Graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) are often used as instructors in undergraduate introductory science courses, particularly in laboratory and discussion sections associated with large lectures. These GTAs are often novice teachers with little opportunity to develop their teaching skills through formal professional development. Focused self-reflection about end-of-semester teaching evaluations may be an important informal supplement to teacher training. To inform this practice, we explored the instructional behaviors that undergraduates perceived as most important for GTAs’ teaching effectiveness in laboratory courses. In spring semester 2012, 1159 undergraduates in freshman-level biology lab courses rated their GTAs on 21 instructional behaviors, the GTAs’ teaching effectiveness, the amount the student learned, and their expected grade in the laboratory. Using linear mixed models, we found that instructional behaviors related to the categories of teaching techniques and interpersonal rapport best predicted student ratings of GTAs’ teaching effectiveness. GTAs or other novice teachers can use this information to identify specific areas for instructional improvement when considering student feedback about their teaching.
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November 2014
Research Article|
November 01 2014
Helping Graduate Teaching Assistants in Biology Use Student Evaluations as Professional Development
K. Denise Kendall,
K. Denise Kendall
1K. DENISE KENDALL is a laboratory coordinator at the School of Integrative Biology, 286 Morrill Hall, MC-120, University of Illinois, 505 S. Goodwin Ave., Urbana, IL 61801; e-mail: kendalld@illinois.edu.
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Matthew L. Niemiller,
Matthew L. Niemiller
2MATTHEW L. NIEMILLER is a postdoctoral scholar at the Illinois Natural History Survey, 1816 S. Oak St., MC 652, Champaign, IL 61820.
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Dylan Dittrich-Reed,
Dylan Dittrich-Reed
3DYLAN DITTRICH-REED is an assistant professor in the College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Life Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634.
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Elisabeth E. Schussler
Elisabeth E. Schussler
4ELISABETH E. SCHUSSLER is an associate professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and director of teaching and learning in the Division of Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996.
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The American Biology Teacher (2014) 76 (9): 584–588.
Citation
K. Denise Kendall, Matthew L. Niemiller, Dylan Dittrich-Reed, Elisabeth E. Schussler; Helping Graduate Teaching Assistants in Biology Use Student Evaluations as Professional Development. The American Biology Teacher 1 November 2014; 76 (9): 584–588. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/abt.2014.76.9.3
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