This highly practical book supports the knowledge and development of teaching assistants and learning support assistants (TAs/LSAs) in their understanding of neurodivergent pupils. Considering a neurodivergent world is vital in society today, and even more so in the classroom. Starting with a model of difference rather than deficit and…

Graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) are an important teaching resource to universities. Most GTAs enter graduate school with limited if any teaching experience but are given the responsibility of teaching numerous sections of introductory courses. GTA professional development (PD) is essential for the formation and preparation of these novice…

Graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) who run independent sections for larger lecture courses typically receive insufficient feedback. Course evaluations, already flawed by numerous biases, offer an amalgam of student reactions to lecture and section, even when comments specifically laud or criticize section instructors. Course designs also vary…

Maybe you're an undergraduate or graduate student who's just been appointed a TA. Or maybe you're a postdoctoral student or a new hire with limited teaching experience. In either case, you'll be expected -- with little to no training -- to enhance the learning experience of students. Kathy Nomme and Carol Pollock recognize this gap between…

At an Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program course in a correctional facility, roughly half the students are from the university (outside students) and half are residents of the facility (inside students). I participated as a teaching assistant in an Inside-Out social work course on drugs and crime that was offered in a prison for men and interpreted…

Courses: Instructional Communication, Graduate Teaching Assistant Training Programs. Objectives: Students will (1) understand critical communication pedagogy (CCP); (2) evaluate traditional and critical objectives and assessment procedures; and (3) create critical objectives and assessment procedures.

This is a story about discovering a bias that affected participation grades in my Introductory Physics for Life Sciences class. My expectation, that actively engaged students tended to talk frequently in my presence as their teaching assistant, would have erased two students' outstanding performances if not for the participation grade policies…

Students in the Didactic Program in Dietetics (DPD) at the University of Maine were exposed to the cheese-making process, within a lab setting of two hours, utilizing an accelerated recipe for a Queso Fresco-style cheese. The purpose of this project was to provide students with a novel, hands-on learning experience, which covered concepts of…

The possession of a foreign accent constitutes one of the challenges international teaching assistants have to deal with in their encounters in U.S. classrooms. This challenge often impacts their perceived competence and effectiveness in the classroom. Consequently, undergraduate students usually have existing stereotypes about international…

New college instructors often are advised, coached, and mentored by department professors who may not have scheduled class time to meet regularly with their novice educators. This book meets many of the principles outlined in the position statements of the Conference on College Composition and Communications and the Council of Writing Program…

Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTA) are often the first college instructors that new students meet when they arrive for their first day of class, and as instructors and as students, GTAs are the future of the discipline. As such, GTAs need to receive comprehensive training in a variety of pedagogical, procedural, and professional areas to help…

This paper presents a model for teaching large classes that facilitates a "small class feel" to counteract the distance, anonymity, and formality that often characterize large lecture-style courses in higher education. One author (E. P.) has been teaching a 300-student general education critical thinking course for ten years, and the…

Videorecording analysis can help improve the teaching of college literature and other subjects. Here, I concentrate on specific analytical strategies that I have been teaching my graduate students since 1994, and I cite my students (including their graphical charts) to illustrate what important lessons they have learned through careful study of…

The purpose of this study was to develop a scoring rubric to assess students' manipulation skills and identify students' learning difficulties in conducting organic chemistry experiments. In constructing the scoring rubric, we first analyzed the skills needed in the experiment, then divided the skills into subskills, and finally…

Today, millions of students cross geographic, cultural, and educational borders for their higher education. Trends of international student mobility are significant to universities, educators, business leaders, and governments to increase revenue and campus diversity in the global marketplace. As such, it is vital to examine recent trends in…