Abstract

Only 6.4% of post-secondary institutions in the US are classified as research institutes. At these institutes the average full-time faculty teaching responsibilities account for 40% of their time (NCES, 2010). This observation clearly states that teaching is a significant portion of post-secondary faculty regardless of institution. Further implying that the preparation of graduate students for this reality requires a shift of the primary focus of researcher development to include substantial development as instructors. The history of University development is discussed along with a proposed holistic framework in developing alignment across an institution in graduate student development. This exploratory study incorporated maximal variation sampling to provide a detailed description of graduate student instructor development at a comprehensive university. Focused on the qualitative analysis, this study collected interview data from 4 faculty members and 2 graduate student instructors along with a focus group of 3 teaching assistants of a graduate seminar in university teaching. The progression of how graduate students develop into post-secondary instructors in 5 different academic disciplines was mapped out along with the development of the teaching assistants. The study found that there were a variety of expected learning outcomes within the individual departments. Each department had developed a unique path to meet the needs of their students within their academic discipline. The institutions expected learning outcomes established by the seminar in university teaching exceed the stated outcomes of the individual academic departments but not necessarily those of the graduate students seeking an academic career in post-secondary institutions.