Information Studies offers teaching apprenticeship

The UCLA Department of Information Studies is offering a teaching apprenticeship course for its doctoral students interested in becoming teaching assistants, starting this quarter.

The program – the first of its kind within the department – helps doctoral students become familiar with the different aspects of instructing an undergraduate course, such as developing course topics and designing a syllabus.

These types of programs are not uncommon in the College of Letters and Science.

Teaching apprenticeship programs differ in terms of their format and approach to course material, depending on the specific characteristics of the department, said Kumiko Haas, director of instructional improvement programs at UCLA.

To start their own apprenticeship programs, departments typically submit a proposal to receive funding and training assistance for its program opportunities, Haas said. Her office is responsible for evaluating the proposals, and for preparing professors to train doctoral students before they start the apprentice programs.

Departments must show there is a sufficient demand for their proposed apprentice programs to receive approval, Haas said.

But the information studies department chose to design and support its program using private funding because it expected only a small number of students to enroll, said Leah Lievrouw, a professor of information studies who leads the department’s apprenticeship program.

There has been talk among the information studies department’s faculty and even students about the need for an apprenticeship program for years, Lievrouw said. But this is the first time efforts have brought real results, she added.

Lievrouw and her teaching assistant Colin Doty, an information studies doctoral student, said they began making plans for the department to offer the course last summer because they felt the ability to teach at the collegiate level is a valuable skill for doctoral students.

“The (doctorate degree) qualifies a person to become an academic researcher, scholar and university teacher,” Lievrouw said. “So it’s fairly important that doctoral students have some opportunity to learn about teaching and become good teachers.”

Doty, who has been assisting Lievrouw for more than two years in her course, Internet and Society, said they used his experience – which includes editing the course syllabus and even leading lectures – as a rubric for planning the apprenticeship course.

“(Lievrouw) and I sat down and talked about what my path had been, what had been good or bad, and how we can use this as a model to help other students in the future,” he said.

Twice a week, doctoral students enrolled in the apprenticeship program sit in on lectures for Lievrouw’s Internet and Society course, led by either herself or Doty, where they make observations on how the lectures are conducted.

“It’s more or less a formal class,” said Anthony Castelleto, a doctoral student currently enrolled in the program. “We have readings on things relevant to teaching and also have homework too, like other students.”

The apprenticeship course will be available again during spring quarter, Lievrouw said. She added that because it is in its experimental phase, the format of the course is subject to change.

She said she is currently drafting a proposal to submit to the department’s Doctoral Program Committee for review.

In the meantime, Doty said he hopes the course will give other students in the department the skills they need to teach college students.

“When I first looked at the (doctorate) program, I was disappointed there (weren’t) enough opportunities for the (doctoral students) to teach,” he said. “It’s a fantastic opportunity.”

Email Han at [email protected].