Developing and Evaluating a Graduate Student Teaching Assistant Training Course in the Chemistry Department of a Large American University

Autor/inn/en	Lang, Franziska K.; Randles, Christopher A.; Jeffery, Kathleen A.
Titel	Developing and Evaluating a Graduate Student Teaching Assistant Training Course in the Chemistry Department of a Large American University
Quelle	In: Journal of Chemical Education, 97 (2020) 6, S.1515-1529 (15 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Lang, Franziska K.) ORCID (Jeffery, Kathleen A.)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0021-9584
Schlagwörter	Teaching Assistants; Graduate Students; Science Instruction; Chemistry; College Science; Introductory Courses; Training; Best Practices; Discussion (Teaching Technique); Observation; Classroom Techniques; Faculty Development; Teaching Methods; Program Evaluation; Program Effectiveness; Indiana + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Graduate Study; Student; Students; Aufbaustudium; Graduiertenstudium; Hauptstudium; Studentin; Teaching of science; Science education; Natural sciences Lessons; Naturwissenschaftlicher Unterricht; Chemie; Einführungskurs; Ausbildung; Beobachtung; Klassenführung; Teaching method; Lehrmethode; Unterrichtsmethode; Programme evaluation; Programmevaluation
Abstract	Graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) play an essential role in the teaching of introductory chemistry courses at many higher education institutions. On the basis of best practices suggested by the literature, we developed our GTA training course to focus on modeling best practices in the classroom, providing opportunities for incoming GTAs to try new teaching methodologies and reflect on their teaching, and observing and giving feedback on their teaching throughout the course. Here we describe the structure of a GTA training course, provide our course evaluation methods, and present end-of-semester survey data from trainee GTAs (t-GTAs) and experienced GTA (e-GTA) volunteers that helped with the course. The findings indicate that the majority of t-GTAs appreciated the course structure and topics. In particular, t-GTAs found discussions helped them learn the material and greatly appreciated the opportunity to observe someone teaching and be observed during their teaching. Several areas for improvement were also identified, including more opportunities to observe peers, additional topics such as classroom management, and greater support in applying course topics to individual teaching environments. e-GTAs on the other hand reported positively on how the course impacted their own professional development through honing their observational skills and their ability to provide constructive feedback, as well as adding to their own knowledge on teaching methodologies through observing t-GTAs. Intending to provide insight on how course evaluation data can be used to inform change, we discuss our findings in terms of the specific changes that will be made at Purdue Chemistry in future course iterations, as well as in terms of implementing or revising GTA training at other institutions. We hope that the course structure, evaluation approach, and data described here provide insight into other institutions interested in changing their own GTA programs. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Division of Chemical Education, Inc. and ACS Publications Division of the American Chemical Society. 1155 Sixteenth Street NW, Washington, DC 20036. Tel: 800-227-5558; Tel: 202-872-4600; e-mail: eic@jce.acs.org; Web site: http://pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01