Working with and mentoring graduate student instructors in first-year engineering courses

Abstract

Michigan Tech University has a history of teaching first-year engineering courses. Annually, approximately 900 first-year engineering students learn basic engineering skills and concepts in the first-year engineering program. The program offers a two course sequence (ENG1101, Engineering Analysis and Problem Solving, followed by ENG1102, Engineering Modeling and Design) for students who are ready to take Calculus. For students taking Pre-Calculus, a three course sequence has been implemented (ENG1001, Engineering Problem Solving, ENG1100, Engineering Analysis, followed by ENG1102). Each fall, approximately 13 sections of ENG1101, 5 sections of ENG1001 and 5 sections of ENG1102 are taught in addition to several service courses. With this quantity of courses and sections, the department occasionally seeks part-time faculty to fill the instructional load. While some of the positions are filled with engineers within the community who have advanced engineering degrees, others are filled by graduate students interested in teaching college-level courses. This paper will focus on the latter case where graduate students are mentored by departmental faculty to learn teaching skills and to implement change within the department. The mentoring program at our university is informal and involves pairing a graduate student with a faculty member who is teaching the same course. The faculty and graduate student work closely together to develop learning materials, design exercises, and exams. Typically, the graduate student offers new ideas and learning exercises for the classroom that add new energy to the course. The faculty member provides guidance regarding the design of exam materials and what works well in the classroom. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2010.