Workshops October
All MSU Teaching Assistants are invited to participate in the following campus-wide workshops sponsored by the Graduate School, MSU's TA Programs. We invite suggestions for future workshops. This listing will be updated continually. PLEASE NOTE: the individual workshops below are arranged by date; however, we will include notifications of other MSU workshop series and development opportunities available to graduate students that are not included in the dated list. Please compare the dates on the Series Announcement(s).
Registration Information
TA Program Workshops, contact kmj@msu.edu. Please include your name, department, and list of the workshop(s) you wish to attend.
Graduate School Workshops, register through gradwrsp@msu.edu. Please contact me with any questions you have about these programs or with recommendations for future offerings. For other information for graduate students, please visit the MSU Graduate School website.
Warmest Regards,
Kevin M. Johnston
Director, MSU TA Programs
Teaching Assistant Programs
Responsible Conduct of Research
PhD Career and Professional Development Workshop Series
Lilly Seminar
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Workshops
October 1, 2008
Developing Your Written Credentials: CV’s, Resume’s, and More
Location: Student Services Building, Room 6
Time: 5-6:30 pm
This Workshop fulfills the certification in college teaching competency: Professional Development/Understanding the Academy
In developing your written credentials it is crucial to represent your professional experience, accomplishments, expertise, and qualities in the most impact manner possible. This workshop is designed to help Ph.D. students learn how to present their CV’s, resumes, and cover letters in the strongest possible manner and to provide insight from the perspective of the search committee. Learn what the search committee is looking for and how to write your way into an interview. Participants should bring a copy of their curriculum vitae. Presenter: Dr. Matt Helm, Director, Ph.D. Career Services
October 2, 2008
Creating a Teaching Philosophy You Can Use, Part I: Establishing the Basics
Location: International Center Spartan Room C
Time: 5:30 – 7:00 pm
This Workshop fulfills the certification in college teaching competency: Adult Students as Learners/Creating Learning Environments & Professional Development Understanding the Academy
Writing a teaching philosophy is one of the most rewarding and, unfortunately, often one of the hardest tasks to complete. How many times have we sat down to pen an artful statement describing our roles as teachers only to end up slinking away from the computer, despairing over the difficulty of putting down often nebulous thoughts about an enterprise that often is hard to describe? How can we begin to create that ultimately meaningful description of why we do what we do, how we do it, and how our approach reflects some deeper (dare we say, “unique?”) thinking about teaching? Join me, Kevin Johnston, MSU TA Director, as we use writing exercises to help get you thinking and talking (AND putting pen to paper) about the seminal points you need to begin to address in your teaching philosophies. This workshop will give you a solid foundation from which you can start to write what will be one of the most important records you create of your teaching life. Bring with you writing materials and a cheerful willingness to share your “teaching philosophy travails” with your colleagues! To ensure that we can create workable cooperative-learning groups, workshop participation is limited to 35.
ATTENTION: THIS WORKSHOP HAS BEEN MOVED FROM SEPTEMBER 18
Creating a Teaching Philosophy You Can Use, Part I: Establishing the Basics
October 10, 2008
Teaching Critical Thinking
Location: MSU Union, Gold Room AB
Time: 8-11 am (Continental breakfast and registration at 8:00 a.m.; program begins at 8:30 a.m.)
Ed Neal, Director of Faculty Development, Center for Teaching and Learning, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
University teachers who wish to incorporate more critical thinking into their courses are faced with a difficult task. The literature on teaching critical thinking is enormous, but these sources offer diverse and occasionally contradictory advice on the subject. Nonetheless, it is clear from classroom experience and assessments that some instructional practices promote higher-order thinking and others do not. This introductory workshop is designed to help teachers understand the distinctions among categories of thinking skills, define the ways they apply critical thinking in their own fields, and identify teaching approaches that help students learn to think critically.
This program is co-sponsored by the F&OD and The Graduate School.
October 10, 2008
Evaluating Critical Thinking
Location: MSU Union, Gold Room AB
Time: 1-4 pm (Registration at 1:00 p.m.; program begins at 1:15 p.m.)
Ed Neal, Director of Faculty Development, Center for Teaching and Learning, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
Critical thinking assignments must be complex and challenging in order to elicit higher-order thinking from students. These kinds of assignments present a special challenge to instructors who have to grade them. Participants in this workshop will learn methods for evaluating critical thinking using traditional testing methods as well as project- and performance-based assessments that meet high standards of validity and reliability.
This program is co-sponsored by the F&OD and The Graduate School.
October 15, 2008
RCR: Maintaining a Productive & Responsive Environment for Conducting Graduate Research
Location: Kellogg Center, Lincoln Room
Time: 6-8 pm
This program will highlight issues of interest to both graduate students and faculty where expectations may differ, leading to conflicts that are ultimately unproductive to all. We will discuss what we are attempting to achieve through responsible conduct of research education with examples of mutual responsibilities by students, faculty, and staff in creating and maintaining a productive and responsive environment for achieving our collective personal goals - for students, a productive graduate experience leading to a rewarding professional career.
October 15, 2008
Navigating Graduate School Effectively
Location: Student Services Building, Room 6
Time: 5-7 pm
This session will introduce you to concepts that will help you reduce your personal stress level and deal effectively with the challenges of graduate study. To be efficient and effective in the academic arena it is important to know how to enhance and protect your own emotional health and well-being. If you would like to be more effective in stressful situations and be able to move through graduate study with greater ease, satisfaction, and productivity this seminar is for you.
Sponsored in partnership by the Graduate School and the MSU Health4U Program.
Presenter: Lisa Davidson, LMSW, Coordinator, Employee Assistance Program
Registration is REQUIRED for all workshops. To register, send an email to: gradwrsp@msu.edu and include ALL of the following information 1) name, 2) department, 3) email Address, 4) name of the workshop, and 5) date of the workshop(s) you wish to attend.
October 17, 2008
Developing Communication and Conflict Management Skills to Save Time and Enhance Productivity
Location: TBD
Time: TBD
Description: The graduate student/faculty advisor relationship is an important component of a successful graduate education experience. As with any relationship, conflict is inevitable. Conflict can negatively impact our relationship which, in turn, takes time away from our main objectives and leads to decreased productivity. Learning to prevent conflict through setting expectations and manage the conflict which may occur later will serve to build strong life skills and enhance one’s graduate education experience.
October 22, 2008
What’s Out There?: Identifying Non-Academic Options in the Ph.D. Job Market
Lo action: TBD
Time: TBD
This workshop will discuss job search strategies for graduate students seeking employment in business, government, or non-profits. It will provide information about how to begin and organize the job search, what strategies are most effective, how to research organizations, and where to find other helpful resources.
This Workshop fulfills the certification in college teaching competency: Professional Development/Understanding the University
October 25, 2008
Securing Academic Positions at 2 and 4-year colleges and universities
Location: TBD
Time: TBD
As you transition from being a graduate student to a working professional at an academic institution what are the survival skills you'll need to know to be successful? What will be the professional-level expectations of your new colleagues, your department chair, and the university? In graduate school you work diligently on your research, make presentations at professional conferences, and perhaps have opportunities to teach courses, but what type of additional “insider knowledge” do all graduate students need to know about their future professional opportunities? Presenters at this workshop will discuss and answer questions on what research reveals about the match between graduate school training and life as a faculty member, as well as on survival skills students should cultivate now to better prepare them for future academic positions, including developing strong mentoring relationships in graduate school and the first faculty position. The afternoon breakout sessions will focus on expectations for promotion and tenure, on making transition from graduate student to faculty member, and on teaching and managing teams in the classroom, the lab, and professional work environments. A panel of nationally known researchers, educators, and administrators from Michigan State University will also present their insights and answer questions on how to prepare for and survive the tenure and promotion process. This workshop is aimed at doctoral students at all levels in their programs, from those just beginning their coursework and planning ahead to acquire the skills they need to successfully navigate academic culture, to those starting on their job searches and making the transition from graduate student to faculty colleague.
October 30, 2008
Talking about Teaching in the Interview
Location: International Center Spartan Room C
Time: 5:30 – 7:00 pm
This Workshop fulfills the certification in college teaching competency: Professional Development/Understanding the University
“So what is your Teaching Philosophy?” How do you assess your students’ performances?” (Have you) Ever conducted formative evaluation or an SGID?” What’s the difference between collaborative and cooperative learning?” Can you answer these questions? When should you expect to answer them in an interview? What other concerns about representing your teaching should you have when out on the job market? We’ll explore in this workshop many of the ways you could be confronted with these issues during your job search AND we’ll talk about ways that you can effectively negotiate these conversations, put your best teaching “foot” forward, and out-distance peers who show up to their interviews unprepared to engage in meaningful dialogue about teaching. I will provide you with resources to help you negotiate your own searches and get you started piecing together your teaching portfolio, which should represent your teaching life in a variety of ways. To ensure that we can create workable cooperative-learning groups, workshop participation is limited to 35.