How to Teach at University for the First Time: 5 Practical Tips for PhD Students and Researchers

Teaching a university class for the first time can be daunting, even when you know the subject inside out. Doctoral programmes often focus on developing research skills rather than teaching skills, leaving PhD students and early-career researchers to learn how to teach on the job.

Čubomir Tomaszka still remembers his first university lecture more than 30 years ago. As a first-year doctoral student, he was asked to teach an introductory genetics class on DNA replication. Because his doctoral research covered a similar topic, he expected the session to be straightforward. He read a textbook chapter and prepared a thick stack of transparent slides to project in front of the class.

“This was before PowerPoint,” Tomaszka recalls. “I was ready to leave, but within 10 minutes I realized that the attention of about 90 percent of the people in the auditorium had wandered away from me.” He felt “like a cyclist climbing a steep hill without water or energy”. Tomaszka is now a geneticist at Comenius University in Bratislava.

His experience is familiar to many young researchers. “A PhD teaches you to be a scientist and researcher rather than a teacher,” says Olivia Bizimungu, a PhD candidate in neuroscience at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

Some graduate programmes require students to take on teaching responsibilities despite their limited classroom experience. Tomaszka, now a university lecturer, often enrols doctoral students in his programme and begins teaching them immediately. But subject knowledge alone is not enough. “Just knowing the subject matter taught at university is not enough to give a good lecture or seminar,” he says.

Here are practical teaching tips from doctoral students, postdocs and faculty members preparing researchers to teach at university for the first time.

1. Build on existing course materials

Before your first lesson, prepare lecture slides, handouts and other course materials. You do not need to reinvent the wheel: existing courses can provide a useful starting point.

“You can’t start from scratch,” says Ariel Leonard, a materials scientist at Ohio State University in Columbus. Where appropriate, you might also use older homework resources and assignments.

Tomaszka suggests checking whether your university offers formal education courses for researchers and graduate students. Experienced colleagues can also be an invaluable source of teaching advice.

When Melanie Ortiz Alvarez de la Campa taught an undergraduate course for the first time, she initially thought that her subject knowledge would be enough. After recognizing that students process information at different speeds, she sought advice from more experienced professors. Ortiz Alvarez de la Campa earned her doctorate in pathology at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, in May of this year.

“I learned a lot just by talking to actual professors,” she says. “If you have a chance, attend the courses you plan to teach, see which professors are doing what resonates with you and talk about it.”

2. Prepare your content and classroom

Once you have your course materials, reread and revise them, then practise your lecture. “Guess what questions will be asked during the discussion and be prepared with plausible answers,” advises Nirodha Weeraratne, a postdoctoral fellow at Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga, Australia.

Prepare an outline in the same way you would for a conference presentation. Lisa Bolton, a statistician at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, also recommends visiting the classroom before your first session.

“Log in to your podium, test your slides and verify your connection,” she says. “Do I need a USB-C or HDMI dongle? What about the microphone situation?”

Your first lesson does not have to be perfect. “Preparing for Lesson 1 will be completely different than Lesson 100,” Bolton says. “If you’re writing too many scripts or running out of time right now, don’t despair.”

3. Encourage student participation from the start

First impressions matter. Bizimungu suggests capturing students’ attention early by showing them why the material is useful and interesting, even if the opening example is unfamiliar.

When teaching an exercise neuroscience class, Bizimungu began with a video about cutting-edge brain–computer interfaces. During the lecture, she connected the advanced technology shown in the video to concepts that students had already encountered.

Storytelling can also help students stay engaged. Marco Melo, an ecologist at the University of São Paulo in Brazil, recommends using “clear arcs, conflict, strong characters, a sense of movement and a reason for students to care about what happens next”.

“Understand where the story begins, where it’s going and what you want your students to remember when they leave,” he says.

Preparation is only part of the challenge. Jawad Ullah discovered this during his first lecture, when he had to assess the room in real time and work out whether students were engaged, sceptical or connecting the ideas to their own classroom experience. Ullah is a fourth-year PhD student in crop science at Hainan University in China.

Taking a short break or asking practical questions can make a teaching session feel more open, he suggests. If students lose focus, Ortiz Alvarez de la Campa recommends making the material more personal.

“If students can relate the material directly to something in real life or apply it, it helps to capture their attention,” she says. “If we as instructors can help our students understand the true value of field knowledge, they will find it worth their time.”

4. Think like a student

When preparing a lecture, try to put yourself in your students’ position. Leonard recommends completing homework, quizzes and exams yourself before assigning them. This helps you check that students have the knowledge they need to complete the work.

It is also important to understand how students may respond to your teaching. Enthusiasm can be contagious. “Looking forward to the experiments you’ll do during lectures keeps your adrenaline high and keeps you motivated,” Tomaszka says.

Teaching is not only about delivering educational material. It also involves offering practical guidance. “Do you remember yourself many years ago? What did you need most then?” asks Olesya Platonova, a doctoral candidate in cognitive neuroscience at the Pasteur Institute in Paris.

5. Use interactive and varied classroom activities

Lectures remain a tried-and-tested teaching format, but varying classroom activities can make sessions more engaging. Kristina Monakova, a computer scientist at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, recommends including think–pair–share activities during lectures.

In this format, students first develop their own ideas, then discuss them with a classmate or small group before sharing them with the wider class. Interactive activities can give students more opportunities to process new information, ask questions and participate in the lesson.