The TA toolkit offers learning modules and live sessions replete with reading guides, discussion questions, and facilitated sessions by experts. The course covers 8 topics: engagement, student well-being, accessibility, implicit bias, equitable teaching, assessment, multiple modalities, and blended learning.
OBSTACLE
TAs were interested in finding a central space and community for reliable instructional resources and ideas. This central space could provide a place to share common practices and alleviate information overload. Through the Canvas course and facilitated sessions, TAs can gain the knowledge and resources they need to fully support their classes.
Working from a Google doc with several collaborators, these 8 topics were reorganized to be more digestible and scannable. They were formatted into three sections: learning goals, reading guide, and reflection/application. This was intended for TAs to have set expectations from the learning goals, be mindful when reading the resources, and to come prepared for the discussion.
The discussions have been, and will continue to be, led by a facilitator knowledgeable in the subject, and were intended for the session to operate like a book talk. The facilitators generated discussions and shared opportunities during their presentations. After the discussion, participants were invited to engage in a reflection activity on the Canvas site, which was partially designed as an online forum for participants to post their thoughts partially intended as takeaways for future participants to read through.
Technologies usedÂ
Canvas
HTML
The Noun Project
An interest-driven homepage menu provides efficient navigation of resources and articles.
Discussion prompts for exchanging ideas with archived takeaways for future cohorts.
The reading guides within each module outline the topics and key ideas.
The TA Toolkit Canvas site has been completed with revamped UI and re-formatted modules for on-demand access, complete with preparatory articles and videos ahead of the discussion session. New resources, articles, and discussion prompts help prepare TAs for emerging topics and to foster community around common solutions.
Additionally, Toolkit sessions have been held to discuss each module in detail. Experts in each topic present and lead talks with participants to elevate the learning and understanding of the teaching team. Each session is recorded and inserted into an article for the Teaching Resources website.
