Student Teaching Opportunities
For Students: Interested in Teaching?
EAPS does not currently have an academic teaching requirement in its graduate program. However, we encourage graduate students to acquire teaching experience especially if preparing for future teaching positions. One option is to take a (paid) Teaching Assistant position if a suitable position is available. Another option is to be a teaching trainee for a class.
Resources on teaching
- MIT Teaching + Learning Lab
- MIT Open Courseware – materials and courses on teaching
- MIT Office of Graduate Education – career development and teaching
For Faculty: Looking for a TA or teacher trainee?
Faculty who are looking for a Teaching Assistant or teaching trainee should contact the EAPS Education Office. Education Office staff will ask you for additional information to include in any advertisement that is sent to the students.
Types of student teaching roles available
Hourly Teaching by Undergraduates
Undergraduate students are eligible for limited hourly teaching positions either during a full-term (fall and spring) or periodically to assist with DEAPS and field trips.
Funding is limited for this kind of teaching and whenever possible prioritizes undergraduates interested in gaining experience, depending upon the course/experience. Hiring is coordinated through consultation with a faculty member and the Education Office. Generally speaking, the wages for this are based on Massachusetts minimum wage.
Graduates cannot do a full-term hourly TA position at the same time that they are doing other appointments.
Teaching Assistantship (TA)
TA appointments are available during the academic year (September—May) during the Fall and Spring terms in EAPS. The CEP review class offerings to determine the eligibility of a class to receive a TA given the available funding and inform the faculty teaching the class of the level of TA support the class will receive. Faculty and the Education Office then solicit students to TA the classes.
The duties of a TA include but are not limited to assisting faculty with grading, providing instruction in class, lab or recitation, preparing lab apparatus and materials, assisting with course web-based materials, assisting on field trips, etc. TA appointments are expected to require no more than 20 hours of work per week.
Students may serve as TAs for either a full-time or half-time graduate student appointment. Those students serving as TAs (i.e. for pay) should NOT register for credit in 12.446 as they are considered employee positions under the MIT-GSU Collective Bargaining Agreement (link requires Touchstone).
Teaching Trainee
Teaching Trainees should register for the class 12.446 (Teaching Experience in EAPS). Teaching experience units should be how many hours on average per week the teaching trainee spends on teaching (for example, 6 hours of training = 6 units of 12.446). Students should continue to receive fellowship awards or RA appointments, if applicable, (not TA/IG appointments) in terms when they are registered for teaching experience as a teaching trainee.
National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program
Students with an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship can register for 12.446 as a teaching trainee and receive academic credit (not compensation) for the traineeship. This would allow NSF-GRFP Fellows to maintain their tenure status.
NSF-GRFP Fellows interested in teaching, please reference the fellowship program’s administrative guide, as well as the MIT Office of Graduate Education’s NSF-GRFP guide for MIT students.
