Developing the Learning Outcomes for GRAD 6100

Developing appropriate learning outcomes (LO) for GRAD 6100 was important, because of the key role this seminar can play in the future of teaching assistants’ careers at UTEP and beyond. While attention to training graduate students to teach has improved substantially in recent years, many of them, especially PhD students, still receive little formal training in teaching and learning during their graduate studies despite the fact that a large majority of them become university faculty whose duties include teaching. Fortunately, many of the top universities understood the role of TAs and now have well-established TA training programs that are often required, because of the benefits for the TAs and the students they teach.

Formulating the learning outcomes was an important task because these statements would dictate how the class would be structured and what the students would get out of it.
I had taught an elective class for doctoral students in the Interdisciplinary PhD in Health Sciences on course design and thought I would be able to apply that design to this seminar. However, a discussion with colleagues and the responses of a large group of graduate students to a needs survey related to teaching and learning showed that design would not work.

I tapped into my network of colleagues and friends at other universities to learn about the programs they had develop, in particular UT San Antonio, UT Austin, and SUNY Albany, and I visited websites of programs at universities such as Yale, Berkeley, and Stanford. There are many sources of information and excellent websites available to study. That is fortunate, but also a bit of a challenge, because the temptation to just copy a program that has been around for a while is great. Copying is fraught with many dangers, not least of which that you'll create a program may not fit well at UTEP.

The survey of our UTEP graduate students was a key element in developing the learning outcomes. Their expression of what they would like to see in a seminar on teaching was important. This information in combination with various texts on successful teaching such as McKeachie’s classic book, and Nilson’s text, it became clear what this seminar should cover. Given the constraints and context of the seminar, the following learning outcomes were adopted (written in format suggested by Fink, 2003).

"A person can be well prepared to teach in higher education if they can DO the following:
1. Present a thoughtful philosophy of teaching, because it will be your compass that provides coherence and direction for your actions.
2. Develop basic skills such as (in this class you will practice these at various levels):
a. Writing relevant, clear, and measurable learning outcomes.
b. Designing relevant and authentic learning experiences for individuals and groups.
c. Assessing different kinds of student learning and the impact of your courses; use assessment and reflection to continuously improve teaching.
d. Dealing with different personalities and difficult people in a positive and effective manner.
e. Knowing how to find and use helpful resources available at the university.
f. Using information technology tools effectively to support your teaching and research.
g. Identify funding resources to support your work.
h. Identify the assumptions, role, scope, and responsibilities associated with positions in higher education.

3. Using reflection and discussion to create a professional development plan that integrates teaching and research in a coherent package so the activities support each other rather than distract, in order to direct continuous growth as a professional.

4. Work effectively as a leader and team member towards positive change and improvements in your teaching for yourself and others.

One of the key criteria of a LO is that you can assess students' performance on it. I needed to ask the question “Can I identify a clear way to find out whether the students have achieved the LO?” and can we do it justice in the time we have with the resources available? For example, how will I know that each student can “Build a sophisticated philosophy of teaching, research, and service…?” and can they achieve that successfully within the time and resource constraints. It is not fair to set high goals that cannot realistically be met in the course.