Neoliberalism and higher education: a collective autoethnography of Brown Women Teaching Assistants

2019 ◽  
pp. 48-65
Author(s):  
Ileana Cortes Santiago * ◽  
Nastaran Karimi * ◽  
Zaira R. Arvelo Alicea
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Teaching Assistants

scholarly journals Genuine students as partners: How a Teaching Assistant Consultant program put students as partners into practice

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 106-114
Author(s):  
Gerry Gourlay ◽  
Cynthia Korpan
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Graduate Student ◽  
Teaching Assistants ◽  
Teaching Assistant ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Student Leader ◽  
Teaching In Higher Education ◽  
Do So

In this case study, a graduate student and staff member show how an institution wide program, aimed at enhancing learning and teaching in higher education, exemplifies Matthews’s (2017) “Five Propositions for Genuine Students as Partners Practice” at the department level. To do so, we describe the five propositions in relation to the Teaching Assistant Consultant (TAC) program that positions a graduate student leader in each department to support new Teaching Assistants (TAs). Through comparison, we look at how the program is inclusive, exhibits strong power-sharing capabilities through continual reflection and conversation, is ethical, and is strongly transformative.

scholarly journals Video-based learning to enhance teaching of practical microbiology

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katrina Lacey ◽  
J Gerard Wall
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Blended Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teaching Assistants ◽  
Undergraduate Teaching ◽  
Learning Approaches ◽  
Laboratory Techniques ◽  
Video Based Learning ◽  
Visual Learners ◽  
Practical Teaching

Abstract Video-based learning is an increasingly important methodology in higher education and has particular value in practical teaching. In order to enhance learning and promote student engagement in our undergraduate microbiology programme, we designed and produced a suite of teaching videos which demonstrate laboratory techniques core to the syllabus. The methods were demonstrated by PhD students and the professionally-produced videos were made widely available via the free YouTube channel Microbiology teaching videos at NUI Galway (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsP4xz5aq7sWfR9eXSCd_QQ/), which accumulated over 40 000 views across 47 countries in its first 15 months online. A survey of students who used the videos in their teaching and learning identified a greatly increased understanding of experimental principles and ability to carry out techniques; greater engagement with practical teaching sessions; particular benefits for visual learners; and increased confidence in teaching and in communicating science amongst undergraduate teaching assistants. The videos will be central to microbiology teaching at NUI Galway over the coming decade and will benefit many 3rd level institutions exploring online and blended learning approaches in the coming years.

scholarly journals Developing a collaborative book project on higher education pedagogy: The institutional, organizational, and community identity dimensions of student-staff partnerships

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 99-108
Author(s):  
Lauren Clark ◽  
Agathe Ribéreau-Gayon ◽  
Mina Sotiriou ◽  
Alex Standen ◽  
Joe Thorogood ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Teaching Assistants ◽  
Community Identity ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Graduate Teaching ◽  
Research And Teaching ◽  
Higher Education Pedagogy ◽  
University College London ◽  
New Type

This case study presents an ambitious student-staff partnership project at University College London (UCL) to publish a collaborative book on higher education pedagogy. Over two-and-a-half years, a total of 86 students and staff contributed to the project, which sought to provide educators with a new type of scholarly material under the unifying theme of connecting research and teaching. Multiple layers of student-staff partnership were interwoven throughout the project; this case study contextualizes these layers against three dimensions: institutional, organizational, and community identity. Central to the project was our distinctive approach to engaging with Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) and their crucial role in bringing the three dimensions together. As such, the project represents a model of enhanced student-staff partnership that has the capacity to empower students and break down educational silos to form new, multi-specialty learning communities.

The Significance of Teaching Academic Writing as a Discipline-Specific Skill

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
El-Sadig Y. Ezza ◽  
Altayeb Alballa Ageeb ◽  
Rayan O. Sirry ◽  
Emtithal Mubarak
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Teaching Assistants ◽  
Explicit Instruction ◽  
Postgraduate Students ◽  
Writing Courses ◽  
Hard Science ◽  
Specific Skill ◽  
Disciplinary Affiliation ◽  
Study Participants

The purpose of the present study was to popularize the conscious initiation of novice scholars and postgraduate students into the writing conventions of their disciplines. In so doing, the study proposes the integration of writing courses into the disciplinary syllabus so that the students study writing developmentally throughout their stay in the faculty. A questionnaire, and an interview, were used to collect data from the study participants, who were lecturers and teaching assistants in different Sudanese higher education institutions. Data analysis revealed that the participants highly value the proposal to teach academic writing as a discipline-specific skill. It also showed significant differences in the participants' perceptions of explicit instruction of academic writing based on their disciplinary affiliation in favour of hard science specialists. However, the participants' research profiles did not show statistically different perceptions.

Evaluation of Apprenticeship Teaching in Higher Education

1977 ◽  
Vol 40 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1123-1126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald M. Meredith ◽  
Daniel N. Bub
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Teaching Assistants ◽  
Classroom Organization ◽  
Rating Instrument ◽  
Teaching In Higher Education

To a special 20-item rating instrument, constructed to evaluate the performance of teaching assistants in the classroom, responses of 2258 undergraduate students in social science and humanities courses were intercorrelated and factored. Three oblique factors were identified: Relational Impact, Classroom Organization, and Learning Outcomes. The instrument may be used to assess instructional impact and/or diagnose areas of strength and weakness in apprenticeship teaching.

scholarly journals A Back-Door Entrance into Teaching Teachers

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. p39
Author(s):  
Pulane Lefoka
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teaching Assistants ◽  
Professional Knowledge ◽  
Professional Lives ◽  
National University ◽  
Back Door ◽  
Faculty Of Education ◽  
Teaching In Higher Education

This paper is based on PhD research that was carried out at the National University of Lesotho’s Faculty of Education. The focus of the study was on the sources and application of professional knowledge among teacher educators. The content of the paper was drawn from the chapter on enactment of professional knowledge. All the research participants entered the teacher educators’ world through the backdoor; that is, some were invited by their teacher educators to work as teaching assistants while others applied to an advertised position. None of them had teaching in higher education credentials, hence back-door claim. Their major source of professional knowledge is experiential. Their professional lives have been shaped by their context. However, practice-based knowledge presents numerous challenges including lack of knowledge of the pedagogy of teaching student teachers and bias towards using transmissive methods of teaching.

scholarly journals From Teaching Assistant Training (TA) to Workplace Learning

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 149
Author(s):  
Cynthia Korpan
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Workplace Learning ◽  
Teaching Assistants ◽  
Teaching Assistant ◽  
Learning Theories ◽  
Learning Approach ◽  
Learning Situation ◽  
Teaching Assistant Training ◽  
Apprenticeship Model

In this paper, I propose a renewed look at how teaching assistants (TAs) are being prepared to fulfill their duties in higher education. I argue that the apprenticeship model of learning that is currently in use be replaced by the more holistic workplace learning approach. Workplace learning theories take into consideration the complexity of the learning situation of the TA.

scholarly journals Exploring a Qualitative Methods Approach to Measure Learning Gain in Teaching Assistants: A Chinese Case Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Jianmei Xie ◽  
Henk Huijser
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Qualitative Methods ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teaching Assistants ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Chinese Higher Education ◽  
Learning Gain ◽  
Ta Training

This paper explores the use of a range of qualitative methods to measure learning gain of teaching assistants (TAs) in mainland China at a Sino-British University where the authors used to work. It uses a case study to report on an evaluation of TA training at the University, which is part of its Postgraduate Research Development Programme, to ascertain students’ acquired skills and skills gaps. A key focus of this evaluation consists of exploring ways to measure learning gain for individual TAs. As teacher educators, the researchers delivered TA training, conducted specialist observations of TAs’ teaching practice, as well as a series of ‘Learning to Teach’ groups. Measuring individual learning gain of TAs occurred during the semester and at the end of the semester. Criteria and measurements were tested to explore how learning gain of TAs could be measured in a Chinese higher education context. Implications outlined in this paper could be useful for TA training in higher education settings. Key findings include that evaluation of learning gain should occur at different points in time, as well as be continuous, consistent and comprehensive. In other words, multiple approaches, including both quantitative and qualitative methods, could capture a more objective picture of TAs’ learning gains.

scholarly journals The Visioning of Policy and the Hope of Implementation: Support for Graduate Students’ Teaching at a Canadian Institution

2015 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-101
Author(s):  
Carolyn Hoessler ◽  
Lorraine Godden
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Graduate Students ◽  
Financial Support ◽  
Teaching Assistants ◽  
Student Diversity ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Policy Recommendations ◽  
Financial Constraint ◽  
Implementation Support ◽  
Education Environment

Graduate students teach within the complex higher education environment of financial constraint, greater student diversity, and growing graduate enrolment (e.g., Austin, 2003). Teaching roles offer financial support and skill development while multiplying responsibilities (Price, 2008). Across the national working papers and institutional reports, policies, and websites that we analyzed, support for graduate students was linked to their roles (e.g., teaching assistants). Formal messages about responsibility varied; national documents pointed to institutions, while institutional documents pointed to departments, courses, and individual graduate students. Most supports for graduate students reported were already existing piecemeal supports with limited implementation, despite policy recommendations for broad, flexible, open-ended, and recognized programming. Future research is needed to further clarify the pathways from vision to action.  

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