Learning to Teach in Higher Education: Graduate Student Teachers Becoming, Being, and Forthcoming
This resource is a result of my doctoral dissertation research. It summarizes the findings of a qualitative study looking at how graduate students, new to teaching in higher education, approach learning how to teach. The findings provide insights for graduate students to consider as they embark on teaching in post-secondary.
As graduate students take on a teaching role (whether as a teaching assistant (TA) or as the instructor of record) and begin the process of becoming a teacher in higher education, they bring their experience of being a student. Due to this experience, graduate students hold robust beliefs and dispositions related to teaching and learning. However, their beliefs and dispositions are narrowly focused and based on what worked for them as a student. Further, since graduate students are teaching for the first time and have never been in a ‘teaching’ role, they default to approaching their work from a student subject position.