Graduate Teaching Assistants: Motives, Difficulties and Professional Interactions and Their Relationship to Perceived Benefits

Autor/inn/en	Nasser-Abu Alhija, Fadia; Fresko, Barbara
Titel	Graduate Teaching Assistants: Motives, Difficulties and Professional Interactions and Their Relationship to Perceived Benefits
Quelle	In: Higher Education Research and Development, 39 (2020) 3, S.546-560 (15 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0729-4360
DOI	10.1080/07294360.2019.1681374
Schlagwörter	Graduate Students; Teaching Assistants; Barriers; Incentives; Professional Development; Student Motivation; Occupational Information; Research Universities; Foreign Countries; Individual Characteristics; Collegiality; Work Experience; Discussion Groups; Undergraduate Study; Israel + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Graduate Study; Student; Students; Aufbaustudium; Graduiertenstudium; Hauptstudium; Studentin; Anreiz; Schulische Motivation; Berufsinformation; Forschungseinrichtung; Ausland; Personality characteristic; Personality traits; Persönlichkeitsmerkmal; Kollegialität; Employment experience; Job experience; Occupational experience; Berufserfahrung; Grundstudium
Abstract	Graduate students play a major role in teaching in higher education, particularly in undergraduate programs. The purpose of the present study was two-fold: first, to identify graduate students' motives for working as graduate teaching assistants (GTAs), describe some aspects of their work, and ascertain their perceived benefits; second, to predict GTAs' benefits as a function of their individual background characteristics, motives, job difficulties, and richness of professional interactions with the course instructor. Data were collected from 189 GTAs who led discussion groups at a large research university in Israel by means of an internet questionnaire. Findings revealed that graduate students accepted the position of GTA mainly for extrinsic reasons, such as salary and convenience. They claimed to have faced few difficulties and that their professional interactions with the course instructors focused more on job responsibilities and less on pedagogical issues. They reported having gained a greater understanding of course content and improved teaching skills due to their experience as GTAs. Richness of contact with the course instructor, motives, difficulties, and faculty match significantly contributed to predicting perceived benefits. The implications of the results are discussed. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01