At the University Assessment Council Today, Brian Bubenzer talked about the training of teaching assistants within L&S. There are approximately 1,300 TAs in L&S; approximately 1/3 never had a TA as an undergraduate. The duties of TAs range widely: stand-alone, lab, discussion section, or grader. Faculty perceptions of TAs vary widely by department. Brian identified three main phases of TA development and corresponding types of training TAs are interested in:
1. A very short phase of self-doubt and dependence where TAs are interested in “first day tips and techniques.”
2. A longer phase of experimentation and greater independence where TAs are interested in advanced pedagogy.
3. The last year of graduate school where TAs are thinking beyond our campus and interested in resume building activities.
UW’s August TA training event has existed for decades, but more work is being done to evaluate the effectiveness of the training provided and make improvements. Focus groups were conducted with the assistance of the Survey Center. Among a variety of useful observations from these sessions, it was learned that regular, formal training sessions over course of semester are most useful.
I was liaison to the GSI (=TA) Teaching and Resource Center at my previous job, and this is very much in-line with what I learned about where to place the library’s instructional support. At the big, August events, breakout sessions I planned on research-based learning were poorly attended. When we conducted them later in the semester, there was more interest, usually from a cross-section of people in “phase 2″ (interested in pedagogy) and “phase 3″ (trying to develop materials and knowledge for the job market).
