Evolving Impressions: Undergraduate Perceptions of Graduate Teaching Assistants and Faculty Members over a Semester
Evolving Impressions: Undergraduate Perceptions of Graduate Teaching Assistants and Faculty Members over a Semester
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DOI：
10.1187/cbe.12-07-0110
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发表时间：
2013-03-01
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
Schussler, Elisabeth E.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Kendall, K. Denise;Schussler, Elisabeth E.
本科生在低年级科学课程的经验是学生留在科学专业的重要因素。这些课程通常包括由教师讲授的讲座，并辅以由研究生助教（GTA）讲授的较小部分，如讨论和实验室。鉴于这些课程的一部分是由不同类型的教师授课，本研究探讨了学生的GTA和教师的教学评分，看看是否不同的教师类型的看法，他们是否改变了一个学期，以及是否某些教师的特质与学生的看法，他们的教师的教学效果或多少学生从他们的教师。学生们在八门生物课的开始和接近学期结束时对他们的教师和GTA进行了13个教师描述符的评价。这些数据的分析确定了教师类型之间的差异，此外，学生的看法改变了学期。具体而言，GTA评分增加了积极的教学描述符的感知，而教师评分下降的积极的教学描述符。这些看法的变化与学生的经验和保留的关系应进一步探讨，但研究结果也表明，需要区分专业发展的不同类型的教师教学较低的司科学课程，以优化教学效果和学生学习这些重要的门户课程。
Undergraduate experiences in lower-division science courses are important factors in student retention in science majors. These courses often include a lecture taught by faculty, supplemented by smaller sections, such as discussions and laboratories, taught by graduate teaching assistants (GTAs). Given that portions of these courses are taught by different instructor types, this study explored student ratings of instruction by GTAs and faculty members to see whether perceptions differed by instructor type, whether they changed over a semester, and whether certain instructor traits were associated with student perceptions of their instructors' teaching effectiveness or how much students learned from their instructors. Students rated their faculty instructors and GTAs for 13 instructor descriptors at the beginning and near the end of the semester in eight biology classes. Analyses of these data identified differences between instructor types; moreover, student perception changed over the semester. Specifically, GTA ratings increased in perception of positive instructional descriptors, while faculty ratings declined for positive instructional descriptors. The relationship of these perception changes with student experience and retention should be further explored, but the findings also suggest the need to differentiate professional development by the different instructor types teaching lower-division science courses to optimize teaching effectiveness and student learning in these important gateway courses.