Shaping tomorrow’s classrooms: What engineering doctoral students expect as future educators

Introduction Engineering doctoral students who pursue careers in academia will be required to teach courses; however, their PhD programs typically result in much less teaching experience compared to research experience. Most teaching experience occurs through graduate teaching assistantships, which may include training but involve a wide variety of roles. While some doctoral students seek additional instructional positions during their PhD programs, these are typically not required. Given this context, this study aims to understand engineering doctoral students’expectations regarding the teaching requirements of being faculty. Methods To understand doctoral students’ expectations, 10 semi-structured interviews were conducted to address three sub-questions: (1) how participants’teaching and mentoring philosophies have shifted throughout their PhD programs, (2) how important participants perceive teaching to be in academia, and (3) their expectations regarding classroom teaching as future faculty members. The interviews were conducted via Zoom, and the transcripts were coded and analyzed using NVivo. Results The analysis revealed that participants develop their instructional approaches through a combination of formal teaching assistantships, informal teaching and mentoring experiences, and interactions with faculty. Participants also expressed concerns about work–life balance and the social responsibility associated with being an instructor. Discussion The findings emphasize the need for additional teaching experience and the expansion of development programs in engineering PhD programs, including resources on pedagogical principles. Future research may examine how these expectations evolve over time as doctoral students begin teaching.