Teaching Assistant and Postdoc Professional Development Program

The Teaching Assistant and Postdoc Professional Development Program (TAPD) offers graduate students and postdocs formal recognition for investing in teaching-related professional development. After attending six live or recorded webinars and completing the capstone activity, you'll receive a formal letter of recognition from the Center for Educational Innovation and the option of accepting a digital badge.

Requirements

Webinars

Capstone Activity - Written Reflection

  • After you have attended the six webinars (live or recorded), write a 1-2 page essay following the instructions in the completion tab.
Recognition

 Letter of Recognition

Upon completion of the program, you will receive a signed letter of recognition from the Center for Educational Innovation.

Digital Badge 

Badge indicating it is from Center for Educational Innovation for the TAPD Program Badge

In addition to the letter of recognition, you have the option of accepting the TAPD badge which is part of the Graduate School’s Digital Badging initiative. Instructions on how to accept the badge will be sent in an email with the letter of recognition.

Registration & Completion

Registration

To participate in the Teaching Assistant and Postdoc Professional Development Program (TAPD), fill out the registration form.

Register for TAPD

Completion

To receive recognition, complete the tracking log and write a reflection essay. After submitting your materials for review, you will receive an email from the Center for Educational Innovation within 3 business days.

Complete the Tracking Log

  • Track your attendance and learning using this Tracking Log document. (Tip: make a copy of the Google document by clicking on this link).
  • Save your with the file name "LastName-FirstName_TAPD-Tracking-Log".

Write a reflection essay

  • After you have attended the six webinars (live or recorded), write a 1-2 page essay following these guidelines:
    • synthesize what you learned in the webinars
    • identify several key ideas that most excites you and/or that you thought were most important and/or most relevant to your own teaching and scholarship
    • consider how this learning applies, or might apply, in the context of your research, scholarship, practice and/or professional goals, and
    • record your thoughts in a brief (1 to 2-page) reflection paper that might lead to a shift in your thinking about your teaching, to implementation of an idea, or to the development of an action plan to accomplish a goal.
    • For more information, visit the Guide for Writing the Reflection Paper.
  • Save your completed reflective essay document with the file name "LastName-FirstName_TAPD-Essay".

Submit your materials for review

You will need your tracking log and essay documents available to upload when you complete the form.

Submit your completed materials