Assesing teaching assistant programmes as a tool facilitating the learning process of Physiology / Avaliação do modelo de monitoria como ferramenta facilitadora para o processo de aprendizagem em Fisiologia

A teaching assistant programme is an extracurricular activity in which an advanced student (the assistant) is guided and supervised by the lecturer to provide support to the curricular unit. The aim of the present study was to asses the contribution of teaching assistant programmes based on problem cases towards the acquisition of a medicine course content. The study was cross-sectional and involved 153 students divided into two groups: the present and the absent at teaching assistant sessions. All the participants responded to standardised questionnaires that have been used to analyse their perception of content acquisition, their active participation in learning and the contribution of teaching assistant sessions. The results showed that the perception of complete content acquisition among the present group was at 38.4%, while for the absent group only at 29.7%. The negative perception of content acquisition was at 13.6 % for the absent group and at 6.1% for the present group. Within the present group 73.5% of the students studied the topics covered in lectures within two weeks. For the absent group this number fell to 49.4%. In addition, 86% of the present group said that the teaching assistant sessions contributed towards their learning. As the main reason they pointed to the opportunity to answer questions. On the whole, the results suggest that teaching assistant programmes based on problem cases can be effective in facilitating the perception of learning. The reason appears to be a more intense involvement of the participants in a more active study routine.

What Does Our Discipline Mean? Uncertainties of Students in Perception of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology/Case Study of Kosova

When in 2001 the Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology at University of Prishtina was opened for the first time, there was a lack of knowledge about this field of study. Students that enrolled in the Department came up with different reasons and motivations. Since then, the Department made changes and transformations to both the curriculum and the pedagogical approaches used. These changes opened the department to collaborative teaching methods. Over time, narrowly defined, traditional concepts of ethnology and anthropology were expanded into diverse methods, theories and approaches. This article considers the ways in which the department developed and how anthropology was perceived by the students. What were the dilemmas and uncertainties that accompanied students in their choice? How much did parents, relatives and their friends support them? If they would have another opportunity, would they make the same choice again? These are the questions that will be discussed in this paper, besides my personal experience and reflection, firstly as a student in this department and later as teaching assistant.

To Cope or Not to Cope? Characterizing Biology Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) Coping with Teaching and Research Anxieties

Biology graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) often used adaptive coping strategies to manage teaching and research anxieties. Notably, GTAs tended to use strategies such as support seeking, self-reliance, accommodation, and distraction more often to manage research anxieties compared with teaching anxieties. Over time, GTAs narrowed their adaptive coping to certain strategies.

“I’m just a TA”; From mixing paints to managing safeguarding and class teaching: An exploration of teaching assistant's perceptions and roles in school

This small-scale piece of research listened to the stories, experiences and perceptions of teaching assistants to hear their lived experiences of the role of teaching assistant. To hear how expectations have altered with/without legislative and framework guidance and consideration of the individuals who take up teaching assistant roles, in a climate where there is a succinct lack of legal requirement for any training or qualifications to be undertaken prior to or during the job role. The findings indicated that there appears to be an ethos within primary educational settings that teaching assistants can ‘do it all’ at ‘all times’, that there is a lack of clarity in role and responsibilities across the ‘unqualified staff’, and furthermore that they self-position as “Just a TA”.

On the application of intelligent speech aids in English teaching under multimedia environment

In order to improve the effect of English Teaching in multimedia environment, this paper proposes an English teaching method based on intelligent language AIDS in multimedia environment. Firstly, an intelligent speech teaching assistant system is designed in the multimedia environment. The software mainly includes four modules: new words and sentences, Chinese and English reading, voice evaluation, tools and settings. Learners can learn independently through the software, and teachers can also use the software to make various audio teaching resources in the classroom. In addition, the system can promote vocabulary teaching and support sentence pattern teaching and situational teaching in English teaching. The experimental results show that the average score of class 3A is increased from 86.35 to 86.79, with an increase of 0.64, which proves that the application of this method can effectively mobilize the enthusiasm of students in learning English and achieve good teaching effect.

A Qualitative Investigation of the Interactions of Students with Graduate and Undergraduate TAs in General Chemistry Laboratories

A new teaching assistant model was adopted and qualitatively assessed for the general chemistry laboratory, in which both an undergraduate and a graduate teaching assistant provided instruction to students during the lab. Verbal interactions between graduate and undergraduate teaching assistants were recorded, transcribed, and coded using the modified Laboratory Observation Protocol for Undergraduate STEM (LOPUS). The codes were applied to capture how discussions, questioning, and explanations were conducted. In addition, the content discussed was coded to identify specific areas that pose challenges for students. Sizable differences were not observed between the number of interactions of the initiation, explanation, and questioning codes between graduate and undergraduate teaching assistants. Of the interactions, 77% focused on questions and discussions regarding the experimental setup. Discussions on the implications with regards to the effective use of undergraduate and graduate teaching assistants in chemistry laboratories are included.