Teaching in the University: Learning from Graduate Students and Early Career Faculty

Teaching in the University: Learning from Graduate Students and Early Career Faculty provides insight and strategies for successful teaching, advising, and mentoring postsecondary students. In particular, the authors offer support and encouragement for implementing student-centered teaching practices relevant to college classrooms. This book is designed for new university teaching faculty and graduate teaching assistants looking for innovative teaching resources.

As an Open Educational Resource (OER), this textbook provides university instructors free access to high-quality teaching materials based on the experiences of fellow new instructors. Twenty contributors and two co-editors from the current students and alumni of university teaching scholars programs offer this resource for fellow faculty and graduate students to improve instruction and engagement. Each chapter comes from the experiences and expertise of these talented individuals who speak directly to their peers.

If you are an instructor reviewing, adopting, or adapting this textbook, please help us understand your use by filling out this form.

How to access this book
PDF, low-resolution PDF, and ePub may be found on the left side of your screen.
Online: in Pressbooks at https://pressbooks.lib.vt.edu/universityteaching.
Print: Order a print version by clicking here.

The main landing page for this book is: https://doi.org/10.21061/universityteaching.

Table of contents
Chapter 1: Relational Learning: Creating a “Working Alliance” in the Classroom
VIGNETTE: Supporting International Graduate Teaching Assistants
Chapter 2: Authenticity
VIGNETTE: Structure and Organization to Facilitate Learning in My Large Class During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Chapter 3: Indigenizing Your Classroom: A Practice in Inclusion Pedagogy
Chapter 4: Teaching Practices for Student-Centered Learning Online
Chapter 5: Technology Makes It Easier
VIGNETTE: No really, I don’t have internet
Chapter 6: Fun Fridays: Incorporating Hands-on Learning into Lecture Courses
Chapter 7: Using Grade Appeals as a Learning Tool VIGNETTE: Does "Fairness" Get in the Way of Learning and Equity?
Chapter 8: How to Oversee a Laboratory Course Taught by Teaching Assistants: Experiences in the Lab and Field VIGNETTE: Use of Personal Response System in Classrooms
Chapter 9: Teaching, Training, and Mentoring Students in Research Practices Inside and Outside the Classroom VIGNETTE: Lessons Learned as a First-Time Experiential Learning Program Instructor
Chapter 10: The Power of Extension: Research, Teaching, and Outreach for Broader Impacts
Chapter 11: Program Planning for Community Engagement and Broader Impacts
Chapter 12: Personalized Advising that Is Purposely Inconsistent: The Constants of Great Advisors and the Variability that Demands Adaptability
Chapter 13: Engaging the Fear: How to Utilize Student Evaluations, Accept Feedback, and Further Teaching Practice VIGNETTE: So You've Landed the Job... (or Surviving Your First Semester)

Editors
Donna Westfall-Rudd, Courtney Vengrin, and Jeremy Elliott-Engel

Contributors
Hannah Angel, Ghadir Asadi, Anne M. Brown, Caitlin Cridland, Courtney A. Crist, Nasim Ebadi, Jeremy Elliott-Engel, Javier S. Garcia, Leah Hamilton, Laura Hanzly, Gordon Jones, Qualla ᏆᎳ Ketchum, Sihui Ma, Rachel Mack, Chris McCullough, Didier Mena-Aguilar, William Moore, Emily Ott, Courtney Vengrin, and Bethany Wolters

This work is published by Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences in association with Virginia Tech Publishing.

Suggested citation
Westfall-Rudd, D., Vengrin, C., and Elliott-Engle, J. (eds.) Teaching in the University: Learning from Graduate Students and Early-Career Faculty. Blacksburg: Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. https://doi.org/10.21061/universityteaching License: CC BY-NC 4.0.

Chapter proposal reviewers
Kirby Barrick, Emeritus Professor and former Associate Dean of Agricultural Education, University of Florida
Kellie Claflin, Assistant Professor, Virginia Tech
Tracy Rutherford, Department Head, Agriculture Leadership and Community Education, Virginia Tech

Peer review
Leah Hamilton, Department of Food Science and Technology, Virginia Tech

Editorial
Layout, accessibility, and typesetting: Leah Hamilton
Illustration and cover design: Kindred Grey
Production editor: Caitlin Bean
Project manager / editor: Anita Walz

ISBN (print): 978-1-949373-49-3
ISBN (EPUB): 978-1-949373-83-7
ISBN (PDF): 978-1-949373-48-6
ISBN (Pressbooks): 978-1-949373-47-9
https://pressbooks.lib.vt.edu/universityteaching
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21061/universityteaching

Accessibility
Virginia Tech Publishing is committed to making its publications accessible in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. The HTML and screen reader–friendly PDF versions of this book utilize header structures and include alternative text which allow for machine-readability. An ePub version is also available.