Teaching assistants (TAs) that lead reformed recitations and labs must understand and buy into the design of the course and the research-based instructional strategies that the course requires in order to create high-fidelity implementations. We present a model that outlines possible influences on TAs' buy-in and their in-class actions coupled with a method, using a Real-time Instructor Observation Tool-based [E. A. West et al. Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 9, 010109 (2013)] exercise, to measure the effect of these influences that is not only quicker than interviews but also allows one to quantify these effects. We use this method to measure the influences on six graduate TAs teaching algebra-based introductory mechanics and electricity and magnetism recitations and labs ("mini studios") at the University of Central Florida. The results from the exercise are confirmed by interview responses from the TAs. We find a relatively high degree of buy-in to the design of the course, yet this is not reflected in the TAs' actions. The TAs' actions appear to be most influenced by student responses and expectations which do not align with the design of the course. Our study examines the effect of three influences shown in our model, and we argue that our method could be easily adapted to examine additional influences.
Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to introduce the Unalog software system, a free and open source toolkit for social book marking in academic environments. Design/methodology/approach -The history, objectives, features, and technical design of Unalog is presented, along with a discussion of planned enhancements. Findings -The Unalog system has been very useful for information sharing among members of the digital library community and a group of beta testers at Yale University, leading its developers to plan several new features and to capitalize on opportunities for integration with other campus systems. Originality/value -This paper describes a freely available toolkit, which can be used to provide new services through libraries to academic communities, and how those new services might be enhanced by merging the potential they offer for easier information sharing with long-standing practices of librarianship.
An increasing number of institutions are adopting a collaborative student-centered studio approach for their introductory physics classes, although there is considerable variation in their deployments and a wide range of success in these different cases. Using a modified version of the TDOP observational protocol, we observed and coded 13 instructors teaching SCALE-UP (one studio implementation method) physics classes at two universities to characterize each studio class. We coded different types of instructor dialogue, class discussion, and students' group and individual work, as well as technology used in the classroom. We identified both similarities and differences among the various classes. Here, we report the percentage of intervals in which certain codes were observed, highlighting the most prevalent codes and noting common code combinations. This is the beginning of work to characterize different studio physics classes to determine effective practices.
Abstract. Through the use of the Real-time Instructor Observing Tool (RIOT) we examine the differences in actions of multiple TAs in mini-studios, which combine student-centered recitations with inquiry-based labs. TA actions observed include open or closed dialogue, passive or active observing, and clarifying or explaining to students. We observed five TAs teaching seven algebra-based first-semester physics labs to approximately 30 students per section. Individual TAs created an action profile that consists of the proportion of time spent on each action for that specific TA. These action profiles were found by averaging the duration of TA actions across multiple labs for a single TA. Surprisingly, with this method we found that TAs with a Learning Assistant tended to explain less and interact with the students less. We also found that there is a lack of consistency between the TAs in the overall time spent on each action.
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