CAT is pleased to provide workshops, reading groups, and other programming and services designed to support graduate students in their teaching. Whether you are an experienced teaching assistant looking for additional professional development opportunities or completely new to teaching, we have a variety of events to connect you with inspiring colleagues and develop your pedagogical skill set.
Required TA Training
If you are looking for the Essential Policies & Practices for TAs, a fully online training required for Categories 1–5 TAs who need to get certified to teach, please see our webpage for upcoming training offerings and more information.
Workshops
CAT teaching workshops are interactive sessions (typically 1.5 to 2 hours) led by a CAT facilitator or other subject matter expert. In addition to providing opportunities to learn about effective approaches to teaching, they are also opportunities to discuss ideas with other graduate students across disciplines. The following are our current workshop offerings:
Universal Design for Learning
Join us for our online workshop as we explore tools for learning content accessibility and strategies for incorporating universal design for learning into your teaching/course design practice.
- Facilitator: John Crow (Office of Distance Learning)
- Date/Time: Friday, February 23, 2:30 – 4:00 PM
- Location: Zoom
- Click here to register.
Motivation Workshop
Understanding students’ motivation isn’t just about being a cheerleader: motivation shapes the learner’s attention, their participation, and their behavior, so it’s an essential part of learning. (Lovett, et al., 2023). In this interactive workshop, we’ll identify factors that influence students’ motivation to learn. We will also generate strategies instructors and TAs can apply to keep students motivated.
- Facilitators: Leslie Richardson, Director, Center for the Advancement of Teaching
Darcey Liang, Teaching Consultant, Center for the Advancement of Teaching - Date/Time (Same workshop, two options):
- Wednesday, February 28, 2:00 – 3:30 PM
- Thursday, February 29, 2:00 – 3:30 PM
- Location: Scholars Commons Instruction Room, Strozier Library
- Click here to register.
Exam Design Workshop
In this interactive workshop, we’ll share exam design resources and guide you through a process of designing exams that measure student learning more accurately. We also introduce how to write or improve exam items, as well as how to check the quality of the exam. Time will be set aside for Q&A towards the end of the workshop.
- Facilitators: Darcey Liang and Hannah Hiester (Teaching Consultants from CAT)
- Date/Time: Friday, March 1, 12:30 – 2:00 PM
- Location: Scholars Commons Instruction Room, Strozier Library
- Click here to register.
Reading Groups
Reading groups are a great opportunity to connect with colleagues across disciplines and discuss great books about teaching and learning. Groups typically meet three times (approximately 1.5 hours each session) across three consecutive weeks and are led by a facilitator from CAT. Reading groups are a relaxed, discussion-focused environment that encourages participants to share their experiences and questions on the book topics.
See below for upcoming reading group offerings:
Graduate Student Reading Group – Teaching to Transgress
In this reading group, led by experienced graduate student teaching assistants at FSU, we will discuss the book Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom by bell hooks.
- Facilitators: PIE Teaching Associates
- Dates/Times (3 sessions)
- March 18, 1:00 – 2:30 PM
- March 26, 2:00 – 3:30 PM
- April 2, 1:00 – 2:30 PM
- Location: Zoom
- Click here to register.
More Workshops & Reading Groups Coming Soon in Summer 2024!