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The Graduate Teacher Training Program: Analyzing and Improving Graduate Student Teaching of Psychology. Inaugural Academic Symposium at UVA: April 14, 2011. Motivation. Large number of graduate student TAs. Incoming TAs often express concerns about teaching.
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The Graduate Teacher Training Program: Analyzing and Improving Graduate Student Teaching of Psychology Inaugural Academic Symposium at UVA: April 14, 2011
Motivation • Large number of graduate student TAs. • Incoming TAs often express concerns about teaching. • Training through the Teaching Resource Center and TPT • No psychology-specific training.
The Graduate Teacher Training Program • Overview: • A two-year program for entering psychology graduate students. • Three main objectives: • Orient students to basic practical issues related to college teaching. • Provide methods of teaching to implement directly as teaching assistants and faculty. • Help students develop teaching philosophies.
Orient students to basic practical issues related to college teaching: • Participants attend workshops in: • Assessment • Learning • Teaching Techniques • Participants also reflect their experiences.
Provide methods of teaching to implement directly as teaching assistants and faculty: • Peer Observations: • 4-person groups. • Each member tapes themselves teaching twice. • Each member also provides feedback on a peer’s teaching twice. • Those being taped reflect on the experience. • Participants create a course syllabus. • Teaching Techniques workshops and talk.
Help students develop teaching philosophies: • Mentorship program with psychology professors from James Madison University. • Reflective Teaching Statement. • Several brainstorming workshops. • Participants share drafts with peers and their JMU mentors.
Evidence of Learning • Preliminary survey collected upon entrance into program. • Feedback from workshops and our Collab site. • Workshop reflections. • Peer observation reflections. • Semesterly survey. • Course evaluations from undergraduates.
Participants are motivated to reflect on their experiences: • Student Learning was most well-attended. • 75% of attendees reflected on the experience. • This pattern is consistent across all workshops, 76% of attendees reflecting on at least one workshop.
First semester findings: • Participants remained positive on their feelings of: • being effective teachers, t(15) = 2.76, p < .02, one- sample. • being fair graders, t(15) = 5.65, p < .001, one-sample. • enjoying teaching, t(15) = 4.70, p < .001, one-sample. • Highest rated components: • Mentorship and Peer Observation experiences. • Concerns • Grading and creating assessment. • Future workshops to address these issues.
Future directions: • Second-semester survey. • Spring course evaluation data. • Data will inform program efficacy and participant development. • Findings will be presented at the Eastern Conference on the Teaching of Psychology, summer 2011.
Thank you to: • Our faculty board members: Dr. Brian Nosek, Dr. Dan Willingham, Dr. Denny Proffitt, and Dr. David Daniel • Our mentors at James Madison University: Dr. Jessica Irons, Dr. Bryan Saville, Dr. Tracy Zinn, Dr. Suzanne Baker, Dr. Kenn Barron, and Dr. Monica Reis-Bergen • The Teaching Resource Center and Tomorrow’s Professors Today: Dr. Michael Palmer, and Dr. Deandra Little