Tricks of the Trade: Navigating teaching opportunities in the research-based engineering PhD

Engineering graduate students will ultimately face the decision of whether to stay in academia, work in industry, or pursue a different career path. Of those that elect to remain in academia, most will face balancing substantial research, teaching and service requirements. Yet, a graduate education typically focuses predominately on preparing students to lead research projects, without an emphasis on development of pedagogical skills. Especially in engineering fields, graduate students may not automatically be required to teach, receive pedagogical instruction, or engage in other career development aspects beyond research. The exact reason for this is unclear but may be linked to underestimating the positive impact of teaching by graduate students. Yet, there appear to be concrete benefits for both the graduate students and the students taught by them. In fact, many graduate students are interested in teaching and would like to better prepare for that aspect of their future career. Although perhaps not obvious, there are many opportunities to gain teaching experience throughout graduate school. In this Tricks of the Trade paper, we will discuss our journey preparing for the teaching side of a faculty position. We will, in particular, discuss the role of professor preparatory programs, graduate teaching assistantship, co-instruction, participation in education research and education-based conferences, as well as in-lab mentorship on the development of graduate students as educators.