Module for Credit - Michaelmas Term 2022- Teaching and Supporting Learning as a Graduate Teaching Assistant (5 ECTS)

This fully-online 5-ECTS module which can form part of the structured PhD is offered by Academic Practice. The module is targeted towards PhD students with roles in teaching or supporting learning, e.g. those working as teaching assistants or demonstrators, and is particularly appropriate for students aiming towards a career as a lecturer. Module participants join a supportive peer group who share practice, insights, and pedagogical concerns and are supported to reflect critically on and take a scholarly approach to their own educational practice.

This module seeks to enable Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) to:

• Develop a conceptual understanding of the norms and expectations of being a TA;
• Examine your assumptions, values, beliefs, and practices;
• Employ effective teaching strategies to enhance student learning;
• Develop a student-centred approach to teaching;
• Promote inquiry and student engagement;
• Evaluate your teaching and its impact on student learning.

Module learning outcomes:
Upon successful completion of this module, you should be able to:

1. Reflect on the tasks and responsibilities associated with your role;
2. Practice some appropriate communication and coping strategies;
3. Select and apply some relevant theories of learning to your teaching;
4. Design a teaching session plan;
5. Use technology to enhance your students’ learning;
6. Support assessment of, for and as learning;
7. Reflect on your own learning as a teaching assistant.

Module Blocks
The module is divided into the following 7 learning blocks:

• Role of the Graduate Teaching Assistant
• Communications and Coping Strategies
• How Students Learn
• Session Planning
• Designing an Online Activity
• Assessment and Feedback
• Reflecting on and Evaluating your Teaching

The module will run in Michaelmas Term for 12 weeks and there is no charge.  You will participate in weekly online discussion threads, contribute to journal entries and must be able to participate in the following 3 x 50 minute online tutorials on the following dates:

• Tutorial 1 – Designing a Session Plan(1:05pm) -Wednesday 2nd November 2022
• Tutorial 2 – Digital Teaching and Learning (1:05pm) - Wednesday 23rd November 2022
• Tutorial 3 – Preparation of a Draft Teaching Philosophy  Statement (1:05pm) -Wednesday 7th December 2022

Please note this module is open to PhD students only at this time. Please click on the tab above for the non-credit option of this module.

Module for Credit Timetable 2022-23

Michaelmas Term 2022

Assessment Process

Students are required to submit 3 items for assessment. Each assessment is linked to one online tutorial, led by one of the Academic Practice team. Further details will be given at the start of the module but please find a brief overview below.

Assessment due date for all 3 items will be scheduled for early January 2023

• Submission of a draft teaching philosophy statement (700 words)
• Submission of a draft session plan (one A4 page)
• Submission on the topic of Digital Teaching and Learning
• Contribution to a minimum of 8 Discussion Forum Threads
• Contribution to all the journal entries (35 across the 7 blocks in the module). We do not wish to be prescriptive in level of contribution to each thread, but expect meaningful engagement with the blocks. 

Self Directed Module (No Credits)

Funded by the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning, Academic Practice have developed an online module titled ‘Teaching and Supporting Learning as a Graduate Teaching Assistant.’ This online module is research led and is based on the original 5ECTS module for Graduate Teaching Assistants.

The online module is available in Blackboard and contains seven blocks: -

•Role of the Graduate Teaching Assistant
•Communications and Coping Strategies
•How Students Learn
•Session Planning
•Technology-Enhanced Learning
•Assessment and Feedback
•Reflecting on and Evaluating your Teaching

All postgraduates in Trinity may self-enrol on the fully online version of the module from within Blackboard.

To self-enrol, go to Blackboard at https://mymodule.tcd.ie (This module is NOT for credit).

Log in using your College network username and password
In the Module Search box, enter –Teaching and Supporting Learning as a Graduate Teaching Assistant
Click on the module -VP1017_PD_1819
Click on + Enrol at the bottom of the module menu on the left of the screen
In the ACCESS CODE box enter –TACOURSE1819
Click OK. You may need to log out and back in to Blackboard if you cannot see all the content in the module after self-enrolling.

Please see Student Learning for further information.