Biology Teaching Assistant (TA) Training
MIT's Biology Department built this program to train its own teaching assistants in biology pedagogy while they are actively teaching. The materials are organized around weekly practical needs, covering skills like leading recitation sections, grading, giving feedback, and handling common classroom situations, with structured opportunities to practice techniques in a supportive setting. The course grew out of direct feedback from previous TAs, so its topics map to real problems new instructors face rather than abstract theory. Participants can earn a training certificate on completion. The materials are hosted on MIT OpenCourseWare and free to use, though the certificate itself is intended for MIT TAs going through the actual program. Useful for anyone preparing to teach a lab or discussion section in the life sciences, or for instructors designing their own TA onboarding.