Maximising university education through improved teaching assistant training

Teaching assistants (TAs) play a key role in helping undergraduate university students with their studies. However, there is a lack of formal training provided to TAs and their role is not always clearly defined. Project Associate Professor Mio Tsubakimoto, University of Tokyo, Japan, is seeking to make improvements to this situation by enhancing the education provided to TAs and, in the process, improving university education. FIrst, Tsubakimoto set out to understand the role played by TAs from the perspective of students, teachers and the TAs themselves and build a picture of the set of skills and techniques that make a good TA. To do this she qualitatively and quantitatively studied how the different classes and lectures that make up First Year Seminars (FYS) were taught, as well as surveying TAs, with a view to implementing improvements to TA training. These investigations led to the development and distribution of a guide for TA training and content that incorporates active learning. Following two years of training TAs using the guide, Tsubakimoto repeated the surveys in order to assess the ways in which the implementation of the guide had enhanced TA performance. She found that the presence of trained TAs led to improved student and faculty performance. The research underlined the benefits of the presence of trained TAs in the classroom for university learning, both for the students and for the TAs themselves, enabling them to reach their full potential.

Exploring a Qualitative Methods Approach to Measure Learning Gain in Teaching Assistants: A Chinese Case Study

This paper explores the use of a range of qualitative methods to measure learning gain of teaching assistants (TAs) in mainland China at a Sino-British University where the authors used to work. It uses a case study to report on an evaluation of TA training at the University, which is part of its Postgraduate Research Development Programme, to ascertain students’ acquired skills and skills gaps. A key focus of this evaluation consists of exploring ways to measure learning gain for individual TAs. As teacher educators, the researchers delivered TA training, conducted specialist observations of TAs’ teaching practice, as well as a series of ‘Learning to Teach’ groups. Measuring individual learning gain of TAs occurred during the semester and at the end of the semester. Criteria and measurements were tested to explore how learning gain of TAs could be measured in a Chinese higher education context. Implications outlined in this paper could be useful for TA training in higher education settings. Key findings include that evaluation of learning gain should occur at different points in time, as well as be continuous, consistent and comprehensive. In other words, multiple approaches, including both quantitative and qualitative methods, could capture a more objective picture of TAs’ learning gains.

Branch Configuration Impacts on Production, Fruit Quality, and Leaf Minerals of ‘Aztec Fuji’ Apple Trees in an Upright Single Row High-Density Orchard System Over Five Years

Tree architectures play a critical role in the productivity of high-density orchards, but limited information is available in this subject. We studied effects of three branch configurations on tree growth, yield components, fruit quality and leaf mineral nutrients in ‘Aztec Fuji’ apple (Malus domestica Bork.) in a single row upright high-density system under southwest Idaho, USA conditions over 2012-2016. This study revealed that trees trained into a Tall Spindle (TS) had larger trunk cross sectional area (TCSA) than those with an Overlapped Arm (OA) system. Trees trained into a TS had higher number of fruit and yield per tree, three years after planting in 2012, than those with a Tipping Arm (TA) or OA system. However, in 2013, trees with a TA system had higher yield than those with a TS or OA configuration due to trees’ biennial bearing habit and higher spur formation in trees with a TA system. Trees receiving a TA training had lower biennial bearing index between all consecutive years. Trees with an OA training had smaller fruit than those with either a TA or TS training in all years between 2012-2016. Training systems did not have any effect on fruit color, soluble solids concentration, or starch degradation pattern at harvest. However, fruit from trees with an OA training had higher firmness and lower water core than those from trees with a TS or TA training. Leaves from trees receiving a TA training had greater leaf area, fresh weight, and potassium (K) and magnesium (Mn) concentrations than those with other trainings. Leaves from trees receiving an OA training had higher leaf iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), and copper (Cu) than those with a TS training. In this study, we concluded that training trees into a TA configuration rather than an OA system is recommended if the management and operation of apple production mandate the use of an “upright wall” structure to facilitate mechanical harvesting.

Investigating the Comparative Suitability of Traditional and Task-Specific Think Aloud Training

The think aloud (TA) protocol is used to capture conscious cognition for wide ranging applications. However, the methods used to train the TA technique have been inconsistent, involving a mixture of both traditional guidelines and task-specific examples. This study aimed to examine how best to train the TA process. We recruited 20 competitive golfers as research participants, and we randomly assigned them to equal sized groups of traditional TA training as described by Ericsson and Simon and task-specific training in which participants were familiarized with TA via task-specific examples. Following training, all participants performed a golf task and were asked to TA. We transcribed audiotapes of their verbatim TA content and analyzed them using a deductive framework. We also collected various social validation self-report measures to assess participant perceptions of TA training. Overall, we found no significant differences in the frequency or type of TA verbalizations when comparing traditional and task-specific TA training groups. However, participants in the task-specific training group reported more favorable perceptions of training and found training significantly clearer than did participants in the traditional training group. We suggest that these findings support traditional TA training following Ericsson and Simon’s training guidelines, but adding task-specific examples seems to increase the familiarity of TA use and facilitate more reliable and accurate cognition data for research use.