last updated: Jun 10 2007
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The University of Texas at Austin
Executive Vice President and Provost

DIIA Awards First ASPECTS Certificate to Maria de la Paz Garcia

Maria de la Paz Garcia, center, has received the first certificate awarded through the new ASPECTS—Advancing Students' Professional Excellence with Certificates in Teaching Series—program. DIIA staff congratulating her are, at left, Lynn Jones Eaton and Mark Decker, and at right, Joanne Holladay and DIIA Director Judy Ashcroft.

Maripaz, as her students know her, is a PhD candidate in Foreign Language Education, Curriculum and Instruction, and teaches in Spanish and Portuguese. She chose to participate in the program because session topics fit perfectly with her interests in evaluation, methodology, technology use, and above all, helping students. “ASPECTS provided me a more focused knowledge of specific areas that I learned globally but never had the time to really investigate closely,” she said.

The ASPECTS Program offers workshops on twenty-nine different topics such as Motivating Students to Learn, Effective Public Speaking Techniques, and Teaching with PowerPoint. Students may attend individual sessions or they can earn a certificate by attending five sessions and writing an application essay.

According to Joanne Holladay, co-coordinator with Mark Decker for the GSI Program, students are drawn to the program for many reasons. "ASPECTS provides a wonderful opportunity for students to talk to one another about teaching,” she commented. “Each presenter structures time during sessions for students to share ideas and answer one another's questions. The program provides a valuable forum for GSIs to address individual problems and to meet other students with similar concerns."

Garcia said, “UT Austin has a reputation for being a research-oriented institution. People should also know that UT Austin takes seriously the training of GSIs and graduate students interested in improving teaching and learning. There should be a healthy balance.” She was most impressed with the quality of her ASPECTS experience and highly recommends the program to her colleagues. “I am very grateful for being allowed to take these sessions—I really appreciate the good education provided by excellent specialists, free of charge!”

In a significant move toward establishing a Student Learning Center on campus, Dan Updegrove, vice president for Information Technology, and Emily Barrett of ITS administration, along with the General Libraries, have generously made FAC 228D available as a “home room” for the Spring ASPECTS program. Visit the ASPECTS Web to learn more about the program and how to register.

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In continuing support of the graduate teaching/learning experience, DIIA will present Conversations about Teaching and Learning, a free colloquium for graduate students on the morning of January 14 at the Thompson Conference Center. The colloquium is organized into two threads:

Techniques for Managing an Interactive Classroom will assist graduate students in developing effective methods to increase interaction, use group work in the classroom, and assess these activities. Building Learning Communities is tailored for more experienced GSIs. Based on techniques learned in interactive sessions and an action plan developed during the seminar, GSIs choosing this thread will return to their departments able to create cohesive, ongoing, state-of-the-art teaching/learning communities designed to enrich the undergraduate classroom experience at UT Austin. Visit the Conversations about Teaching and Learning Web page for more information and to register.