Instructor
Establish Goals for your Course
Course objectives are established well before the course begins. How can a teaching team reinforce and compliment your overall course objectives?
Establish Goals for your Teaching Team
What steps/ activities/ projects/ etc. can your teaching team do to reinforce your course objectives? Having 1-3 simple goals to begin with is quite helpful in the preceptor recruitment process.
What types of students, and student skill sets meet your needs?
How can your GTA support your course objectives by being part of a teaching team?
Establish Goals for your Preceptors
Establish clear preceptor duties that participating students will be accountable for. Start small and build trust. Students enjoy working for their instructors and will strive to meet and exceed your goals with a little direction.
Collaboration about preceptor goals and duties work particularly well for faculty. It allows students to share ideas (which are often quite resourceful, good, insightful, and fun).
Preceptors can participate as part of a teaching team in a variety of ways.
Here are some examples:
- Lead class discussion
- Facilitate groups in class
- Develop workshops
- Coordinate multimedia resources
- Build websites
- Provide course content workshops
- Facilitate service learning opportunities
- Organize in- and out- of class activities
- Provide Tutoring
- Hold study groups
- Provide office hours
- Facilitate exam reviews
- Provide community outreach
- Coordinate and participate in service-learning opportunities
Allow for a Degree of Flexibility
Good ideas that develop later can be accommodated and add to the overall teaching team experience.
Consider applying for a Faculty-Student Interaction Grant. A Faculty-Student Interaction Grant is a great way to earn recognition for your teaching team as well as gain some funding for a team or cohort- building event, such as going out to dinner or on a field trip.
Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs)
Grad students are often the most motivated members of the teaching team since they are enthusiastic about new opportunities and trying out innovative approaches to teaching and learning. GTAs are also in a special mentoring position with undergraduates since they are situated as teachers, but not with the same status as faculty. GTAs can serve as intermediary facilitators for instructors to preceptors. They are also great at gaining insight and feedback from the student body since undergraduates can sometimes be intimidated about communication with instructors.
Bringing your GTAs on board with your teaching team early in the process will be invaluable in fostering a collaborative team culture.
Preceptors
Your recruitment process will be taken more seriously, and more students will view preceptors as a legitimate source of help if you feature them prominently in your course documentation. Include the teaching team concept and preceptor role in your syllabus. In addition, address it in your course website or on D2L.