by Dr. Deborah Bauers

Created on: June 13, 2009   Last Updated: June 28, 2009

Working with Master's and Doctoral level students is vastly different from teaching undergraduate students. The best way to prepare yourself to be a graduate level professor is to familiarize yourself with the mindset of your students. Let's begin with a good picture of what the culture of a classroom of graduate level students looks like.

Imagine an entire class whose passion for learning rivals your enthusiasm for teaching. Some of your students are fresh out of undergraduate programs and have little experience other than four years of college-level academia. Others have entered graduate school having established careers and significant experience in fields like medicine, the social sciences, and education.

Your graduate students will come to class prepared to challenge you to stay one step ahead of them as they throw out more questions than answers. Collectively, they will create a culture of socialized learning and quickly establish a symbiotic relationship with each other as they feed off of the raw energy within the group and eagerly plumb each other's minds. Your students will embark on a quest, searching for new ways to conceptualize old ideas, yet be willing to second guess themselves every step of the way. Sound intriguing? This is what is it will be like to teach graduate level learners.

So what should you keep in mind as you prepare to teach your graduate students?

1. Recognize that your students are a very different breed of learner from the pack of undergraduates who often fill classrooms while still wet behind the ears and lacking in inner motivation and self discipline.

Graduate students are in your class because they want to be. They are self-motivated and ready to learn. They have moved beyond the concrete assimilation of facts and are ready to conceptualize how their knowledge will reshape them as individuals and impact their worlds of work.

2. You will want establish rapport with them in a distinctly different manner.

This will mean acknowledging their levels of acumen and establishing a horizontal relationship between you and them. Think of this way: When you teach undergraduate students you have a clearly defined role as one who is expected to know more, and is often revered by those who want to emulate you. Their canvases of life are still quite empty and they are waiting for you to tell them what to paint. Now imagine yourself perching on the corner of your desk and nonchalantly asking your room full of graduate students,

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>