Development and Facilitation of a New Certificate/Class for Undergraduate Teaching Assistants in Engineering and Computing Programs

Abstract

At a midsize minority serving institution, an undergraduate teaching assistant program was adopted in 2005 in chemical and mechanical engineering. Due to the success, the model was then adopted by the College of Engineering and Information Technology at University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), into all departments. These students, known as teaching fellows (TF), not only have an impact on their engineering and computing peers, but also develop skill sets in a non-traditional platform giving them new pathways into academics and industry. Several TFs in their third, fourth or fifth year of their program, perform, act and behave as potential future faculty. In a recent case study [1], students discussed their consideration in going into faculty positions and found the experience increased their efficacy in both their professional and technical competencies. In the university's commitment to teaching and innovation excellence, UMBC decided to become a Center for the Integration for Research Teaching and Learning (CIRTL) member in 2016. This is housed in graduate school and is a part of the PROMISE, or future faculty, programming. To support the movement towards creating better teaching faculty and its goals to improve STEM undergraduate education, UMBC personnel proposed and received approval to develop and expand a certification to the undergraduate population. To distinguish itself from the graduate level, it was given a classification of CIRTL undergraduate associate certificate. To earn this certification the students must complete the following seminar classes: ● Engineering 396 (ENES 396): Fundamentals of Teaching Fellow Scholarship ● Engineering 397 (ENES 397): Advanced Topics of Teaching Fellow Scholarship Both seminar classes were developed through the Engineering and Computing Education Program, held in the COEIT, allowing multidisciplinary enrollment. CIRTL curriculum and other in house pedagogy were utilized and redesigned to be digestible for undergraduate students. In this work-in-progress paper, class discussion of teaching philosophy, mid semester ‘bullet list’ development and full teaching philosophy statements generated by the teaching fellows were examined for successful outcome achievement. The data collected will be used to help assess the effectiveness and further develop the seminar class. [1] J. Gurganus, M. R. Blorstad and M. M. Headley, "Training beyond the classroom: Case Study of the Impact of a Undergraduate Teaching Assistantship program," 2022 IEEE IFEES World Engineering Education Forum - Global Engineering Deans Council (WEEF-GEDC), Cape Town, South Africa, 2022, pp. 1-5, doi: 10.1109/WEEF-GEDC54384.2022.9996214