Graduate Student Instructor Program
In collaboration with UT’s academic departments and graduate student support organizations, the GSI program, offered by the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL), provides opportunities to advance graduate students’ pedagogical, academic, and professional progress. The GSI Program is an initiative of the Office of the Provost, the Office of Graduate Studies, and the CTL.
Becoming a College Teacher
Visit our resource website: Becoming a College Teacher which provides pedagogical support for graduate student instructors in a variety of areas--such as lecturing, discussion, and assessment. The instructional content is focused on evidence-based teaching strategies, and features video clips of exemplary graduate student instructors who were once 398T students.
398T Workshops
CTL staff offer a wide-range of 398T Workshops to facilitate learning, enhance instructional effectiveness, and integrate technology into teaching and learning. These are requested by 398T faculty. Some sample workshop topics are learning theory, motivation in the college classroom, and successful discussion sections.
Download our complete offering of workshops
What participants had to say:
Teaching Topics for Teaching Assistants
Teaching Topics for Teaching Assistants (TAs) is a learning community of graduate teaching assistants who are interested in becoming excellent teachers. Topics of discussion are based around participants’ needs, but may include leading discussions, facilitating labs, grading student work, and helping students during office hours. In addition to learning about effective teaching methods, the group also serves as a support network for teachers who are committed to excellence in teaching. You’ll find this group a friendly, energizing, and accepting community of like-minded graduate students committed to creating the best learning opportunities for their students.
The facilitators introduce new teaching strategies through informal, mini-presentations. Participants are also invited to share their own experiences using various teaching strategies. During each session, time is provided to address any challenges that you are experiencing as a TA and collaboratively generate a solution.
Individual Consultation
GSIs commonly find instructional coaching helpful during their teaching career at UT-Austin. CTL staff devoted to GSI-specific teaching needs are available to support and advise you on all aspects of teaching such as syllabus and instructional activity design, effective classroom management, and even strategies for inspiring (or re-inspiring) you and your students.
Email consulting requests to gsiprogram@austin.utexas.edu
What one participant had to say:
Midterm Assessment Consulting
Frequent feedback from students assists instructors in meeting students’ needs. The CTL staff are available to meet with GSIs interested in designing their own feedback instruments, or to discuss the use of other assessment tools. CTL staff can also assist with planning formative and summative assessments, creating rubrics, analyzing exam questions, and interpreting results.
Email consulting requests to gsiprogram@austin.utexas.edu
What participants had to say:
Teaching Philosophy/Portfolio Consultations
A teaching philosophy is a reflection on your beliefs about teaching and learning and how you put those beliefs into practice. They are increasingly required by faculty search committees along with teaching portfolios, which showcase your teaching achievements. CTL staff can assist you with preparing these documents by sharing handouts about how to construct these or by providing you with feedback once you have developed a draft.
Email consulting requests to gsiprogram@austin.utexas.edu
What one participant had to say:
Graduate Teaching Scholars Certificate Seminar
As part of the continued support provided by the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) for graduate student instructors, we have created the Graduate Teaching Scholars Certificate Program for current Assistant Instructors at UT Austin. This seminar is designed to broaden participants’ pedagogical knowledge and support their development as a future faculty member of the professoriate.
What participants had to say:
Academic Employment at UT Austin
Graduate students may be appointed as a Teaching Assistant, Assistant Instructor, Graduate Research Assistant, Academic Assistant, Assistant (Graduate) or Tutor (Graduate) for up to 14 long semesters while pursuing a graduate degree at The University of Texas at Austin.
Visit the graduate student employment website for more information.
If you have any questions please email: gsiprogram@austin.utexas.edu or call (512) 475-9397.
Visit our Facebook page or follow us on Twitter to get more information about upcoming opportunities (such as presentations offered at UT Austin about effective teaching techniques, fellowships for graduate students, etc.) and to connect with other graduate student instructors.