Graduate Academic & Professional Skills Development
Do you find it difficult to articulate your research ideas? Do you struggle with how to design and organize your research literature review? Your results? Your theoretical paper? Are you intimidated by fellowship and grant applications? Do you struglle managing your thesis writing with your other responsibilities? Are you finding it difficult to design and deliver stimulating lectures in your courses?
WE ARE HERE TO HELP!
GRADUATE PROFESSIONAL SKILLS PROGRAM (GPS) at UTM
* Note: Completing this program is recorded on your official U of T transcript.
Main website: http://www.sgs.utoronto.ca/informationfor/students/profdev/gps.htm
To enroll in the program, you must join the GPS portal on Blackboard. Go to portal.utoronto.ca, and search under organizations for “Graduate Professional Skills”. Enroll and then submit.
Introduction to Writing Grant Proposals in the Humanities (1 credit CI or RS)
Friday, Sept. 23 rd, 1-4pm; CCIT Bldg. 2140 PC Lab
Bring past proposal if possible and USB flash drive to save your work.
You can register on site at the session.
Introduction to Writing Grant Proposals in the Sciences (1 credit CI or RS)
Monday, Sept. 26 th, 1-4pm; CCIT Bldg. 2160 PC Lab
Bring past proposal if possible and USB flash drive to save your work.
You can register on site at the session.
Polished and Professional Presentations Part I (2 credits CI and PE)
Parts I and II required for completion
Tuesday, Oct 4 th, 2-4pm; Instructional Building Rm. 260
You can register on site at the session.
Polished and Professional Presentations Part II (section 1) (2 credits CI and PE)
Parts I and II required for completion: each part II section has very limited space
Tuesday, Oct 11 th, 2-5pm; Instructional Building Rm. 260
You will register at Part I for your Part II session.
Polished and Professional Presentations Part II (section 2) (2 credits CI and PE)
Parts I and II required for completion: each part II section has very limited space
Tuesday, Oct 18 th, 2-5pm; Instructional Building Rm. 260
You will register at Part I for your Part II session.
Support for Teaching Assistants at the RGASC
RGASC faculty offer support and specialized training for TAs and their supervising instructors on a course-by-course basis. This support takes on the form of individualized training sessions based on specific department or course needs such as developing assessment tools, grading assignments, classroom management, and team-building. RGASC faculty will lead these sessions in consultation with course instructors.
UTM faculty and instructional staff may contact academicskills.utm@utoronto.ca to arrange for in-course TA support at any time during the academic year.
The RGASC works in partnership with the Teaching Assistants’ Training Program [hyperlink to TATP main page] (TATP), a tri-campus peer-to-peer training program for any student working as a TA at the University of Toronto, to provide certification of professional teaching development and support departments in their efforts to provide “basic training” for new TAs. Please see below for more information on mandatory TA training and TATP at UTM.
Information on Mandatory Training for New TAs
According to the current collective agreement for employees of C.U.P.E. 3902, all new (first contract) TAs in Unit 1 must be provided with 3 hours of pedagogical training time in their contract.
The preferred training option for new, first-contract TAs is a department-arranged group training. Departments and individual TAs may elect to fulfill this training by arranging for TATP staff to lead a group training session for all TAs in the department. Contact academicskills.utm@utoronto.ca to set up a group departmental training for your TAs
"First-time TA” Workshops
“First-time TA” Workhops are designed as “catch-all” training workshops to provide basic training. First-contract TAs may attend to fulfil their mandatory training requirements, if no departmental training is available.
New TAs should download and have their department supervisor or TA coordinator complete a CUPE Training Request form (http://www.cupe3902.org/documents-forms/unit-1/TrainingForm.pdf or http://www.cupe3902.org/ta-training/paid-training/ ), to ensure their department is notified that they have completed of mandatory training hours. Please bring the completed form to the workshop you are attending. (See below for more information about attendance)
Other Training Event Options (to fulfil mandatory requirements)
If no other training opportunities exist, new, first-contract TAs may attend a (1-hour) CUPE Information Session (see below) in combination with any (2-hour) TATP Workshop.
However, a TATP Workshop attended to fulfil paid training may not be counted as credit toward TATP Certificate participation. (See below)
CUPE Information & Session Attendance
CUPE Informational Sessions
TAs who are unable to attend any of the above training options should plan to attend a 1-hour CUPE Info Session on any of the three campuses, and may complete their 3-hour training by attendance at other teaching training events, such as a TATP Workshop.
These sessions will be scheduled in late January. An updated schedule will be posted soon.
Session Attendance (Information for TAs and Departments)
TAs attending TATP Workshops (including First-time TA Workshops and TATP Workshop Series) in order to fulfil mandatory training at any time during their first contract should download a Training Request form from CUPE 3902:
(http://www.cupe3902.org/documents-forms/unit-1/TrainingForm.pdf or http://www.cupe3902.org/ta-training) This form should be completed and signed by the departmental TA contact (normally the departmental TA coordinator, administrator or business officer responsible for managing TA contracts). The workshop facilitator may sign the Training Request form for confirmation of attendance after workshop is completed. TAs should then return the form to their departmental TA contact.
Attendance at TATP Workshops is recorded via sign-in sheet for purposes of recording completion of Certificate components. TAs must come prepared with a CUPE Training Request form (link above) in order to confirm completion of mandatory training hours. Attendance at Departmental Training sessions (led by TATP Staff) is recorded via sign-in sheet, which is then circulated to the departmental TA contact or administrator.
UTM Workshop Series & Certificate Program
UTM Workshops for TAs
TATP Workshops at UTM are hosted by the Robert Gillespie Academic Skills Centre and run during the Fall and Winter terms. Workshops are normally 2 hours in length and focus on specialized aspects of classroom teaching, teaching preparation, employment training and professional development for TAs. Workshops are open to any student employed as a TA at the University of Toronto. TAs may elect to apply participation in Workshops towards completion of a TATP Certificate [link to http://www.utoronto.ca/tatp/certificate/index.html].
TATP Certificate Program
Attendance at workshops can be applied towards completion of TATP Teaching Certificate, a certification programme with 1-year (Teaching Fundamentals Certificate) or 2-year (Advanced University Teaching Preparation) options. Visit the TATP site (http://www.utoronto.ca/tatp/certificate/index.html) or contact services.ta@utoronto.ca for more information on how to register.
Individual Consultations for TAs
Our UTM TATP Trainer, Cristian Ches (c.ches@utoronto.ca), is available by appointment during the academic term to meet with TAs on an individual basis. TAs may ask questions about teaching preparation and bring teaching dossiers for review.
TATP Teaching Excellence Award
The TATP administers an annual award, created in 2003 to recognize the outstanding contributions of teaching assistants at the University of Toronto. The award seeks to value the work of TAs who regularly inspire and challenge undergraduate students. Recipients of this award will receive a monetary award, a certificate and will be invited to attend a luncheon in their honour. Award winners will also be asked to participate in a panel discussion at TA Day.
Other Resources
Visit the Student pages for more information to share with your students about academic skills and academic support available for undergraduates at the Robert Gillespie Academic Skills Centre.
Visit the Faculty pages for more information about teaching and learning resources and events for Faculty that are open to TAs and Graduate Students.
You can also get news and announcements about TA and Graduate Student workshops by joining our Blackboard communities on the portal (UTM_TLC and UTM_RGASC). Visit the UofT Events Feed and subscribe to our events.
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