The Role of Teaching Assistants in Student-Centered Learning: Benefits, Costs, and Negotiations

Wright, Mary C.; Bergom, Inger; Brooks, Michael

doi:10.1007/s10755-011-9197-5

Cited by 20 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Muzaka, 2009;Chng et al, 2011). Finally, research confirms that student tutors can be critical partners in student-centred learning exercises (Wright et al, 2011).…”

Section: Using Student Tutors In Large First-year Classesmentioning

confidence: 77%

Being there: strategies for incorporating the student voice into the learning experience of a large first-year marketing course in a New Zealand university

Fitzpatrick

Davey

Spiller

2013

Enhancing Learner Experience HE

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Higher education (HE) researchers and practitioners comment regularly on the difficulties of encouraging students to be fully present in the large-class learning experience. Educators who want to honour and promote the student voice need to design teaching and learning spaces that help students make emotional and cognitive connections with course learning, enabling them to be partners in directing the learning and to assume the role of co-inquirers. This paper describes a case study in a first-year marketing course in a New Zealand university in which a student tutor's photo-narrative was designed to achieve these goals. Students' evaluations indicated that the strategy promoted personal engagement and increased ownership of the learning. Photonarrative storytelling offers HE practitioners an effective means to connect theoretical content to students' own lives, and enhance student ownership of the learning. Inviting students to create their own photo-narratives could create a learning experience that approximates more closely to a learning partnership.

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“…Muzaka, 2009;Chng et al, 2011). Finally, research confirms that student tutors can be critical partners in student-centred learning exercises (Wright et al, 2011).…”

Section: Using Student Tutors In Large First-year Classesmentioning

confidence: 77%

Being there: strategies for incorporating the student voice into the learning experience of a large first-year marketing course in a New Zealand university

Fitzpatrick

Davey

Spiller

2013

Enhancing Learner Experience HE

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“…Moreover, GSIs face a number of challenges as they transition into graduate studies (Hauk et al, 2009), exacerbating this lack of training. The development of GSIs is an emerging area of research, with an increasing number of reports published in refereed journals, both in mathematics (Deshler, Hauk, & Speer, 2015;Speer, Murphy, & Gutmann, 2009) and with regards to student-centered teaching in other disciplines (e.g., Miller, Brickman, & Oliver, 2014; Wright, Bergom, & Brooks, 2011). This paper adds to the emerging literature by focusing on the development of student-centered practices in introductory calculus.…”

Section: Theoretical Framingmentioning

confidence: 95%

Supporting Graduate Student Instructors in Calculus

Reinholz

Cox

Croke

2015

ij-sotl

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This paper focuses on the use of the teaching method Peer-Assisted Reflection (PAR) to help graduate student instructors (GSIs) develop as teachers. PAR engages students in analyzing the work of their peers and providing feedback to promote their abilities of communication, collaboration, and persistence. The goals of the PAR activity were taken as goals for instruction generally, and used to support the GSIs to develop student-centered pedagogies. This report provides in depth case studies of two of four GSIs involved in implementing PAR in their introductory calculus recitation sections. Two of the GSIs showed considerable changes in practices and beliefs, while the others showed little growth.

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“…Although few studies have directly measured GTAs' perceptions of their own competence, many studies focused on how or if competence is developed. For example, Wright, Bergom, and Brooks () studied GTAs in English literature and identified challenges associated with GTAs' adoption of a new pedagogy. Institutions see training or development programs as a way to prepare GTAs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Competence, Autonomy, and Relatedness as Motivators of Graduate Teaching Assistants

Kajfez

Matusovich

2017

J of Engineering Edu

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Background Graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) play critical roles in undergraduate education. Past studies have examined various programs developed for GTAs, but little work exists that examines GTAs' personal experiences and perceptions in engineering education. To develop teaching environments and training programs that foster positive motivation in GTAs for teaching and improve the quality of their teaching, we need to better understand the factors that motivate them.Purpose Situated in self-determination theory (SDT), the purpose of our study was to examine graduate students' motivation to teach by answering the research question, "What factors contribute to GTAs' competence, autonomy, and relatedness with regard to teaching?" We scoped the study broadly to include perceptions of events, occurrences, people, institutional structures, and demographics as potential factors. Design/MethodWe employed exploratory interview methods influenced by critical realism to understand GTAs' experiences. Our sample contained 12 participants from five different universities. We used a combination of a priori codes and open coding to determine the factors. ResultsWe identified five factors that affect the needs posited by SDT: training, previous experience, appointment structure, students, and teaching colleagues. Each factor uniquely contributed to a GTA's teaching motivation.Conclusions GTAs are teachers, but they are also students. We recommend that faculty and administrators consider the five factors we identified and their unique individualized effects on GTAs as students and teachers when designing teaching experiences. This focus will lead to increased motivation in teaching and, with time, increases in the quality of teaching in engineering.

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The Role of Teaching Assistants in Student-Centered Learning: Benefits, Costs, and Negotiations

Cited by 20 publications

References 10 publications

Being there: strategies for incorporating the student voice into the learning experience of a large first-year marketing course in a New Zealand university

Being there: strategies for incorporating the student voice into the learning experience of a large first-year marketing course in a New Zealand university

Supporting Graduate Student Instructors in Calculus

Competence, Autonomy, and Relatedness as Motivators of Graduate Teaching Assistants

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