Each student is required to obtain faculty-approved experience teaching in psychology. The minimum way to meet this requirement is through completion of two approved teaching experiences. It is allowable for students to complete one experience twice (e.g., guest lecture for two weeks rather than one) to satisfy the teaching requirement. If you have questions about whether a particular teaching experience fulfills the requirement, please contact the General/Experimental director.

Approved Teaching Experiences

  • The equivalent of one week (i.e., 3 50-minute sessions or 2 75-minute sessions) of guest lecturing, with faculty feedback on each lecture and development of exam questions or assignments related to the lectures.
  • Serve as a Teaching Assistant in PSYS053, PSYS054, PSYS215, PSYS304, or PSYS305.
  • Teach or co-teach a course, with faculty feedback on at least one lecture.

Please note that this is the minimal amount of teaching experience necessary to make it through the Ph.D. program. We strongly encourage you to complete more than two of the requirements listed and/or seek out more opportunities to get even more experience and make yourself more competitive on the job market. Please consult with your advisor to tailor teaching experiences to your goals and interests.

Potential Additional Teaching Opportunities

  • Complete the UVM Graduate Teaching Program
  • Develop an annotated course syllabus, including course assignments, policies, course objectives, and grading criteria.
  • Mentor two or more undergraduates in your lab by setting up a course of learning and a syllabus. For maximum benefit to you, this mentoring would go beyond the research supervision that typically occurs in research labs, and should include regularly scheduled meetings, a reading list, and graded academic products.
  • Complete a readings and research project with a faculty member focused on readings regarding teaching in psychology. The readings and research could involve a teaching practicum component involving guest lectures, managing discussions, and/or other teaching activities in a psychological science course. Note that this requirement requires significant supervision by a faculty mentor, and thus depends on faculty mentor availability and interest.


Approved by the General/Experimental Faculty on 1/25/2016.