Orientation and Workshop for TAs (April and October 2021)

At the CTL, we conducted an orientation and a workshop for TAs in April and October. This year, we asked two TAs, who have more than three years of TA experience and are enrolled in ICU’s doctoral program, to help us with the planning, content creation, and facilitation on the day.

1. Orientation for TAs

[Date and Time] 3:00 to 3:30 p.m., Monday, April 5, 2021

[Language] Japanese and English

[Format] Online (Zoom)

[Content]

Opening remarks and explanation of the TA System by Professor Alberg, Director, Center for Teaching and Learning
Description of general tasks and responsibilities of TAs by the two experienced TAs
Sharing of tips and advice by the two experienced TAs
Breakout session
Q&A facilitated by the two experienced TAs

[Number of Participants] 51 TAs

Following the opening remarks and a brief explanation of the key TA duties, the two experienced TAs introduced some online tools that are not those mainly used at ICU but are useful for engaging students. (At ICU, we mainly use Moodle, Google Classroom and Zoom for teaching and learning.)

For communication and gathering opinions: Slack and Mentimeter
For conducting game-like quizzes: Kahoot

Furthermore, we conveyed the message that TAs are not just assistants to professors — they are in fact learners.

We encouraged TAs to make use of the experience to learn how to teach effectively and how to manage classes of various sizes (small, medium, large). We recommended that they create a goal(s) at the start of the term (e.g., polishing skills in aiding student discussions).
We also encouraged TAs to share frankly with faculty members any ideas they think would contribute to student learning and provided examples such as incorporating activities to raise student motivation and using new online tools.

In the latter half of the orientation, a breakout session was held to provide an opportunity for TAs to interact and exchange information with each other. In addition, questions and concerns that participants posted on Mentimeter during the orientation were answered by experienced TAs and shared with the TAs at a later date.

2. Workshop for TAs

The theme was "communication," and the workshop provided an opportunity for TAs to exchange information and ideas with each other, as well as to think about the questions and concerns raised in a preliminary questionnaire and come up with solutions together.

Workshop for TAs

[Date and Time] 1:30 to 2:30 p.m., Friday, October 29, 2021

[Language] Japanese and English

[Format] Online (Zoom)

[Content]

Opening remarks by Professor Alberg, Director, Center for Teaching and Learning
Description of general tasks and responsibilities of TAs by the two experienced TAs
Sharing of preliminary questionnaire results, tips and advice by the two experienced TAs
- Two aspects of TAs: 1) gaining teaching experience, 2) communication
- Communication with the instructor is the key.
Breakout session

[Number of Participants] 55 TAs

The most important advice given by experienced TAs in response to the preliminary questionnaire was to maintain close communication with the course instructor.

“Talk to your course instructor. They will provide all the info you need.”
“Communicate closely with your course instructor and try to create an arrangement that both of you are content with.”

The experienced TAs offered advice on the following matters that had been raised by the participants in the questionnaire.

Dealing with workloads that exceed the prescribed working hours
Difficulties in determining the scope of TA work
How to create an environment where students can easily ask questions
How to get involved in a class when the class you are in charge of is different from your field of expertise
Efficient attendance management
Preparing equipment for mixed-mode classes
Introduction of online tools to make the class more active

In the last 25 minutes, the participants were divided into breakout rooms of up to five people each, where they introduced themselves, described the challenges that they had encountered, asked questions, discussed solutions and shared advice. All groups seemed to have a lot of topics to talk about.

The Covid-19 pandemic has prevented graduate students from using their graduate students’ research rooms and class preparation rooms, so currently there is not much opportunity for TAs to interact in this kind of manner. Since the above two events were attended by many TAs and there was much interest, we decided to create a new opportunity for TAs to interact with the two experienced TAs and with other TAs on Zoom before the start of the Winter Term. If the event is well received, we would like to continue with it in 2022.