Open AccessENGINEERS TEACHING COMMUNICATION: EVALUATING THE IMPACT OF TA TRAINING ON GRADUATE STUDENT COMMUNICATION, TEACHING AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Author(s) -
Nikita Dawe,
Jeff Harris,
Melanie Stevenson,
Deborah Tihanyi
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
proceedings of the ... ceea conference
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2371-5243
DOI - 10.24908/pceea.v0i0.6469
Subject(s) - mentorship , credibility , discipline , professional development , training (meteorology) , medical education , engineering education , faculty development , graduate students , psychology , pedagogy , engineering , engineering management , medicine , sociology , political science , social science , physics , meteorology , law
The Engineering Communication Programworks with engineering TAs in the Department ofMechanical and Industrial Engineering at the Universityof Toronto to deliver communication instruction in coredesign courses. Engineering TAs’ disciplinary expertiseaffords increased credibility with students, and we havehad consistent anecdotal evidence from TAs that teachingcommunication has made them better communicators.Currently, training involves a combination of instructionand mentorship, both from faculty and each other.Here, we investigate TAs’ increased confidence andskill in communication and teaching: what they finduseful, how the training has influenced theircommunication and teaching practice, and what morethey would like to explore in the future. An initial surveyand discussion found that confidence was shaped byexperience, course-specific training, instructor feedback,and peer learning. We hope to build on these findings infuture through a broader study of TAs in the Faculty andfurther development of our TA training programs