10 Mar
2006
10 Mar
'06
10:15 a.m.
In the fall of 2000 we began requiring all new TA's who did not already
have 18 hours of graduate math credit to enroll in a 3 credit hour
graduate course I developed with its focus on the teaching of math at
the undergraduate level. In the spring of 2005 I and a graduate student
tried to determine the effect this course was having. We collected
qualitative data via interviews with TA's who had taken the course and
quantitative data from student teaching evaluations of all students.
After analyzing the data we concluded our course had no significant
effect on those aspects of teaching we defined as mechanical or
practical. This was not too surprising since every math TA must attend
a 2-hour math TA workshop prior to the beginning of EVERY semester, and
these workshops focus on mechanical and practical issues. However, we
did find that our course had significant impact on TA self-efficacy.
The TA's who had taken the course felt comfortable with their abilities
to teach in front of a math class and felt confident with their
abilities to deal with all the other issues they might encounter with
their students. This was reflected in the teaching evaluation data
also. We found significant differences in the scores on evaluation
statements like "The teacher encourages questions in class." Students
who had taken the class received significantly better ratings on this
type of question than did TAs who had not taken it.
All this is contained in my student's masters thesis at
http://etd.lib.ttu.edu/theses/available/etd-04012005-171340/unrestricted
/THESIS4.pdf
He and I were supposed to condense this down to a ten page paper
suitable for submission to the journal devoted to TA development.
However, he got a job and lost interest in the project. I very much
would like to hear if anyone thinks this might be worthwhile
Respectfully,
Gary Harris
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Today's Topics:
1. Assessment of TA Training Needs (Bruff, Derek O)
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Message: 1
Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2006 09:35:35 -0600
From: "Bruff, Derek O" <derek.bruff(a)Vanderbilt.Edu Subject: [PSTUM-list] Assessment of TA Training
Needs
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<AA92E7990DD315498E1906DE4F071E580D5EAB(a)its-exchbe01.mail.Vanderbilt.edu
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PSTUM List,
We're about to do some assessment of our math TAs' training and support
needs--what kinds of experiences have they had teaching as TAs, how
useful has our department training and support for teaching been to
them, what suggestions do they have for the department in helping them
fulfill their TA duties and obtain professional development for future
faculty positions, etc.
Have any of you conducted assessment of your TAs like this--perhaps
through a print or online survey or conducting focus groups? If so, I
would be interested in hearing about your experiences and what kinds of
questions you asked.
Thanks in advance! Feel free to respond to the listserv in case there
are others interested in this kind of assessment.
Derek
--
Derek Bruff, Ph.D.
Assistant Director, Vanderbilt Center for Teaching
116 Calhoun Hall / Box 351537, Station B
Nashville, TN 37235
615-322-7290 / www.vanderbilt.edu/cft/