There are multiple considerations when designing course material so that it is effective and engaging. As a TA you may be asked to design, test, and/or present course material. You should also be aware of what the students are learning, reading, and doing so that you can provide useful responses to their questions that refers to their reference materials or past activities when appropriate. One technique for designing course content for both teaching styles is backward design.
Lectures could be offered either in the classroom or outside of the classroom as prepwork.
When designing material for lectures:
remember this is one of the primary instructional methods for students
try to be specific while keeping content interactive so that students remain engaged and focused on the lecture
keep in mind the course goals
try to stay on topic, be clear, and be detailed when explaining content
When designing class activities:
consider whether the activity is done in a group or individually
provide clear and detailed instructions for what students are expected to do to complete the activity
consider estimating how long it will take students to complete each part of the activity to make sure there is enough time to complete the activity
ensure the activity relates to that week's topic
Labs allow students to try concepts while the instructor and/or TA is available to provide real-time feedback and assistance. When designing or testing a lab
keep in mind the concepts you would like the students to learn
make note of the sections you think will be challenging
make sure the lab can be completed in the allotted time, remembering that students will take longer to complete the lab than you.
Before going to the lab, look up the material you are less confident explaining and be prepared to explain the points that you thought might confuse students when testing the lab. Rather than just giving students the answers when they have questions, consider helping them look up the answers or guide them to figuring it out themselves, especially if you are unsure of the answer yourself. If you are really struggling with figuring out the answer, tell the student you will get back to them and ask the professor or another TA for help.
To create an effective lab environment:
walk around the classroom to answer questions students have
encourage students to ask other students in the classroom, rather than rely just on you for assistance
consider periodically shuffling groups, if appropriate, so that students can have the opportunity to work with other classmates
give an overview of the lab before students begin working so that they have a clear understanding of the expecations and deliverables.
As a TA, you may be asked to design or test assignments. These assignments could be both individual or group assignments and are used to test the students' understanding of a concept.
When designing assignments:
Keep in mind that it takes students longer to complete assignments than you as they are having to reference material and look up answers as they work.
A good rule of thumb is to expect students to take any where from 1 1/2 to twice as long as you to complete an assignment.
Keep in mind the difficulty level of an assignment so that students are able to learn and complete the assignment without becoming frustrated and quitting.
Prepwork has been increasingly used to to increase students' learning and performances in class by giving students a better sense of what to expect when walking into the classroom through having them work with or learn about the topic before coming to class. This also helps improve students' understanding of the materials and helps them determine what questions they have about the content before arriving in class.
When designing prepwork:
Provide links to all of the resources the students need to complete the prepwork, such as lectures and powerpoints
Include explanations of what is being covered and/or learning objectives so that students have a general idea of what they should learn
Set clear instructions of deliverables
Provide detailed explanations of topics in materials to supplement detailed explanations that would have been given in class
As a TA, you may be asked to design questions for quizzes and exams for the course.
When creating quiz questions:
make questions difficult but not too difficult that students can't answer them if they did the required reading and activities and paid attention during lectures
review questions to make sure there are no spelling mistakes
run through the complete quiz/exam to make sure it can be completed in the alloted time frame
familiarize yourself with the quiz settings if it is on an electric platform to minimize testing day technical issues
There are three steps to the backward design process. First, set clear objectives at the beginning of the course. As the instructor or TA designs the material, he/she needs to identify the objectives and keep emphasizing these objectives throughout the course and throughout all types of course material used in the class.
The next step of the backward design process is to design an assessment to measure the students' understanding of the course concepts. When creating an assignment, class activity, lab, or quiz/exam, first determine which learning objective(s) will be assessed. Then, design the assessment and the associated rubric (if appropriate) with the content in mind so that the final assessment effectively measures the students' understanding of the appropriate concept(s) and not irrelevant concepts.
The last step of the backward design process to design the material used to teach the students. When designing lectures or prepwork, reference the overall course objectives and associated assessment(s) to determine what this specific lecture, reading assignment, etc., is suppose to teach the students. By determining the learning objective before designing the material, you can be sure that the material effectively teaches the content so that the student is prepared to successfully complete the assigned assessments.