Proposal Deadline Nears for Fall Graduate Student Colloquium
The sixth annual Graduate Student Colloquium (GSC) will convene September 12 to feature a panel, poster sessions, and workshops, presented by graduate students to showcase best practices and research in teaching. The event will kick off DIIA’s 2009-2010 Graduate Student Instructor (GSI) Program, an initiative of the Office of the Provost, the Office of Graduate Studies, and DIIA to enhance GSIs’ experience by providing opportunities for pedagogical, professional, and personal development.
With the theme Creating Learning Opportunities, the one-day program will focus on teaching strategies to support meaningful learning opportunities for UT Austin’s diverse undergraduate student population. Panel members will share their experiences in meeting teaching challenges across disciplines. Poster sessions will feature presenters’ original research on making instruction accessible to students with varied educational experiences. Workshops will offer hands-on experiences with pedagogies to encourage authentic, constructive, and collaborative learning.
UT Austin’s GSI Program is one of the first in the nation to offer a graduate student colloquium based on competitive selection from formal proposals, mirroring professional colloquia. Presenters receive extensive professional support from DIIA’s instructional development specialists, including formative feedback on proposals, supervised dry runs, and peer-driven question-and-answer sessions. Graduate students can expect that the one-day colloquium will help them build their instructional skills and establish expectations for teaching at the university, while also providing them elective credit toward an ASPECTS certificate.
Graduate students may submit proposals for one-hour workshops, poster sessions, or a place on the TA/AI panel. The primary audience includes graduate students who are anticipating future faculty roles as well as teaching assistants and assistant instructors. The goal of the colloquium is to spark new ideas and critical conversations concerning pedagogy in all academic disciplines, addressing four general topics:
- meaningful learning through discussion
- meaningful learning through writing
- meaningful learning through technology
- meaningful learning through assessment
Submit proposals as e-mail attachments in pdf, doc, or rtf formats to aspects@utlists.utexas.edu no later than 5:00 p.m. June 15. The proposal document should indicate the names of the presenters and the type of session proposed, with a filename of the form <your last name>_09GSCProp.<format>.
Consider adding your voice to the conversation about best practices and innovations in teaching to support 21st century learners. Take advantage of an important opportunity to advance your pedagogical, professional, and personal development.