Resources for Teaching Assistants
Teaching Assistant Training Institute
Nearly every undergraduate student at Hopkins interacts at some point with a teaching assistant (TA) who functions in an instructional capacity, and many Hopkins TAs are the full-time faculty of the future.
To enhance the instructional experience of undergraduate students and to introduce Hopkins TAs to sound pedagogical theory and practice, the Center for Educational Resources, in collaboration with departments, deans, faculty, and the Graduate Representative Organization (GRO), offer a TA Training Program. The program is designed to serve all graduate students on the Homewood campus. Throughout the academic year, graduate students will be able to participate in independent activities that explore teaching and learning issues faced by TAs while at Hopkins. CER staff working with highly regarded instructors from the Hopkins faculty and advanced TAs facilitate all of these activities.
Access to Teaching Assistant Training Materials
Graduate students have several teaching resources, including the current TA Training Manual, available to them through a WebCT course site. To gain access to this site click on the following link and register.
Register for TA WebCT Site
To go to WebCT click on the following link:
http://webct.jhu.edu
Then click on "Login to myWebCT"
Teaching Assistant Training
Workshops
Several TA Training workshops will be offered during graduate student orientation and at other times during the academic year. Check with the TA Training Institute for details when the workshops will become available and how to register.
Teaching Assistant Training Institute
Academic Course (spring semester only; one credit)
Title: Preparation for University Teaching
Course Number: 500.781 (for Whiting School graduate students) and 360.781 (for Krieger School graduate students)
Course Description: This course is designed primarily to prepare those with no or little formal training as educators to assume instructional roles in higher education. People who complete graduate degrees often take on career positions in which they are expected to facilitate the learning of others. This includes teaching within private and public institutions, giving public presentations or facilitating in-service training programs. This course is designed as a general preparation for graduate students to teach independently and effectively at the university level. In addition to microteaching exercises, the course will cover such topics as large and small class teaching, the characteristics of student learning, syllabus construction, grading student performance, and developing one's own teaching portfolio.
Resources
Teaching Assistant Manual (2008)
Center for Educational Resources
Teaching Tools
WebCT
Employment Opportunities
Summer and Intersession Programs
Center for Talented Youth (summer employment)
Center for Talented Youth (distance learning)
Brigid O’Brien
In 2004 and 2005, Brigid O’Brien, a graduate student in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, began each day by climbing 100 feet of stairs and scaffolding. It doesn’t sound like typical work for an engineer, but then, O’Brien isn’t your typical engineer. She took a year off from her graduate work to pursue what she describes as, “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity:” working to clean and conserve the 130-year-old La Farge murals in Boston’s famous Trinity Church.
More »