The online Winter 2025 GSITO will include an asynchronous Canvas course available to GSIs starting at noon (Eastern) on Monday, December 9, 2024. GSIs must complete the online GSITO course by 5:00pm Eastern, Friday, January 10, 2025. In addition to asynchronous modules, GSIs will have the opportunity to participate in an online, synchronous practice teaching (PT) session.

Winter 2025 GSITO will contain the following components: 

• Introductions to Equity-focused teaching, leveraging CRLT Players vignettes
• A module on mental health and well-being focused on support for GSIs and their students
• Modules on a variety of additional teaching topics. GSIs can select modules that are most relevant to their teaching context
• Opportunities to participate in a synchronous online practice teaching session and a corresponding module to prepare GSIs for this practice teaching
• Key policy information (grading, plagiarism, academic integrity, and FERPA; religious-academic conflicts; and instructor-student relationships)
  GEO resources

A list of the components in this year's GSITO can be found on our GSITO landing page.

Graduate students in GSITO have the opportunity to participate in a practice teaching (PT) or microteaching session led by a trained facilitator. Instructors deliver a brief lesson (e.g., 10 minutes) to their peers. Participants in a practice teaching session offer each other feedback on their practice lessons while simultaneously reflecting on their own teaching. 

Practice teaching is also an opportunity to practice communication skills useful beyond the classroom (e.g., presenting at a conference, job interviewing, speaking with the public about your research).

Feedback received from past PT participants shows that this low-stakes remote practice opportunity enhances GSI confidence. Additionally, our trained PT facilitators provide guidance to GSIs to make this Zoom practice session relevant for those who will be teaching in-person. 

Please note that synchronous online practice teaching sessions will be offered January 3, and January 6 - 7. Exact session times will be clearly communicated to GSIs enrolling in the Winter 2025 GSITO Canvas course so that GSIs can register for a practice teaching time that best fits their schedules. 

CRLT does not determine training requirements for GSIs. Instead, you and your department decide on any training requirements. We ask that you communicate with your GSIs what is required for them to complete.

Please note that CRLT offers a U-M Graduate Teacher Certificate (GTC) for GSIs to complete. If GSIs in your department are interested in pursuing the U-M Graduate Teacher Certificate, their participation in GSITO will satisfy Requirement A of the GTC if they complete the following: 

• Modules 1-4
• 2 modules on teaching topics (selected from Modules 6-11)
• a Preparing for Practice Teaching module (Module 12)
• a synchronous online Practice Teaching session (Modules 1-4 and 12 are prerequisites for this session)

We estimate that it would likely take about 9.5 - 12.5 hours for GSIs to complete all components of GSITO required to satisfy Requirement A of the U-M Graduate Teacher Certificate (GTC). Requirement A requires GSIs to complete Modules 1-4, 2 modules on teaching topics (selected from Modules 6-11), a Preparing for Practice Teaching module (Module 12), and a synchronous online Practice Teaching session.

GSIs may spend much less time if they are only completing certain portions of GSITO, or they may spend much more time should they do a deeper dive and explore additional resources provided or if the department requires more than what is included in Requirement A. 

Our process for enrolling new GSIs into Winter 2025 GSITO is the following: 

• We will reach out to you initially in late October to request contact information for the new GSIs in your department who must or are encouraged to engage with the orientation. 
• When we receive new GSI names from you/your department, we will add them directly to the GSITO Canvas site that launches on December 9 at noon. If you have names you would like to add after December 9, we request that you email us directly at [email protected].
• We will also send GSITO notifications to these new GSIs, letting them know they have been added to the asynchronous course, and highlighting key logistical information.
• If GSIs are required to complete a Practice Teaching session, the information we sent to the GSIs and the Winter 2025 GSITO Canvas Course provides registration information for them to register for a session. As noted above, you and your department will need to decide on training requirements and communicate them to your GSIs.

Before December 9, 2024: 

• If you have new GSIs who will teach in your department in Winter 2025 please be sure to fill out the entire Google Spreadsheet we attached to the email we sent you, and provide us with the names and uniqnames for your new GSIs so we can add them to the GSITO Canvas site and send them information about the orientation. 
• Please indicate in the Google Spreadsheet whether your GSIs will be required to complete a practice teaching session as part of completing the orientation.
• Reach out to new GSIs to share your departmental requirements for their training.
• If you have hired or plan to hire a graduate student mentor (GSM) in your department for Winter 2025, please include their name and email address in the Google Spreadsheet. We will use this information to send GSMs information about programs and services that will support them in their role supporting GSIs. 

After December 9, 2024:

• If you have names you would like to add after December 9, we request that you email us directly at [email protected].

Please note we will contact you throughout the semester to remind you to provide this information because we understand that hiring timelines vary. If you do not receive an initial email from us with the Google Spreadsheet in late October, please contact [email protected].

If you are not the GSI Contact for your department, please email [email protected] indicating that you are no longer the GSI Contact. If you happen to know who the new GSI Contact is please let us know their name and email address.

CRLT does not determine GSI training requirements. Rather, departments are responsible for determining the GSITO completion requirements for GSIs. Some departments encourage their GSIs to participate in GSITO but don’t require it, some departments require only certain components of the orientation, and some departments align their requirements with CRLT’s Requirement A of the U-M Graduate Teacher Certificate (GTC). The requirements for Requirement A include the following components: 

• Modules 1-4
• 2 modules on teaching topics (selected from Modules 6-11)
• a Preparing for Practice Teaching module (Module 12)
• a synchronous online Practice Teaching session (Modules 1-4 and 12 are prerequisites for this session)

If GSIs are added to the orientation after our Practice Teaching offerings (January 3, and January 6 - 7) or the sessions reach capacity, we will not be able to accommodate them for this semester’s Practice Teaching. In this case, please encourage GSIs to monitor our GSITO webpage for information about how to participate in Fall 2025 Practice Teaching offerings. 

If GSIs reach out to us about how to move forward in the case of our Practice Teaching offerings being at capacity or there are no Practice Teaching sessions left, we direct them to contact you. Since we do not set the completion requirements for GSITO for the GSIs, we ask them to work out a solution with you and your department. For example, some departments ask students to complete Practice Teaching in a later semester or allow students to substitute this requirement with participation in workshops on teaching later in the semester (maybe with a written reflection about what they have learned).

Yes, we can continue to add GSI(s) to the Canvas site, even after the December 9 launch date. The GSITO Canvas site will remain accessible to GSIs after the January 10, 2025 deadline so that they can continue to review GSITO content.  However, CRLT will no longer be monitoring the completion of any course components at that point. If you have GSIs who are unable to complete the orientation by the January 10, 2025 deadline it would be up to you/the department to determine a deadline for completion and to work out how to verify that completion. In past years, GSIs have sometimes submitted the module exit ticket assignments/reflections directly to the GSI contact and/or shared a screenshot of the grade book page showing module and assignment completion.

We can add you to the Winter 2025 GSITO Canvas course as an observer. Please contact [email protected] to let us know you would like to be an observer. Note, you will not be able to access the course until it is launched on December 9, 2024 at 12:00pm.