Graduate Student Professional Development Program (GSPDP)

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2023
This seminar will introduce graduate students to the role of mentoring in U.S. higher education and help guide graduate students as they mentor undergraduates at Berkeley, work in the context of a mentoring relationship with their graduate advisers, and prepare for the mentoring they will do in future academic and non-academic careers. The course will consist of readings, face-to-face and online discussion, short assignments, and an applied component of mentoring.
Mentoring in Higher Education: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Prior to 2007
This seminar will introduce SMART graduate student mentors to the role of mentoring in U.S. higher education and guide them as they mentor undergraduates at Berkeley, work in the context of a mentoring relationship with their graduate advisers, and prepare for the mentoring they will do in future academic and non-academic careers. The course will consist of readings, face-to-face and online discussion, short assignments, and preparation for the research mentoring they will do in the SMART program.
Mentoring in Higher Education for SMART Mentors: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015
This course prepares GSIs across the disciplines to teach effective Reading and Composition (R&C) courses. It is intended for experienced GSIs who have already satisfied the Gradute Council's 300-level pedagogy course requirement but who would benefit from specific preparation to teach R&C. Seminar readings, discussions, and assignments provide GSIs with an overview of pedagogical theories and concrete practices that will assist them in designing and teaching R&C courses.
Reading and Composition Pedagogy for Graduate Student Instructors: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2023
The purpose of this course is to provide graduate students with formal instruction in the genres and mechanics of academic writing at the graduate and professional level. Through presentations, readings, discussion, and weekly peer editing, graduate students will develop writing and editing skills necessary for their success as graduate students and future faculty.
Academic Writing for Graduate Students: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2019 First 6 Week Session, Summer 2018 First 6 Week Session, Summer 2017 First 6 Week Session
This course introduces students to the landscape of higher education and enables graduate students and postdocs to have the knowledge needed to apply for academic positions and make informed choices. We explore the history and structure of higher education in the U.S. and contemporary issues that shape the academic world. We compare different types of universities and colleges and examine institutional mission, forms of governance, faculty roles and responsibilities, stages of faculty life, current trends in higher education, and the academic job search process.
Preparing Future Faculty: From Graduate Student to Faculty Member: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2018 First 6 Week Session, Summer 2017 First 6 Week Session, Summer 2016 First 6 Week Session
This course enables students to develop a teaching portfolio step-by-step while deepening their knowledge of teaching and learning in higher education. In tandem with creating a teaching portfolio, students will learn how to design lesson plans, activities, and assignments that are informed by the research on learning; create courses that align learning goals, activities, and assessments; use student evaluations and other forms of feedback to improve teaching and learning.
Developing a Teaching Portfolio: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2018 First 6 Week Session, Summer 2017 First 6 Week Session, Summer 2016 First 6 Week Session
In this course graduate students will learn the skills of professional editing and work intensively on a piece or pieces of their own academic writing. By the end of the course, students will have substantially revised a major piece of their work and/or created a new piece of scholarly writing (e.g., a dissertation chapter or a scholarly article); will be better able to self-edit and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of their own writing (and thus write more efficiently and effectively); will know how to edit scholarly prose and how to work with editors and authors, skills needed as future faculty.
Editing, Academic Writing, and Academic Publishing: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2023
This seminar will introduce graduate students to the theory and practice of teaching and learning in higher education and will prepare new GSIs for the teaching they will do at Berkeley and for the teaching they may do in future careers. The course will provide an introduction to the research on how adults learn and will enable GSIs to select teaching methods that are appropriate to specific courses and educational contexts. The course brings together a cross-disciplinary group of graduate students who will discuss selected texts from the current literature on teaching and learning, experiment with and assess various teaching methods and their impact on learning, and develop professional skills that can be used throughout their careers.
Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: Read More [+]