Author: Dangeni

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Developing Graduate Teaching Assistants: A co-created developmental space via community building chat​

Venue/Time:    19 June 2024, University of Sheffield

Network:            AdvanceHE_GTA Developers Network

Who:                    Dangeni, Professional Development Adviser, LTDS and

Minki Sung, Postgraduate who Teach, HaSS

Graduate students frequently act as instructors for labs and lead seminar discussions while juggling significant research and academic duties. This dual role places graduate teaching assistants (GTAs), or Postgraduates who Teach at Newcastle University, in a unique position. The Academic Practice Team at LTDS provides essential training and community support through various routes: 

  1. Introduction to Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (ILTHE) 

This blended learning programme offers those with little to no teaching experience an opportunity to explore key concepts and issues in Higher Education teaching. It aims to equip participants with the practical skills and knowledge necessary to begin teaching and supporting learning at Newcastle University with confidence and enthusiasm. 

  1. Evidencing Learning and Teaching (ELT) 

This pathway, accredited by Advance HE, leads to recognition as an Associate Fellow of the HEA (AFHEA). It is designed for Postgraduates Who Teach (PGRwT) at Newcastle University who want to develop their early teaching careers in Higher Education. The syllabus and assessments are based on standards set by Advance HE, focusing on the professional practice of teaching and supporting learning as described in the Professional Standards Framework (PSF).  

  1. Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) Community Building Chat 

An online communication platform has been developed since 2023 to allow PgRs who Teach to continue engaging with teaching practices. This initiative emerged from the anticipation that micro-teaching sessions could focus on sharing PhD research and provide opportunities for those interested in further developing their teaching skills after completing the ILTHE and ELTS pathway. 

Following last year’s discussion at the Advance HE GTA Network event at the University of Manchester, this year the community continued these discussions at the University of Sheffield on June 19th. The event aimed to champion the voice of GTAs, sharing ideas, resources, and educational development practices across the sector. The day featured three main themes: developing teaching competencies, inclusion and its relationship to GTA work, and institutional approaches to GTA development, with speakers from UK institutions sharing effective practices and case studies. 

Case 1: Effective Use of Peer Teaching and Self-Reflection for Pedagogical Training 

A notable example from colleagues at the University of Sheffield highlighted a training method for GTAs teaching in engineering laboratories. This training, based on session-specific content and contextualized pedagogical material, emphasized self-reflection and peer teaching. 

It included individual and group sessions where GTAs could practice before engaging in real teaching, building their confidence, supporting self-reflection, and developing student-centered teaching skills. By comparing their training perceptions with their teaching assessments and feedback, the programme demonstrated its effectiveness. 

These figures are from Di Benedetti, M., Plumb, S., & Beck, S. B. M. (2022). Effective use of peer teaching and self-reflection for the pedagogical training of graduate teaching assistants in engineering. European Journal of Engineering Education, 48(1), 59–74. https://doi.org/10.1080/03043797.2022.2054313

Case 2: Towards a Toolkit for Supporting GTA Teaching Identity 

Colleagues from University of Glasgow shared another excellent example, a training model that supports GTAs in developing their teacher identity through best practice pedagogy, Brookfield’s lenses of reflection (see figure below), and graduate attributes has been considered and embedded. This model aims to enhance GTAs’ ability to engage with and confidently deliver active learning practices, thereby generating stronger learning experiences for undergraduate students. 

This figure is from https://learningportfoliorichter.wordpress.com/2022/10/09/reflecting-on-myself-through-brookfields-four-lenses/

Case 3: Newcastle University GTA Community Building Chat 

As the lead and convener of ILTHE and ELTS, as well as the creator of the community building chat, I invited Minki Sung, a PGRwT from HaSS, to co-present with me. The following section is taken from Minki’s reflection. It outlines his motivations, benefits, impact and areas for follow-up. 

Motivations 

After attending the introductory workshop, i.e., ILTHE and six ELTS sessions on applying for associate teaching fellowship, I decided to participate in the GTA community to enhance my current teaching practices. 

Firstly, the motivation for joining the GTA community chat was that it didn’t require much time commitment. At that time, I had my PhD project, teaching responsibilities, and research assistant work for government projects. Secondly, there was no dedicated teaching community for PGRs who teach, except for the GTA community chat. By sharing some challenges and best practices with other TAs, I realized that I was not alone in struggling to increase student attendance. Thirdly, my previous experience as an educational military officer in my home country made the PGR demonstrator role familiar, but seminar-leading was quite new to me. Learning how other TAs lead their seminars and manage teaching difficulties was valuable. 

Gains 

A GTA community chat offers several advantages. It provides a platform to share teaching-related anxieties and concerns with minimal time commitment (one hour per month). It also facilitates the integration of research and teaching skills, broadening the understanding of different TA roles: PGR demonstrator, seminar leader, lab leader, and guest lecturer. 

Personally, I learned the value of student interaction and understanding their different needs based on their learning stage. For example, Stage 1 students sometimes view their first year as a “party year,” which was surprising to me. Also, most students prefer visual and technological content over reading or seminar discussions. I am interested in exploring the access and using technological tools, although in my country, I would have to pay for these gadgets. Additionally, I was able to support and challenge students’ thinking using various case studies from my experiences in South Korea, China, Japan, and Vietnam, which was able to foster their critical thinking. Finally, I could pilot test some teaching ideas with other TAs and gain valuable feedback. 

Impact of Community Engagement 

The ELTS initially offered six workshops, providing a good starting point for PGRs assuming teaching roles in higher education. However, further development is necessary to share best practices and address challenges. For instance, at a recent sociology TA workshop, the lack of training after the ELTS workshop was highlighted. I suggested introducing a GTA community chat to gain practical experience together.  

In summary, participating in this GTA community helped me understand my students’ needs and integrate my knowledge into their learning process effectively. This involvement also had a larger impact, as I connected with some PGR and PGT students in my seminars and labs, which helped me perform effectively as a school rep. Ultimately, many PGR colleagues and PGTs nominated me for School Rep of the Year, and I won the award. 

Current Gaps and Challenges in Participating in the Community Chat 

 Advertisement and Participation 

As a PGR school rep in the School of Architecture, Planning, and Landscape, I’ve observed similar challenges with participation between the PGR community cohorts and the GTA community chat. Some TAs hesitate to share difficulties, fearing it may be perceived as a weakness and jeopardize future TA opportunities. Additionally, disciplinary differences pose a challenge. Each discipline has its teaching requirements and TA recruitment practices.  

Additionally, nurturing the GTA community chat may rely heavily on word-of-mouth within the PGR community. Utilizing networks established by PGRs who have completed ELTS workshops and achieved D1 certificates could enhance visibility and participation in the community chat. It needs to be advertised with a clear message that it will benefit any PGRs interested in teaching post-PhD. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this GTA-themed blog post. Please get in touch at apt.lts@newcastle.ac.uk if you’d like to chat about our pathways and your practice! 

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Demonstrable impact on teaching and learning: 2024 The Association of National Teaching Fellows (ANTF) Symposium 

Each year, the National Teaching Fellowship Scheme (NTFS) and the Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE) celebrate and recognise individuals and collaborative work that have had a demonstrable impact on teaching and learning.

ANTF symposium

As a professional development adviser in the Academic Practice Team at LTDS who support colleagues learning and teaching development as well as the deputy TEAL at Newcastle University who support the NTF and CATE nominations, I attended the 2024 The Association of National Teaching Fellows (ANTF) Symposium at Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK, on 23rd to 24th April, which features two days of sharing and reflections from NTFs and CATEs in relations to wellbeing, Innovation and Impact, Reward and Recognition and Equity and Ethics. 

National Teaching Repository

A variety of effective practices and resources have been introduced throughout the conference. For example, the National Teaching Repository, which is an open access online searchable database where tried and tested strategies ‘that work’ can be housed and harvested. Contributing and sharing your effective teaching and research via the platform means effective ways to Measure the impact of practice as well as making the resources more discoverable, shareable & citable as you will Attain a unique DOI for each item uploaded. 

The National Learning and Teaching Focused Network

Another example is The National Learning and Teaching Focused Network, which connects colleagues in learning and teaching focused roles across the UK Higher Education sector. Through a one-hour workshop, presenters’ first-hand experiences were shared, and we discussed some common concerns and feelings among staff members who have a learning and teaching focused role, that in being learning and teaching focused, staff can feel misunderstood and like they do not belong. They often don’t know how to tell their “story” for promotion and because these pathways are relatively new and often the guidance from HR and senior staff can be lacking or at best narrow and restrictive. Yet these colleagues bring a richness and diversity to their institutions, but this is often rarely recognised. As a group, we explored the breadth of roles and activities of staff on learning and teaching focused pathways (The photo below shows some examples of the wide range of roles we discussed as a group). 

Raising the profile of professional service staff with teaching and learning responsibilities

One of the important and timely discussion I engaged with was a workshop exploring potential ways to raise the profile of professional service staff with teaching and learning responsibilities. Within the higher education sector there are a significant number of teaching and learning professionals employed on non-academic contracts. This could include Learning Developers, Librarians, Technicians or Learning Technologists, for example. However, despite the important role these individuals play in the student learning experience, they are particularly underrepresented in institutional nominations for the NTFS: only 5.8% of NTFS nominees in 2023, 5.1% in 2022 and 10.6% between 2018-2022. Questions were raised and discussed, which also are important for professional services colleagues who are considering NTF and CATE applications as well as for those institutional stakeholders who support such applicants. 

 For example: 

  • What are the range of professional service positions with teaching and learning. responsibilities?  
  • Where might professional service staff with teaching and learning responsibilities be based within a university?  
  • What are examples of professional service staff with teaching and learning responsibilities influencing institutional teaching practices within your institutions?  
  • How can the profile of professional service staff with teaching and learning responsibilities be showcased to the institutional Teaching Excellence Award Leads (TEALs) who support and submit the nominations?  
  • How can teaching and learning evaluation be inclusive of professional services to support demonstration of impact? 

Mapping scholarship

A highlight of the conference was an interactive workshop on Making scholarship Inclusive, in which we discussed a key notion and concept, i.e., ‘scholarship’, with the growing emphasis on ensuring a sound evidence base for education, arising from ‘scholarship’ activities. Based on presenters’ recent ‘Mapping Scholarship’ project demonstrated that some staff are uncertain about what ‘counts’ as scholarship, whilst nevertheless undertaking activities that relate to education, that are or could be public, evaluated, and impactful, and thus are easily included under broad definitions of scholarship. Kern et al.’s (2015) Dimensions and Activities Related to Teaching Model (DART, see Figure below) proved immensely useful for stimulating discussion of the nature of scholarship. We discussed and evaluated the potential limitations of this model, and considered a proposed model that is both inclusive and useful in stimulating scholarship activity. 

  

  

https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/josotl/article/view/13623/25313

Find out more

If you are interested in finding out more about how to get your teaching recognised, please go to the page to explore a potential route and contact APT if you have any questions.