Abstract

Introduction

Foremost, the use of graduate students as instructors brings up issues such as:

• Most new GTAs in mathematics are mathematics graduate students, who have a strong background in mathematics, but little if any experience in teaching. Furthermore, the courses that GTAs are assigned to teach may be very different from the ones that they took as undergraduates, both in intended curriculum and in expected pedagogy. Thus, there is a NEED for extended instructional development.

• As graduate students, GTAs are expected to have as their top priority making progress in their own studies, which primarily are content courses (as opposed to courses on teaching). Therefore, GTAs need to balance their own coursework with their teaching responsibilities. Thus, there is a question of how much time instructional development should consume.

At one of the conference sessions sponsored by the Committee, several GTAs gave presentations on their own experiences as beginning and continuing instructors, and some of them discussed their efforts to facilitate GTA development at their institutions. Several of the GTAs "... pointed out that many TAs engage in spontaneous, informal conversations with other TAs as an outlet (often, the sole outlet) for their interest in teaching. They also pointed out that such informal interactions are useful but inadequate for addressing TAs' needs as current and future teachers" (Murphy, et. al., 2000).

Many institutions in the USA offer a wealth of instructional experiences. For example, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), introductory calculus is taught in five formats, each varying in the extent to which it makes use of lectures, small group work, calculators, and computers. New GTAs and postdoctoral students at the University of Michigan are trained in the use of cooperative learning, homework teams, interactive lecturing, and teaching writing (Black, Shure, & Shaw,1997). At the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Texas at Austin, GTAs (new and experienced) attend training programs to learn about teaching in the Treisman-style workshop calculus programs (Treisman, 1985). GTAs at such institutions have opportunities to explore a variety of instructional strategies and approaches to the curriculum, and thus to develop a mature philosophy of teaching.

Other institutions, however, do not have the resources to offer such a variety. Nevertheless, GTAs often have some leeway to experiment. Thus, it is useful at least to introduce ideas that are different from the dominant ones within a department. As the GTAs gain experience and confidence, they can try new strategies with their classes. For example, at the University of Oklahoma, courses in mathematics are primarily traditional (mostly lecture). But several GTAs experimented with using small group work in a college algebra course; one of them is finishing a dissertation about that experiment. Another GTA worked on incorporating a computer algebra system into a linear algebra course; she is also finishing a dissertation on that experiment. (OU has a doctoral program in undergraduate mathematics education.)

Given that many GTAs intend to pursue careers in teaching, experience with a variety of instructional strategies might increase their choices of career path after graduation. Even GTAs who are not in departments with a variety of programs can still experiment, if their departments are willing to be supportive of such efforts.

References