Evidence of Professional Development
Graduate Certificate in College Instruction at Uconn
The Graduate Certificate in College Instruction is a program offered by the Institute for Teaching & Learning at the University of Connecticut. It is aimed at introducing graduate students who are interested in college teaching to basic and advanced teaching theories and practices they need to succeed. During my pursuit of the Ph.D. in Geography, I also participated in this great program, which included three full-semester courses and a summer seminar series. Many experienced professors shared their rich experience and skills during the courses, and more importantly, I met many graduate students who share the same level of enthusiasm about teaching as I have. Because teaching is a group activity in nature, group learning is certainly a great way to improve individually, and I am really happy with what I have acquired from this program. Among many the useful instructional aspects I learned, I find that instructional design based on L. Dee Fink’s model especially valuable. Now I am confident that whatever course is assigned to me, even if I am not very familiar with the subject, I can make a clear and detailed plan of the course to help me succeed. Information about the courses can be found at ITL Uconn.
Practicum in College Teaching, Geography Department, University of Connecticut
Practicum in College Teaching is a full-semester course offered within the Geography Department at the University of Connecticut. It is designed to help graduate students gain some firsthand teaching knowledge and experience. Basically it is a mentor program based on a one-to-one relationship, centered on one undergraduate course within the department. For myself, I feel blessed to have Professor William Berentsen as my mentor in teaching in our department. I learned quite a lot from him during the course, about course instruction and interaction with students. I also had some real teaching opportunities during the course. For example, I gave a lecture about China’s geography and development to a class of more than a hundred students. In retrospect, this course laid a solid foundation at the beginning of my college teaching and having some mentoring relationships always helps my personal development.
Attending Teaching Conference
New England Faculty Development Consortium (NEFDC) Conference 2011 As a part of my professional development in college teaching, I attended the New England Faculty Development Consortium (NEFDC) Conference last year at Holy Cross College, Massachusetts, and I plan to attend more teaching conferences in the future. NEFDC is a regional organization dedicated to promoting excellence in teaching and learning among faculty and graduate students. The theme of the 2011 conference was "Mentoring for Good Teaching and Successful Learning", and it was fun to meet people with the same interest in teaching from other institutions.