University of Sheffield - Open Educational Resources
GTA Development Program
This site is an Open Educational Resource (OER) containing guidance and a file pack that you can download and adapt/use for your own training of GTAs (Graduate Teaching Assistants). This contains all you need (hopefully) to implement a highly effective GTA development program in your own University.
We always want to learn more about how others approach GTA training, so if you want to share ideas or talk about any of this content then please get in touch:
Harry Day | h.day@sheffield.ac.uk Matteo Di Benedetti | m.dibendetti@sheffield.ac.uk
In the spirit of sharing and collaboration, it would be great to hear from you if you have found this resource useful, by filling in this very short form.
Contents (see navigation pane):
0. Home (this page)
Why use GTAs?
If you can do all your teaching on your own, then good for you! Mostly however, we need GTAs for several reasons:- Teach at scale (dealing with large groups of students)
- Value for money (cheaper than permanent staff!)
- Flexibility (pay them when you need them)
- Provide teaching experience to future academics
- Better learning environment for students (near-peer)
- More diversity in teaching staff & role models for students
- Huge role in student experience, and institutional reputation
- Their subject specific expertise
Why train GTAs
GTAs often have no prior teaching experience, so we need to train them for many reasons:- Pedagogical effectiveness (teaching quality)
- Efficiency of delivery
- Consistency in delivery
- Develop their identity, motivation and competence
- ED&I awareness (student experience and engagement)
- Health and Safety
- Fresh pair of eyes/ feedback on our own teaching
- Help them get teaching qualifications/recognition (HEA)
Why train GTAs… like this?
Underneath all the details in this OER (site), the program is effective for GTAs for a just few key reason:- Feedback & Reflection on their practice
- Responsibility & Ownership of their teaching
- Academic mentorship
These factors mean we end up with real teachers, not just demonstrators or helpers.
This programme has proven to help GTAs become extremely competent, and many of our team are proficient enough to autonomously deliver teaching labs to classes (40-80 students) and have acheived recognition as Fellow of the Higher Eduaction Academy (FHEA).
Turn over to Page 1 to see how the overall programme is layed out!