Exploring the Role of Course Teams in Helping Graduate Teaching Assistants Navigate Day-to-Day Teaching

Abstract

Graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) significantly contribute to undergraduate education at US universities, particularly in engineering. As novice teachers, they require adequate pedagogical training. This training mostly relies on a few pedagogy-focused workshops or courses taken by all teaching assistants at a university and faculty and peer mentoring. However, GTAs still need relevant course- and context-dependent pedagogical support. Recognizing the importance of such assistance, this study explores the support provided by course teams, comprising the instructor(s) and teaching assistants, to GTAs in navigating day-to-day teaching. Data were collected over a semester-long period in the form of periodic interviews and weekly reflections from seven GTAs teaching different engineering courses at a large US university. Findings suggest that regular interactions with course teams help GTAs participate in a community of practice. This experience helps them more effectively fulfill their day-to-day teaching responsibilities related to course preparation and delivery, and manage teaching tasks alongside other professional and personal responsibilities. Moreover, as GTAs navigate these responsibilities with the help of course teams, they also learn valuable academic skills required of future faculty.