The goal of this workshop series is to provide UCI faculty and TAs with practical tools to develop collaborative pedagogical approaches and mutually supportive working relationships, in order to enhance both undergraduate learning and graduate student professional development. Designed to address some of the most common teaching and working challenges faced by UCI faculty and TAs, these workshops will draw on the facilitators’ experience as well as a range of recommended practices for teaching and learning in higher ed settings.

The first of the two workshops, Navigating Teaching Challenges in the Faculty/TA Relationship, will address common difficulties in the working relationship between faculty and teaching assistants. Participants will learn a variety of strategies for setting clear expectations, coordinating grading, confronting classroom conflict, and juggling the competing demands of co-teaching, supervising, and mentoring within an ambiguously defined professional relationship. This workshop will be held April 26, 2018 from 3:30 – 5 pm in SBSG 1321. Coffee and refreshments will be provided.

The second workshop, Valuing Discussion Sections in Course Design, will provide tools for designing and teaching large lecture classes in a way that leverages the affordances of combining TA-led discussion sections with faculty-led lectures. Participants will learn several strategies for making discussion sections valuable for student learning, effectively integrating discussion sections and lectures, and supporting TA professional development through the course design process. The workshop will be held May 8, 2018 from 3:30 – 5 pm in SBSG 1517. Coffee and refreshments will be provided.

Both workshops are open to faculty, post-docs, and graduate students from any discipline, but they will focus particularly on teaching in the Social Sciences. Participants may attend either or both workshops in the series. For more information, please email Katie Cox at kecox at uci dot edu.

This workshop series is sponsored by the UCI Department of Anthropology with support from the UCI Division of Teaching Excellence and Instruction.

Here are some materials from our 2018 workshop series. Feel free to use and reproduce, with credit.

TA/ Faculty Communication Checklists

Supporting Grad Student Professional & Pedagogical Development

Discussion Section Planning Template