Mentored Discussions of Teaching (MDT) is designed to engage STEM and SBE graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in discussions with faculty about teaching and learning. This is part of the broader CIRTL at Northwesternefforts.
PROGRAM DETAILS
Size & Format In-person or online
11-30 participants
Dates & Times Mentored Discussions of Teaching (MDT) usually runs in the winter and spring quarters.
STEM and SBE (social, behavioral sciences and economics) graduate students and postdocs are invited to observe faculty who teach undergraduate or early graduate courses and meet with faculty to discuss their perspectives and approaches/methods. Participants also engage in group discussions on selected readings that address key topics in teaching.
Eligibility
All STEM and SBE graduate students and postdoctoral fellows are welcome. MDT is intended to be one of the first steps in exploring learning about teaching, but it has also been valuable for students who have already completed Reflective & Effective Teaching (formerly the Teaching Certificate Program or TCP) and other CIRTL at Northwestern programming.
Registration
The next MDT will launch winter 2025.
The MDT online registration includes:
Participant department or program and position (e.g., graduate student or postdoc)
Participant availability for classroom observations and to be paired with a faculty member
Objectives
Objectives of Mentored Discussions of Teaching:
Observe Northwestern faculty teaching undergraduate or early graduate courses.
Discuss approaches to teaching used by faculty in these courses.
Discuss the relevance of evidence-based practices to participants’ own teaching.
Reflect on participants’ intended teaching practices, informed by their observations and discussions with faculty and their peers.
Participant Expectations
MDT is completed in one quarter. Participants are required to attend three 90-minute synchronous group meetings (listed below), two meetings with mentors, and several classroom observations. To accommodate participants’ schedules, each group meeting is offered two times either in-person or via Zoom and participants only need to attend one of the options.
All participants are matched with a mentor by our admin. team!
Planning ahead?
Meeting 1 will take place the week of April 8th
In-person: Thursday, April 11th 3:30-5 pm CT
OR
Zoom: Friday, April 12th 10-11:30 am CT
Meeting 2 will take place the week of April 22nd
In-person: Wednesday, April 24th 4-5:30 pm CT
OR
Zoom: Friday, April 26th 11:00 am -12:30 pm CT
Meeting 3 will take place the week of May 20th
In-person: Tuesday, May 21st 4-5:30 pm CT
OR
Zoom: Tuesday, May 21st 10-11:30 AM CT
Meeting Description
Attend Meeting 1 to meet peers and faculty, discuss an introductory reading, and learn about CIRTL.
Meet with your faculty mentor twice: once before observations to discuss the course and the teaching approaches and again after observations to discuss teaching and learning in the discipline.
Observe several sessions of your mentor’s course and take notes to inform subsequent discussions.
Attend Meeting 2 to discuss a reading on inclusive teaching and your classroom observations with other participants.
Attend Meeting 3 to discuss a learning and teaching research article and your experience in the program.
Write a short reflection and complete a program survey.
Faculty Mentors
Expectations
Connect your mentee(s) to your Canvas site, share your course syllabus, and arrange to meet with your mentees at least twice: once before observations to discuss the course and the teaching approaches and again after observations to discuss teaching and learning in the discipline. You may prefer to meet with mentees more often—for instance, after each observation.
Optional:
Attend Meeting 1 to meet participants and discuss the program components
Attend Meeting 2 to discuss the reading with participants
Allow other MDT participants to drop into your class
Attend Meeting 3 to discuss a learning and teaching research article and your experience in the program
[The program] fostered conversations with faculty and students, and in general made me more aware of different issues in and aspects of teaching, many of which I hadn't thought of before. It has also inspired me to try to have similar conversations with some of my undergraduate faculty that I am still in touch with.”