GTA Certificate Program

The Karen L. Smith Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning invites current and aspiring Graduate Teaching Assistants to enroll in our GTA Certificate Program. Students will receive group and individualized instruction by Faculty Center staff and experienced UCF professors, as well as textbooks and materials. GTAs will attend a 12 week, non-credit program. Interested graduate students should register online and follow the instructions.

The program is completely free to participants. In past years, a stipend was offered for completion, but this is no longer the case.

Students are encouraged to inform their department chair or graduate coordinator, and to inquire about mentoring opportunities in their own departments. Participation is limited, so please enroll early. Details about the current semester's program, including meeting dates and times, can be found below.

Topics include:

1. Presentation skills and practice
2. Balancing the many roles of TAs
3. Course design
4. Delivery of instruction, teaching strategies
5. Learning differences among students
6. Active learning strategies and collaborative learning
7. Giving assessment and soliciting feedback
8. Professional survival skills, ethics, legal issues
9. Classroom management

Outcomes of the course include major elements of a new course planned from start to finish, a video of the student teaching, and a poster session to present the course that has been created (click here for samples of GTA posters from prior semesters).

Priority admission to the course will be granted according to these criteria:

1. Graduate Teaching Associates (instructors of record)
2. Graduate Teaching Assistants
3. GTA-Graders
4. Others

View the syllabus and schedule for the certificate course.