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Preparing Graduate Students to Teach Religion in Canadian Post-Secondary Institutions

Awarded Grant
Benn, James
McMaster University
Undergraduate School
2012
Topics: Preparing Graduate Students to Teach

Proposal abstract :
Teaching religion in post-secondary institutions in Canada poses unique challenges in the North American academic environment. Because of the large size of many Canadian institutions and low faculty to student ratios in Humanities and Social Sciences, most undergraduate teaching in Religious Studies takes the form of large lecture courses—possibly as many as 300–400 students in first-year courses, maybe reaching 50–100 at the third year, and small classes only in the fourth year. Graduate students in Religious Studies need to be prepared to teach effectively in these large courses, to deploy with confidence in-class materials, assignments, online elements, etc., and to utilize any support in the form of TAs or markers. We propose a workshop that will explore the challenges facing the new undergraduate teacher of religion and will devise a set of best practices that could be adopted in training teachers as part of their graduate education.

Learning Abstract :
Teaching religion in post-secondary institutions in Canada poses unique challenges in the North American academic environment. Because of the large size of many Canadian institutions and low faculty to student ratios in Humanities and Social Sciences, most undergraduate teaching in Religious Studies takes the form of large lecture courses - possibly as many as 300-400 students in first-year courses, maybe reaching 50-100 at the third year, and small classes only in the fourth year. Graduate students in Religious Studies need to be prepared to teach effectively in these large courses, to deploy with confidence in-class materials, assignments, online elements, etc., and to utilize any support in the form of TAs or markers. Preparing students to become effective teachers of religion requires developing best practices in three areas: the training and support for new and current TAs; professional development; and the departmental culture of teaching and learning.
Wabash Center