Teaching Engineering Course

COURSE OVERVIEW

As a leader in Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), you will often be asked to share your knowledge with others. This may be through academics, leadership in the industry, or any other opportunity where you share ideas with colleagues. Gaining experience in teaching and imparting knowledge is an essential component of graduate education in ECE concepts. As a part of your Ph.D. academic experience, you will have the opportunity to learn how to be an effective teacher.

Beginning Fall 2022, all Ph.D. students will be required to complete 2 credit hours of ECE 7951 – Teaching Engineering. Students who were accepted into the ECE Ph.D. program prior to Fall 2022 will not be required to be enrolled in this course to satisfy the degree requirements for graduation, however, all Ph.D. students are encouraged to participate in this course regardless of when they started the program.

Starting Fall 2022, Ph.D. students will not be eligible for paid TA positions unless they have taken this course (concurrent enrollment is allowed in extenuating circumstances).

Course Description
Ph.D. Handbook
Teaching Assistants

COURSE STRUCTURE

  • You must complete one semester of ECE 7951 with an average time commitment of 6 hours per week for the duration of the semester. You can also take in addition, optionally, a second semester of the course.
  • The first semester of this course will have a theoretical learning component. Students will be learning theoretical aspects of teaching, education, as well as best classroom practices.
  • The second semester, which is optional, will require an education project. Here you will be involved in a specific course putting into practice the concepts learned during the first semester.
  • During the 2nd semester of the course, you are expected to contribute in a substantive professional way to the pedagogical needs of a course of your choosing. This may be a course you are working on as a TA, or any other course, with the permission of the instructor. For example, you can undertake any of the following activities:
      1. Develop educational units for this course
      2. Create educational materials
      3. Prepare and develop laboratory sessions,
      4. Deliver one or more course didactic lectures, or conduct an engineering education research project. It may also be outside of a typical course (such as preparing a short course or workshop related to your research area, doing a significant outreach project, etc.).
  • Graduate Students in the MS program may also enroll in this course for credit toward their degree requirements, however, the course is not intended to satisfy the requirement of 18 credit hours of required ECE courses in the EE MS tracks.
  • Students may work as a TA for employment concurrently while taking the 2nd half of this course.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR TAS

  1. You must be proficient in the English language to interact with students effectively. The Graduate School requires all non-native English-speaking graduate students to be cleared by the International Teaching Assistant Program before any teaching is allowed. Thus, this clearance is compulsory for all international Ph.D. students in ECE.
  2. You must strictly abide by the regulations outlined in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act or FERPA. This federal law protects the privacy of educational records of students.
  3. You are required to attend mandatory training provided by the John and Maria Price College of Engineering (PCE) near the start of each semester. The student must ascertain the time and location of this once-per-semester offering from the PCE.

WONDERING IF THIS COURSE IS RIGHT FOR YOU?

All ECE students are welcome to take this course for credit. Follow the flowchart below to find out which course to enroll in.