A blended approach in a graduate teaching assistants’ pre-service course to promote self confidence

Abstract

The employment of postgraduate students as graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) to help in the delivery of undergraduate teaching, particularly in laboratories and tutorials has been used for many years throughout higher education institutions, including North America, UK, Australia, and New Zealand and is currently being used in Singapore. However, despite GTAs’ sound subject knowledge, research has shown that with their increasing numbers, it is important to provide an effective training course to adequately prepare them for the task of teaching ahead of them. This paper reports on a GTA Preparation Course undertaken by 166 participants in 2006, at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. The course employed a blended learning approach using video-recorded ‘mini-lectures’, PBL videoed critical incidents, reflective learning, as well as self study materials through an online Blackboard platform. The blended learning environment facilitated a friendly cooperative space that allowed the flow of the learning process to proceed at its own pace. This environment encouraged self reflection and self evaluation, supported collaborative learning and problem solving skills, and facilitated tasks requiring analyses and evaluation of ‘real life’ teaching situations. It was considered important that participants experience the blended learning approach modeled in the course in order to encourage them to use a similar model in their own teaching. The course encouraged the use of technology to enhance and enrich student learning and to model active learning activities through video, group work, online materials and recorded presentations. Participants’ ratings of the course suggest that this was an effective pedagogy for promoting innovative educational technology and self-confidence in GTA’s teaching practice.