Teaching and Learning Essentials Seminar (TA2)
The TA2 seminar focuses on developing foundational understanding of strategies and approaches that support student learning at the college level. The College of Graduate Studies requires all Teaching Assistants, Level 2 (TA2), to complete the training PRIOR to starting their teaching assignment. Priority registration will be given to TA2s who need to meet the requirement, though all grad students are welcome to attend.
For graduate students who have been appointed as a Teaching Assistant, Level 2 (TA2), congratulations on your appointment. Before you begin your work as a TA2, you must complete the Faculty Center’s TA2 Training program.
Enrollment
The TA2 Training program is an asynchronous online training conducted each semester through Folio. Enrollment for the current online training will be open from December 1, 2025, through July 30, 2025
- Allow two business days after registering to see the TA2 training in your Folio course sites.
- You will receive a separate email inviting you to the online component.
Course Outline
Module 1: Planning Course Design
The Planning Course Design module covers Mapping your course, Lesson planning, and aligning assignment instructions.
Module 2: Building a Course
The Building a Course module covers Selecting course content, Assessing learning, Promoting academic integrity, and developing a communication plan.
Module 3: Teaching a Course
The Teaching a Course module covers engaging and motivating students, Fostering effective discussion, Being a present instructor, and Helping students succeed.
Module 4: Optimizing Your Course with Campus Technologies
The Optimizing Your Course with Campus Technologies module covers leveraging Folio modules, Recording videos, and Utilizing feedback technologies.
Completion
- Complete the online training at your own pace during the training window.
- Pass the assignments and complete all activities with an 85% or higher to pass the TA2 training.
- Receive a Certificate of Completion.
Badging Program
The Faculty Center Badging Program assists faculty with documenting professional growth in teaching, research, scholarship, and leadership development.
Seven (7) badge tracks with six (6) training levels each allow faculty to show breadth of training across topics. Action Plans and Capstone Reflections allow faculty to show evidence of and showcase commitment to professional growth.
Badge Tracks
Descriptions for badge tracks can be read by clicking on a badge track in the following list.
Workshops in the EBT track will assist faculty with evidence based teaching practices for a better learning experience and greater student engagement.
Workshops in the HIPS badge track will assist faculty in exploring, designing and implementing High-Impact Practices. HIPS are active learning practices that result in deep learning by promoting student engagement. High Impact Practices include: First-Year Seminars and Experiences, Common Intellectual Experiences, Learning Communities, Writing-Intensive Courses, Collaborative Assignments and Projects, Undergraduate Research, Diversity/Global Learning, ePortfolios, Service Learning, Community-Based Learning, Internships and Capstone Courses and Projects.
Workshops in the MMA track will assist faculty in building knowledge and skills necessary to conduct program or course level assessment of student learning with an emphasis on designing processes that are manageable for participating faculty and that yield meaningful data to inform decisions about teaching, curriculum, and student success.
- Define learning outcomes and expectations for students in your academic program or course
- Design and implement assessment methods to track student learning outcomes achievement
- Analyze, interpret, and use assessment data to make targeted improvements to teaching and curriculum in support of student learning goals.
The MSC track will assist faculty in building knowledge of and skills in Scholarly Communications. Workshops will cover topics throughout the research and publication lifecycle: author identifiers and scholarly profiles; journal quality and impact; author metrics and impact; researchers鈥� rights as authors and the role of the University’s institutional repository, Digital Commons; and data management planning and curation services.
Workshops in the PGL track will assist faculty with their professional growth related to career development and maintaining appropriate well-being. Career development will include topics such as preparing documentation for annual reviews, tenure and promotion and leadership development. Work/life balance and self-care topics such as emotional, psychological, and social well-being may be addressed.
Workshops in the RGS track will assist faculty and staff in the acquisition, performance, and administration of projects and programs funded from sources outside the University through research administration, research integrity and compliance, award management, public service, instruction, and other scholarly activities funded by external organizations.
Workshops in the TWT track will assist faculty with teaching and learning technologies that can be used in the learning environment.
How to Earn a Badge
- Attend four Workshops in the same badge track
- Complete an Action Plan within one month of each workshop attended
- Complete a Capstone Reflection within one year of workshop completion
- A Badge will be awarded through :
- Repeat this process for additional badge tracks or to 鈥淟evel Up鈥�
Badging Program Details
The Faculty Center Badging Program is designed to assist faculty in documenting professional growth in teaching, research, scholarship, and leadership development. Seven (7) badge tracks and six (6) training levels allow faculty to show breadth of training across topics. Through Action Plans and Capstone, reflections allow faculty to create evidence of and showcase commitment to professional growth.
Badging Process
Register for a Faculty Center workshop on the Workshop Calendar webpage
After attending the workshop, you will receive an automated email with the following Action Plan prompts:
- Write a 2-3 sentence summary covering the workshop鈥檚 highlights and what content was the most informative and useful for you.
- Describe how you will implement a tool, strategy, or idea from today鈥檚 workshop in your teaching or professional context.
- After submitting 4 Action Plans in a badge track, you will receive an automated email with the following Capstone Reflection prompts:
- What strategies and/or knowledge gained from this workshop most influenced your approach to teaching?
- Review the action plans you created after attending each workshop for this badge. List implemented ideas and briefly describe the process of implementation.
- Assess the effects of those implemented changes. What was successful? Provide concrete evidence of how student learning improved or benefitted from your changes (student behavior, test scores, feedback received, etc.)
- Explain plans for future growth, implementation, further training, incremental improvements, etc.
Badging Partners
The Faculty Center has partnered up with other departments across the university to offer workshops in their fields of expertise.
- The Faculty Center
- The Office of Institutional Assessment and Accreditation
- The Office of Research
- The University Libraries
- GS HIPs Implementation Team
If you have any questions about the badging program or would like to become a partner, please contact the Faculty Center at facultycenter@georgiasouthern.edu.
Additional Services
We are available to consult with all graduate students interested in teaching, regardless of whether they are teaching or not. Consultants can provide feedback on syllabi, course calendars, lesson plans, teaching portfolios, teaching philosophy statements, and any other teaching-related materials.