Teaching resources

Contents

Here are some resources to help you enhance your teaching and mentoring skills! 

Each section contains a blurb about each resource. These passages are often directly lifted from the relevant website. 

 

Resources for all instructional staff
 

MIT Teaching and Learning Laboratory (TLL) (up-to-date programming at link)
The Teaching and Learning (T&L) team works one-on-one and in groups with members of the MIT community (faculty, lecturers, instructors, grad students, postdocs, TAs, and staff) to support learning at MIT through the dissemination and implementation of research-based teaching strategies. They also support departments, schools, and programs in wider-scale teaching and learning initiatives. Additionally, TLL’s teaching and learning experts support the strategic priorities of the Vice Chancellor by working collaboratively with MIT faculty, lecturers, and OVC staff on projects related to mentoring and advising, grad student development, the first-year undergraduate experience.

Teaching Consultations and Observations (accepting requests for consultations)
If you are an MIT graduate student, postdoc, instructor or faculty member, you can schedule one-on-one teaching consultations and/or observations with one of TLL’s professional teaching consultants.

Remote teaching and support resources (frequently updated)
Faculty and departments across MIT have worked hard throughout the summer to create and develop MIT-quality learning experiences in light of the decisions informing campus and research operations for fall 2020. The aim is to ensure all students are able to continue making academic progress, whether they are learning on campus or remotely, while prioritizing their safety and the safety of the MT community. Offices including Information Systems & Technology, the Teaching and Learning Lab, Open Learning, Office of the Vice Chancellor, Division of Student Life, and many others have collaborated to provide faculty, instructors, teaching staff, and TAs with a wide range of resources and support.

Get Ready to Teach Remote (workshops closed; materials still online)
All materials here were designed for faculty, lecturers, and instructors of subjects that will be taught remotely during Fall 2020. Workshops addressed the needs and challenges identified during Spring 2020 remote classroom experiences. Video recordings and other materials from the Ed Tech Tools Workshops are now available via Canvas.

MIT OpenCourseWare Teaching Guides

Information on mentoring from the Institute Community and Equity Office
Students, faculty and staff all recognize the value of a wise and trusted counselor or teacher who can help them navigate their work and life at MIT.  While seen as an invaluable part of any academic or professional experience, mentoring is not automatic and might take a little extra effort to find.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion resources (educational materials, learning tools, workshops, and presentations)
The Institute is committed not only to meeting the requirements of laws, but also to creating an atmosphere of civility, collegiality, mutual respect, and inclusion that stimulates and supports all employees in their work at MIT. Our role in Human Resources is to advance staff diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts and to offer assistance in reaching the goals of affirmative action.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion teaching material
From the National Museum of African-American History and Culture. 

MIT Institute Community and Equity Office (ICEO)
The ICEO serves as a thought leader on the subjects of community, equity, inclusion, and diversity; a focal point for organizing MIT’s related activities and conversations; and a hands-on practitioner who disseminates best practices and inspires the awareness and enthusiasm to help them flourish.” The Office offers a comprehensive list of resources that exist both within and outside of the Institute.

Mind, Hand, Heart Coalition
MindHandHeart is a coalition of students, faculty, and staff with fresh insights, new ideas, and diverse perspectives working collaboratively and strategically to strengthen the fabric of our MIT community.” The coalition offers many resources and educational materials on their website.

 

Resources, programs, and recognition for faculty
 

MIT Department of Physics education guidelines
Teaching guidelines for faculty and teaching staff. 

Faculty Cohort Program
The Teaching and Learning Lab's Faculty Cohort Program brings together MIT faculty and instructors to explore innovative approaches to significant and timely teaching and learning questions. This program provides a facilitated space to study, plan, develop, implement, and evaluate innovative curricular and pedagogical solutions and ideas.

MIT Faculty Guide
Recognizing and responding to students in distress. 

Faculty Newsletter (FNL)
Since MIT faculty have neither a faculty senate nor faculty union nor related professional organization, the FNL plays an important role at MIT in providing an independent forum for expression of faculty views and concerns. The Editorial Board of the MIT Faculty Newsletter is elected by Institute-wide electronic vote of the current faculty of MIT and all emeritus faculty. 

Committed to Caring Faculty Peer Mentorship program
The FPMP provides a bridge for incoming untenured faculty to gain wisdom and perspective from more senior faculty who have been honored through the Committed to Caring (C2C) program.

Best Practices in Advising Graduate Students Guide
Best practices, common principles, and institute policy. 

Mentoring Guideposts
The engaged involvement of a faculty advisor is critical to the success of every graduate student. At its best, the advisor-advisee relationship can provide a student with tools to hone their research skills, guidance on their academic path, advice on career prospects, and a seasoned perspective on the overall graduate experience.The faculty members honored as Committed to Caring have been raised up by graduate students as excellent mentors.  From the student letters of nomination, a number of striking themes emerged around mentorship; these themes are presented here as guideposts for concrete action, followed by quotes from students who experienced these precepts first-hand.

Honors and Awards

 

Resources, programs, and recognition for students
 

Kaufman Teaching Certificate Program (KTCP) (Applications open for two weeks near the last half of each term. Check the website at that time, or to be added to our email notification list, please write to Dan Nocivelli at book@mit.edu.)
The Kaufman Teaching Certificate Program is an interactive workshop series intended for graduate students and postdocs interested in academic careers or developing skills to support their teaching at MIT. The program was named in 2014 to honor Stephen P. Kaufman, a long-time supporter of the Teaching + Learning Lab. KTCP consists of a series of practice-based workshops, in which participants learn evidence-based teaching techniques grounded in the scholarship of teaching and learning. Participants will receive a certificate and letter from the Vice Chancellor upon the successful completion of all program requirements.

Microteaching Cohort Program
The program consists of microteaching workshops in a small group setting (3-5 participants) that provide an opportunity for novice (and experienced) instructors to practice teaching skills in a supportive environment. In a microteaching session, participants teach class-session excerpts and give and receive feedback on teaching. Microteaching can be used to prepare for a new course, guest lecture, or teaching demo; to try out a new teaching technique; or to practice and develop general teaching and presentation skills.

TA Days for Teaching Assistants
TA Days consist of short workshops that focus on specific aspects of teaching, offered by the Teaching and Learning Lab. Example topics include: “How to lead a problem-solving recitation,” “How to build an inclusive classroom,” and “How to communicate with faculty.”

Teaching Development Fellowship Network
The Teaching Development Fellowship Network (TDFN) is a professional development and leadership opportunity for graduate students who are interested in improving their teaching while promoting pedagogical development and discussion among their peers. Fellows organize and direct department-based events. They also develop resources aimed at developing TA’s teaching skills in their home department with support from TLL and an interdisciplinary network of fellows.

Teaching Development Workshops (website is updated with upcoming workshops)
Teaching Development Workshops are standalone opportunities to explore a teaching topic or develop skills outside the context of a larger program. There is a list of specific planned workshops in the link.

Honors and Awards

  • Goodwin Medal (nomination deadline in March)
    • Each year, MIT awards the Goodwin Medal to a graduate TA or Instructor (G) who has performed above and beyond the norm, and whose teaching efforts can truly be characterized as “conspicuously effective.” This award was established in memory of Harry Manley Goodwin, the first dean of the graduate school at MIT, through a gift from his widow, Mary B. Goodwin, and son, Richard H. Goodwin.
  • Buechner Student Teaching Prize from the Physics Department
  • Henry Kendall Teaching Award from the Physics Department
  • Graduate Student Council Teaching Awards