TA training/CoP meetings/Meeting 10

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Peer evaluation
Nov 27, 2012
The discussions are on peer evaluation being offered throughout the term rather than as a component in the initial TA training session at the beginning of the school year.


  • What are the benefits and drawbacks of peer evaluation?

Benefits:
- Informal, flexible to carry out
- Less intimidating/stressful to TAs who are to be evaluated
- Evaluation will generate a list of existing issues/challenges with teaching
- Peers evaluating others: the peers have experience teaching a specific course and can provide more hands-on advice (which may be lacking from faculty)
- Benefits go both way: the mentors also learn from teaching others


Drawbacks:
- Difficult to establish/maintain a mentor group (can address by developing a community of teaching, encouraging participation)
- Not at all encompassing (can address by providing appropriate training)
- Mentors may not be experienced enough to perform evaluation (can address by providing appropriate training)


  • Are there ways to address the drawbacks when designing peer evaluation, or must we consider other forms of evaluation (such as student, department, or self)?

See above, under Drawbacks.


  • What is currently being done for peer evaluation? What works or does not work?

- Currently offered in the Graduate Program in French (Department of French, Hispanic and Italian Studies) and Department of Mathematics
- Graduate Program in French: mentoring program -- results won’t be used for hire/re-hire, evaluation done in October, follow-up by end-of-term evaluation
- Math Department: There is a 1-credit teaching methods course (TA’s must take the course before being offered a teaching position). The TA’s have to teach one lecture and will be evaluated by a faculty and 2 peers. TA’s get together every 2 weeks. Incentive: time spent participating in the discussion groups will be taken off their regular tutoring load -- max 1hr/wk. TAs can request a mentor to address certain aspects of their teaching; can request a number of times during the semester


  • What are some aspects that should/could be evaluated by peers? (This ideally leads to actually designing a rough rubric for peer evaluation that we can use, upon specific subject modifications)

- Student engagement / motivation
- Comprehensibility
- Clarity (especially important for language teaching)
- Body/board control
- Problem solving
- Classroom awareness (do students know what’s happening in the class?)
- TA preparation / organization skills
- Facilitate exchange of ideas / discussions
- Classroom management
- Approachability
- Cultural diversity (more specific for certain disciplines – teaching ability, learning ability, cultural awareness)


  • Designing a rough rubric for peer evaluation that we can use / evaluation scheme

- Can have multiple schemes that TA chooses from
- Point scale / quantitative AND/OR comments / qualitative (not only point-scale)
- Prompt for evidence (e.g. TA interacts too little with students)
- Evaluation tool will vary depending on whether it is developed for teaching position / tutoring position


  • How do we encourage / initiate evaluation?

- Introduce the program early on
- Make it seem mandatory (but in fact it in voluntary)
- Make it part of the department culture
- Have departmental support


  • How to find peer evaluators?

- paying the mentors (e.g. Department of French, Hispanic and Italian Studies: a small stipend ~$150 per student for 8 months. All new TAs must attend the ISW. Hours spent there must fall within the hours they are paid for. )
- Buddy program (there’s concern about conflict of interest, confidentiality, e.g. can a returning TA who has TA-ed a specific course teach a new TA)

Temporary - to be moved to meeting 11

encouraging excitement and community

  • Why is it important?

- TAs can obtain help from each other
- can address issues in a timely fashion
- TAs can see value of teaching on their career (easier to recruit TAs)
- helps retain knowledge and resources
- TAs can give insight/advice to fellow members (mentoring)
- helps identify Ta mentors/trainers
- increase quality of TAs
- counteracts the fragmentation of the TA role
- build interest in teaching

  • How can we create a community or encourage participation?

- have a dedicated space for TAs to meet
- offer TA training to grad and undergrad TAs at same time (so they can share experience/course information)
- food
- informal gatherings
- organize sessions where senior TAs share teaching experience and advice
- give recognition to TAs for participating in workshops
- Should we make it mandatory?
- hook: only give reference letter to TAs who teach

Other questions that were raised: How do we get TAs interested in the community if they are not interested in teaching? What are "hooks" we can use? Should we focus all the support and the community on teaching?

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