Resources
CS Teaching Development for All in the CS Community

The CS department regularly organizes events that foster instructional development and community:

Quarterly open Teaching lunches and AI in education lunches create space to connect with fellow instructors, share challenges, and exchange best practices.
Open Classroom Week (typically held during the third or fourth week of Spring quarter) invites you to visit colleagues’ classrooms to observe a variety of teaching styles and approaches.
All new TAs and PMs are invited to attend department TA and PM orientation, held on the first Friday of every quarter. Position guide and office hours tips are relevant across many teaching contexts.

Additional opportunities for PhD students and postdocs

CS Teaching Training Program

For most PhD students, teaching will play some role in their careers after graduation. For some, it will even be their primary focus—whether as teaching-track faculty, liberal arts faculty, or instructors at other institutions. The CS Teaching Training Program is designed to turn TAships into intentional learning opportunities, while also connecting PhD students with experienced NU teaching faculty for mentorship and skill development.

Students who join the year-long program will have access to the following opportunities:

Mentorship: Be paired with a teaching faculty mentor to meet regularly for reflection and discussion during their TA experience.
Guided Development: Identify and pursue opportunities to grow as a teacher within the TA role.
Community: Gain access to the teaching faculty Slack and join faculty lunches to ask teaching-related questions and share experiences.
Practice and Feedback: Deliver a guest lecture in the course they are TAing and receive feedback from both their mentor and the course instructor.
Instructional Materials Review: Get constructive feedback on any teaching materials they design.
Professional Visibility: Build connections with mentors and instructors who may later serve as references or letter writers for the academic job market.

Advanced Teaching Opportunities

Beyond the core mentorship, PhD students can expand their teaching experience through:

Co-Instructing with Faculty: After TAing a course, students may co-instruct by taking on a defined subset of teaching responsibilities. Interested students should coordinate with the instructor at least two months before the course begins.
Teaching a Summer Course: PhD students who have previously TAed a course (and postdocs) may propose to teach it as the primary instructor during the summer. Mentorship will be provided. Proposals are solicited in the Fall, and students must secure approval from their advisor and the course coordinator.
Teaching Statement Review: For PhD students and postdocs preparing for the academic job market, the department provides feedback on teaching statements. Please contact the Assistant Chair at least one month in advance to get started.