your Future Career"
Time/location: Thursday, November 21 at 11:00 am in AVW 2460
Facilitated by Sydney Overton
TAs are often expected to help students succeed in classes that they themselves are not experts in. It can be overwhelming being asked to walk students through discussion of material you aren't confident in. Moreover, there is stress in being the person in front of the class. In this workshop, I will focus on techniques for navigating teaching in non-expertise areas, helping students when you don't know how, and how to apply it to a future teaching career.
