| The University of California at Berkeley
Graduate Student Instructor (GSI) Teaching and Resource Center Our website, which is currently under construction, can be located at http://www.grad.berkeley.edu/grad/ The University of California at Berkeley is a public, Carnegie-classification Re- search University I with approximately 1400 FTE faculty, 1865 Graduate Student Instructors (GSIs), 20,600 undergraduates, and 8400 graduate students. The GSI Teaching and Resource Center was established in 1989 and is part of the Graduate Division. Permanent staff includes a Director (100%, non-senate aca- demic position), an Assistant Director and Coordinator of the International GSI (IGSI) program (100% non-academic position), an IGSI Testing Coordinator and Instructional Developer (100%, non-academic position), a lecturer for the IGSI program (50-85%, non-senate academic position), 2 Administrative Assistants (100%), and one Administrative Assistant (80%). Non-permanent staff includes 1-2 Graduate Student Researchers/Campuswide Consultants (50% time) and, as need- ed, work study students. The center is funded by state appropriations. A separate office, The Office of Educational Development (OED), is responsible for faculty development. The Graduate Student Instructor (GSI) Teaching and Resource Center is an aca- demic unit within the Graduate Division that is mandated to provide pedagogical support and guidance for Graduate Student Instructors (GSIs). We offer the fol- lowing programs: Orientation Conferences: The center sponsors annually a fall and spring orienta- tion conference to prepare GSIs for teaching. The fall orientation conference con- sists of two full days. The first day is designed specifically for International GSIs; the second day is devoted to the teaching preparation of all GSIs. The spring con- ference consists of a full day program for all GSIs. Workshops: FORUM workshops highlight specific teaching issues of interest to all GSIs and are offered three or four times throughout the semester. The following topics have been addressed in recent workshops: Teaching Students to Read Critically, Reflexive Pedagogy, Leading Effective Discussion Sections, Developing a Teaching Portfolio, Motivating Students, and Instructional Uses of Technology. Grants: Course Improvement Grants of up to $300 provide funding for GSIs to undertake projects that enhance instruction and increase teaching effectiveness. Grants have been used to fund guest speakers, to take students to museum exhibi- tions or theater performances, to rent or purchase videos, and to purchase instruc- tional materials that are not a standard part of a course. GSI Departmental Grants are available to provide support for departmental programs that prepare GSIs for teaching. Grants are typically used to establish or enhance 300-level pedagogy seminars for GSIs, to support a video consultation program for GSI teaching development, or to prepare or revise handbooks and oth- er pedagogical materials. Faculty Seminar: The center runs an annual three afternoon seminar for up to 20 faculty. This seminar focuses on how to teach effectively with GSIs and how to enhance faculty-GSI collaboration. Language Proficiency Program: The Language Proficiency Program oversees the testing of oral English proficiency for International GSIs and offers courses for prospective and current International GSIs. Courses focus on oral English profi- ciency, cross-cultural communication, and teaching within the U.S. American uni- versity classroom. Consultation is also available to individual International GSIs. Consultation: Consultation and advising with experienced campuswide consultants is available to departments and to individual GSIs. Video consultations are also available to GSIs who would like to be taped in the classroom and receive feed- back on their teaching. Video consultation is confidential and is designed to help GSIs work toward developing their individual strengths as teachers. Library: Books, articles, videos, and other reference materials that address both practical and theoretical issues in teaching are available at the center. Awards: The center sponsors annually both the Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award and the Teaching Effectiveness Award. The Teaching Effective- ness Award recognizes and rewards GSIs who devise solutions to teaching or learning problems they have identified in their classes. Winning entries are pub- lished and distributed campuswide. |