Effectiveness Of The Woodruff School Doctoral Teaching Intern Program

This article discusses a unique teaching internship program that has been in place in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology since 1990. The objective of the program is to provide doctoral students who are considering an academic career an opportunity to gain teaching experience under the tutelage of a faculty member. This article summarizes the major findings from student evaluations and from surveys of former student and faculty participants and discusses the apparent need and benefit of such a doctoral teaching intern program. Benefits and drawbacks of participation are discussed from the intern, faculty mentor, and student points of view. Conclusions are drawn about the overall effectiveness of the program and recommendations are made for implementing a successful teaching internship program.