Life-Span Developmental Psychology
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Teaching Training
The developmental program offers comprehensive training for students preparing for careers as college teachers. All of our graduate students receive teaching training that allows them to become competent classroom instructors. For those students whose career plans emphasize college teaching, a college teaching specialization is available. Students who elect to specialize in college teaching engage in a variety of activities that culminate in a comprehensive teaching portfolio.
We use a novel method to train teachers that distinguishes us from other graduate programs. Some programs allow students to teach their own courses, but provide relatively little support or supervision. In others, graduate student involvement in teaching is minimal (e.g., serving as a teaching assistant). In our program, the vast majority of first-year students teach an introductory-level undergraduate course under the direct supervision of a faculty member. Students who are teaching for the first time enroll in a 1-credit teaching seminar taught by a faculty member who guides and supports their first semester of college teaching.
Graduate student instructors receive highly structured, hands-on teaching experience, supported by intense supervision. A faculty supervisor designs the course and develops multimedia lectures. Lectures are delivered by graduate students. This inventive method of instruction allows graduate students, most of whom are teaching for the first time, to focus on how to teach rather than on what to teach. Faculty supervisors observe classes, meet with instructors weekly, and provide instructors with individualized feedback to develop their teaching skills. Not only do students develop their instructional presentation skills, they also become proficient in the use of multimedia presentations (PowerPoint, video, document cameras) and on-line course management instruction systems (WVU eCampus; WebCT).