The Center for Teaching Excellence welcomes graduate students to attend our programs, including open workshops, teaching groups, and Teaching Day. We can also work with groups of graduate students to create custom workshops tailored to specific questions or challenges. 

Additionally, the CTE partners with the Office of Graduate Student Assistantships and Fellowships (OGSAF) to provide support for graduate student assistants in instruction-related roles through two courses: UNIV 0250 (Foundational Pedagogy for Graduate Assistants) and UNIV 0251 (Advanced Pedagogy for Graduate Student Lecturers). 

OGSAF manages enrollment in both UNIV 0250 and UNIV 0251. Contact OGSAF if you have questions about course enrollment, employment opportunities, hiring paperwork, your specific GA appointment, or your stipend. OGSAF’s website also explains GW's various instruction-related assistantship roles: Graduate Instructional Assistant (GIA), Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA), and Graduate Student Lecturer (GSL).

Courses

UNIV 0250

UNIV 0250 is our Foundational Pedagogy for Graduate Assistants course. Along with the GTAP Orientation (administered by OGSAF), UNIV 0250 is required of all first-semester Graduate Instructional Assistants and Graduate Teaching Assistants at GW. The course is offered every semester and takes place during the first 12 weeks of the semester. It includes content and assignments designed to give you practical experience in key components of your GA role.

You’ll have the opportunity to explore:

• Module 1: Getting off to a successful start
• Module 2: Planning a discussion section, lab, or review session
  • Assignment: Develop and reflect on a lesson plan for a 50-minute session
• Module 3: Facilitating a lab, discussion section, or review session
  • Assignment: Observe and reflect on a segment of a recorded class session
• Module 4: Grading and providing feedback on student work
  • Assignment: Critique sample feedback
• Module 5: Reflecting and improving
  • Assignment: Plan to receive feedback on an element of your GA role
• Module 6: Teaching inclusively

UNIV 0251

UNIV 0251 is Advanced Pedagogy for Graduate Student Lecturers, open to advanced graduate students who are planning to be the instructor of record for a course of their own at GW or are interested in growing their skills for higher-education pedagogy. UNIV 0250 is a prerequisite.

You’ll have the opportunity to explore:

• Module 1: Designing assignments that foster learning
  • Assignment: Critique an assignment for its transparency
• Module 2: Planning class activities
  • Assignment: Create plans for two successive class sections, highlighting active learning
• Module 3: Collaborative learning
  • Assignment: Multi-part classroom observation of GW faculty who have won teaching awards
• Module 4: Examining rubrics and grading
  • Assignment: (Re)Design a rubric for an assignment
• Module 5: Inclusive teaching
• Module 6: Next steps in your teaching journey
  • Assignment: Critique a course design and reflect on what you have learned in the course