A program designed to make graduate students better teachers now is being offered at UNLV.

Called the Graduate Student Professional Development Program in College Teaching, the series of workshops totaling 12 hours is intended to provide graduate students with the skills they need to be successful teachers -- whether as graduate assistants at UNLV or in future careers as university professors or college instructors.

The voluntary program, which is available to graduate students in all disciplines, is offered by the Graduate College in conjunction with the University Teaching and Learning Center.

"Many graduate students teach -- or plan to teach in the future -- but if they aren't education majors, they do not always receive instruction in how best to teach," said Harriet Barlow, director of graduate student services in the Graduate College. "This program provides them with valuable information on topics such as learning styles, teaching styles, teaching with technology, and classroom assessment techniques.

"We want the students who complete the program to come away feeling more confident about their teaching abilities," she said.

Paul Ferguson, dean of the Graduate College, said the college always is looking for ways to enhance the education it provides its master's and doctoral-level students.

"We want our graduate students to have the best educational experience possible. Sometimes that means looking beyond the traditional classroom settings to see what additional opportunities we might offer them," Ferguson said.

"This particular program is beneficial to the students in that it not only provides them with ways of improving their teaching skills, but also provides them with experience that should make them more competitive as they enter the job market," he said.

Douglas Robertson, who heads the University Teaching and Learning Center, said the center is pleased to be able to assist the Graduate College in making the program available.

"Finding ways of improving the teaching that goes on on campus is at the heart of the center's mission," he said. "This is only one of several innovative programs we offer to help fulfill that mission."

Robertson said that in the case of the Graduate Student Professional Development Program in College Teaching, he is particularly proud of the "electronic community" that has been developed for program participants using WebCT technology. Through this "electronic community" students are able to read the reflective papers all program participants are required to write and are able to engage in dialogues about the papers and their other learning experiences in the program.

For additional information on the Graduate Student Professional Development Program in College Teaching, call Barlow at 895-4392 or the University Teaching and Learning Center at 895-4960.