Fostering dissemination skills in stem doctoral students: Tips for the PH. D. student and the general impact on stem undergraduates

Abstract

Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) graduate programs typically provide insufficient instruction for doctoral students electing to pursue a career in higher education instruction. Often, doctoral students who teach classes are required to offer lectures or even full courses without any formal training1, 2. Therefore, a doctoral student's transition to a faculty position may raise concerns from a university administration concerned with maintaining the quality of its course delivery. This paper documents the account of three doctoral students and two engineering faculty members while co-teaching/teaching a project-centered first-year introductory engineering course. The implementation of a preparatory teaching program for doctoral students in the first-year engineering curriculum provides a unique opportunity for faculty to mentor "on the spot." The doctoral students are given one quarter of mentorship by coteaching an introductory engineering class with an experienced faculty member. If their faculty mentor then judges that they are ready to instruct a course on their own, they are then given that opportunity. The main focus of this paper examines the doctoral students' experiences as they conclude their mentorships and develop responsibility for their own classes. Tips are provided to give insight from the doctoral students' perspective. These tips are for students attracted to a faculty career or for those institutions that may find a need to use their own doctoral students as instructors. A few of these tips include: setting the standards for classroom professionalism, gaining self-confidence while lecturing and promoting respect in the classroom. Also, the paper's assessment data evaluates the instructional efficacy of the doctoral students during their transition period from student to faculty based on several factors one of which includes the overall teaching effectiveness of the two female doctoral students versus the male doctoral student in first-year engineering classrooms. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2010.