A TAR project is an opportunity to use your disciplinary research skills to develop a research question relating to teaching and propose a project that would allow you to investigate this question with a class you are teaching or a TA for, or a data set available through your department or other university offices or departments. These projects can be small or large scale and can help you develop your reflective teaching skills. A project also is a great talking point on a resume or CV and in a job interview. If you are close to graduating and will not be able to implement a project, the work of designing and proposing a project is by itself a worthwhile endeavor. 

Examples of Recent Projects:

• Assessing Workshop Models in the Undergraduate Creative Writing Classroom
• Which Group Work Methods Lead to Better Participation in the Classroom?
• The Efficacy of Open-Ended Questions for the College Classroom

In order to submit a TAR project proposal, students must have completed a TAR cohort and participated in all sessions. Presentation topics are listed below. Please contact grad-cirtl@uiowa.edu to indicate your interest in joining. 

The Spring 2025 TAR Cohort will meet on Wednesdays from 12:00 - 1:00 PM beginning March 26. Register here!

Prerequisites:  Graduate students and post-docs from any academic discipline who have taken a graduate-level teaching-related course (at UI or elsewhere) or 5 teaching-related workshops (from the Center for Teaching, your department, the Graduate College, another academic department, etc.) are eligible to participate. Previous experience as a TA or instructor is also helpful.  If you have questions about whether a course or workshops you have taken fit, please email grad-cirtl@uiowa.edu with information about the course or workshops.    

TAR Cohort Topics:

• Introduction to Teaching-as-Research and CIRTL
• Evidence-Based Teaching
• Methods and Assessment
• Library Resources and Databases
• Proposal workshop
• IRB Overview