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Teaching assistants and graduate assistants are a vital part of the Ryerson teaching community, providing necessary services that range from grading exams to leading tutorials and labs. As such, it is important that both faculty and TA/GAs understand their responsibilities, as well as how to best navigate difficulties that arise during the school year.
To help faculty work well with TA/GAs, the LTO has developed Best Practices when working with TAs and GAs: A Manual for Course Instructors
This month, we have ideas culled from the excellent material developed by the University of Vanderbilt's Center for Teaching.
The Center for Teachings's Teaching Guides series includes an issue specifically aimed at Supervisors of Teaching Assistants. This short guide breaks down major topics in TA supervision into compact sections. For instance, the section on "Handling Issues of Responsibility/Power/Authority" offers these helpful tips:
- "Clarify expectations and responsibilities, especially if the power/authority is divided among several faculty or TAs. Sometimes TAs are unsure of who is in charge, especially in multisection courses. Issues of consistency and fairness can arise among TAs. TAs can experience a sense of 'heat from above.'"
- "Clarify expectations and let TAs know what can/can not be changed (syllabi, handouts, course policies, etc). Professors are often surprised when TAs modify syllabi and other departmentally-mandated materials."
- "Clarify priorities: the functionality of needing to get the course work done (i.e. prepping or grading) v. communicating content."
- "Keep in mind that training TAs includes their knowing the content AND knowing how to teach it."
- "Have TAs assist in test writing/problem-writing so they have more responsibility and a sense of authority."
The Learning & Teaching Office has recently updated its page on Working with Graduate Students, including sections on mentoring and supervising graduate students, as well as a section of resources that might be of help to your students. Some highlights:
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Best Practices in Graduate Education
The Graduate School. Pennsylvania State University.
1. The Defense of Thesis: A Critical Juncture in the Faculty-Student Relationship
2. The Challenge of Recruiting the Best
3. Graduate Student Mentoring: Be More Than an Advisor
4. Professional Meetings: An Excellent Mentoring Tool
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Western Guide to Mentoring Graduate Students Across Cultures [pdf]
By Nanda Dimitrov. Teaching Support Centre. University of Western Ontario.
This handbook "is for graduate supervisors who work with students from cultures around the world. The guide addresses the most frequently occurring challenges in supervision across cultures and includes concrete mentoring strategies and case studies to help supervisors promote independence and initiative in their mentees, bridge power differences in the relationship, set boundaries, communicate effectively and support their students in the transition to Canadian academia."
- Graduate Supervision: Guidelines for Students, Faculty, and Administrators [pdf]
School of Graduate Studies. University of Toronto. 2002.
This guide "is intended to provide graduate students, faculty, and graduate units with guidelines
that promote good working relationships between supervisors and graduate students. These guidelines provide
direction on choosing a supervisor, establishing a supervisory committee and maintaining a productive working relationship among all three."
- Western Guide to Graduate Supervision [pdf]
By Elizabeth Skarakis-Doyle and Gayle McIntyre. Teaching Support Centre. University of Western Ontario.
"Based on the experiences of Western's graduate supervisors, this thirty page guide addresses the supervision of graduate students and focuses on best practices in mentoring, promoting student progress and clarifying expectations in the supervisor-student relationship."
- Eleven Practices of Effective Postgraduate Supervisors [pdf]
By Richard James and Gabrielle Baldwin. Centre for the Study of Higher Education and the School of Graduate Studies. The University of Melbourne.
1. Ensure the partnership is right for the project
2. Get to know students and carefully assess their needs
3. Establish reasonable, agreed expectations
4. Work with students to establish a strong conceptual structure and research plan
5. Encourage students to write early and often
6. Initiate regular contact and provide high quality feedback
7. Get students involved in the life of the department
8. Inspire and motivate
9. Help if academic and personal crises crop up
10. Take an active interest in students' future careers.
11. Carefully monitor the final production and presentation of the research.
The Learning & Teaching Office has a collection of books on higher education, many of which are available at the Ryerson Library. Check our library resources page for the complete listings. Following are some books that the LTO recommends:
The Professional development of graduate teaching assistants
Edited by Michele Marincovich, Jack Prostko, and Frederic Stout. Bolton, MA : Anker Pub., c1998.
Call No.: LB2335.4 .P76 1998
The Longman teaching assistant's handbook : a guide for graduate instructors of writing and literature
By Stephen W. Wilhoit. Toronto : Pearson Longman, c2008.
Call No.: PE65 .W55 2008
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Ryerson University provides faculty and students with a variety of helpful services and programs, covering everything from digital media assistance to career development.
The Learning and Teaching Office is pleased to announce the brand new TA, GA and Graduate Student Professional Development in Teaching Program with three certifications.
This program will be run, starting in the Fall, by the LTO's Educational Developer, John Paul Foxe. It is designed to:
- Provide professional development in teaching for Ryerson TAs, GAs and Graduate Students
- Provide opportunities for TAs/GAs and Graduate Students to become more effective in their work at Ryerson and to mentor others
- Provide participants with up to three certificates upon completion of each level of the program.
The program is comprised of three distinct, yet complementary levels.
- Level 1 consists of eight hours of workshops which can be facilitated at the Departmental or Faculty level or by the Learning and Teaching Office or eight hours of peer mentorship. The second component involves completion of an 18 hour teaching theory course.
- Level 2 is also comprised of two components. The first component consists of 15-24 hours of Course Instructor Apprenticeship plus completion of a 16 hour advanced teaching theory course or completion of an Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW) plus completion of a 16 hour advanced teaching theory course.
- Level 3 is comprised of a number of additional offerings including Course Design, Assessment Development, Teaching Methods and more.
The LTO runs a series of workshops and orientations specifically for TAs/GAs and Graduate Students. Do you have a teaching assistant with no prior teaching experience, or a graduate assistant interested in perfecting their craft? They might be interested in learning about our programs.
The LTO is pleased to offer a TA/GA Orientation at the beginning of the academic year, designed to help prepare new TAs and GAs for their first day of class. This orientation is open to all TAs and GAs from all Faculties at Ryerson University.
Register for TA/GA Orientation on one of two days:
September 14th
September 15th
A learning and teaching workshop series, covering many aspects of professional development in teaching, will be offered beginning September 2010. These workshops are open to all TAs, GAs and interested graduate students from Ryerson University. These workshops will count towards Level 1 of the TA, GA and Graduate Student Professional Development in Teaching Program.
On Monday, September 20th, the LTO will be hosting the workshop Establishing Effective Working Relationships Between Teaching Assistants (TAs)/ Graduate Assistants (GAs) and Course Directors (CDs), facilitated by John Paul Foxe, Educational Developer, Learning and Teaching Office, Ryerson University and Cherie Bova, Associate Director, Centre for the Support of Teaching, York University.
Register for Establishing Effective Working Relationships
On Wednesday, October 6th, the LTO will be hosting the workshop Academic Integrity: An essential guide for TAs and GAs, facilitated by Donna Bell, Academic Integrity Officer, Ryerson University.
Register for Academic Integrity: An Essential Guide
Check our website often! Additional workshops for graduate students and TAs/GAs will soon be open for registration:
Planning Effective Tutorials
Facilitated by John Paul Foxe, LTO
Wednesday, September 22nd
Facilitating Discussion: Tips and Strategies
Facilitated by John Paul Foxe, LTO
Monday, September 27th
Styles for Resolving Conflict
Facilitated by Nora Farrell, Ryerson Ombudsperson
Monday, October 18th
Conflict Resolution & Negotiation
Facilitated by Nora Farrell, Ryerson Ombudsperson
Monday, October 25th
The LTO has been busy over the summer! In addition to Best Practices, the LTO has developed the Monthly Digest.
Sent out on the 15th of each month, the Monthly Digest highlights new scholarly publications in learning and teaching, as well as recent news from the world of higher education.
 The LTO is now using Twitter! Follow us to receive new issues of Best Practices and the Monthly Digest as they come out, and for updates on LTO programs and resources!
For more social networking excitement, the LTO is also on Delicious!
Join our network, send us links, or use the site to sort our resources by subject, author, country, year, institution, and more!
New to Delicious and social bookmarking? We've posted some useful tips on our Using Delicious page.
"The LTO Best Practices" is produced monthly by The Learning & Teaching Office of Ryerson University. Our October issue will be on "Teaching with Technology."
Do you have any thoughts, suggestions, or best practices that you would like to see appear in this newsletter? Please send all submissions to michelle.schwartz@ryerson.ca. We look forward to including your contributions in our next issue!
Location: Kerr Hall West, room KHW373.
Phone: 416.979.5000 x6598
Email: lto@ryerson.ca
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