KOHL, J.A., Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, and D.S. COLEMAN, Department of Geological Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599

Departments can prepare graduate students for professional roles in education by offering graduate teaching
assistants a formal, seminar-style course that is linked with an introductory-level undergraduate course. The seminar course
is designed to provide practical experience in course management under the guidance of an experienced professor, and to
draw on that experience in examining the goals, challenges, and techniques of teaching in the college classroom. Graduate
students enrolled in the seminar course act as teaching assistants for the undergraduate course; both courses are taught by
the same experienced professor. The teaching assistants gain experience in course management by participating, with the
professor, in the management of the undergraduate course: specifically, in 1) articulating the course goals, 2) designing the
course to be logistically viable, 3) selecting course content, 4) selecting and preparing effective support materials (such as
supplementary reading and visual aids), 5) presenting material in lecture and other formats, and 6) designing activities to
effectively stimulate, and meaningfully evaluate, student learning. During this process, they are guided by the professor,
through readings and discussion, to consider the pedagogy behind their decisions and to evaluate the effectiveness of their
decisions.

This seminar course, with its built-in practicum in course management, is designed to prepare graduate students to create
and lead their own effective college-level courses during their academic careers. The traditional role of the teaching
assistant does not prepare graduate students to do this, because it does not provide them with experience in course
management or require them to reflect on the nature of their future responsibilities as academics.