A graduate teaching assistantship program is critical for building a vital graduate degree program. Assistantships attract students, generate funding, and allow units to meet the demand for their basic courses. However, too often, inexperienced graduate students are placed in the classroom with inadequate training or resources to function effectively as new teachers in the higher education environment. Faculty GTA directors, then, struggle to manage the situation and the conflicts that accompany GTAs who are a poor fit for the program.
Under-prepared GTAs drain faculty supervisor resources, create problems in the classroom and complaints from students, and ultimately fail in facilitating the intended learning outcomes of their courses. Without careful selection, training, supervision, and evaluation, GTAs become a liability, rather than an asset, to academic programs.
This program will help unit faculty and leadership:
1. Implement a systematic plan for recruiting, training, evaluating, and delivering useful performance feedback to graduate teaching assistants (GTAs).
2. Understand the pedagogical and communication requirements and needs of GTAs and how best to address them.
3. Respond to some of the human resource (HR) challenges associated with GTA programs.
