Tonya Filz & Regan A.R. Gurung University of Wisconsin – Green Bay

1. Student Perceptions of Undergraduate Teaching Assistants Tonya Filz & Regan A.R. Gurung University of Wisconsin – Green Bay Abstract Correlations between individual TBC items and main measures As class sizes increase due to stagnating budgets, and as colleges and universities around the nation increase enrollment, more faculty (especially those without graduate students) are turning to undergraduate teaching assistants (UTA) to aid in course management and help students learn. We surveyed 142 students enrolled in courses that utilized UTAs to predict student perceptions of UTA helpfulness, accessibility, and perceived qualifications. We found a significant relationship between many UTA teaching characteristics and these three main target variables. We recommend ideal UTA characteristics as well as propose a method for designing and implementing training programs for UTAs. Undergraduate teaching assistants (UTAs) play an essential role in many classes within academia, particularly in small and mid-sized universities without graduate programs. Typical UTA activities include taking attendance, assisting with in class activities, looking over course material generated by the instructor, obtaining library materials for the course, and tutoring. Given the value that UTAs add to courses (e.g. lightening the professors workload, serving as a sounding board, etc.) we sought to investigate student perceptions of UTAs to help train successful future UTAs. Whereas previous research focused on the benefits to the UTAs themselves, we explored specific UTA characteristics and how these characteristics affected student ratings of helpfulness, accessibility, and how qualified UTAs are for their position. By specifying these characteristics, the present study will aid faculty in designing and implementing training programs for UTAs.  Different  lines of research converge to suggest that key teacher characteristics are helpfulness, accessibility, and being seen as qualified; therefore we used these measures as main outcome measures. Correspondingly, our goal was to predict variables contributing to student perceptions of these three factors in UTAs. Each contribute to overall rapport, and are associated with a wide realm of positive student outcomes such as increased student motivation and improved. Introduction Mean Student Rating of UTA Characteristics Results We conducted three multiple regression analyses to establish the most important factors  contributing to main outcome measures. To control for overlapping associations among the 18 items in Table 1, we entered all items as a block and used stepwise extraction. The 18 items adapted from the TBC predicted 14% of the variance in UTA helpfulness  (we entered all items except ‘helpful’). One characteristic predicted unique variance: rapport, F (1, 137) = 21.94, p < .001, =.16. The 18 items adapted from the TBC predicted 19% of the variance in UTA accessibility. Three characteristics predicted unique variance: responsive, F (1, 137) = 23.62, p < .001, =.17, flexible and open-minded, F (2, 136) = 14.33, p < .05, =.14, and technologically literate, F (3, 135) = 11.92, p < .05, =.02. The 18 items from the TBC predicted 21% of the variance in UTA perceived qualification. Again, one characteristic predicted unique variance: helpful, F (1, 137) = 37.12, p < .001, =.27. Discussion This study demonstrates crucial UTA characteristics that directly affect student perceptions of UTA helpfulness, accessibility, and perceived qualification for the UTA position. These traits can be helpful to keep in mind when recruiting and training new UTAs. Although we found many UTA characteristics to correlate at the zero-order level, our regression analyses suggest that when recruiting new UTAs, it is crucial to seek out  UTAs who are helpful, technologically literature, responsive, flexible, and who will establish rapport with students. As an alternative, teachers can foster these characteristics when training and mentoring UTAs. Method Undergraduate students enrolled in classes utilizing UTAs participated in this study (N = 142). The majority of participants were women (79.3%). Participant ages ranged from 18-30 (M = 19.57, SD = 1.85). The majority of participants were first-year students (61.4%). We adapted 18 items from the Teacher Behavior Checklist (TBC, Keeley et al., 2006) to measure characteristics UTAs may exhibit with responses ranging on a scale of 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). In addition to items from the TBC (Keeley et al., 2006), we used single items to measure UTAs helpfulness and accessibility. We assessed helpfulness and accessibility on a Likert scale of 1 (Very Helpful) to 6 (Very Unhelpful) and a scale of 1 (Very Accessible) to 5 (Not at all accessible), respectively. Additionally, we asked participants’ to rate how qualified they felt their UTAs were for the TA position, on a scale of 1 (very qualified) to 6 (very unqualified). Presented at the 2012 American Psychological Association’s Annual Conference. Orlando, FL TEF0003@TIGERMAIL.AUBURN.EDU