Sponsored by the Center for Teaching Excellence, the forum will be held Monday, Jan. 22, in the Memorial Union Campanile Room. All faculty and their guests are invited. He will summarize ISU's teaching assistant training in the past and talk about some new directions, including the College Teaching Seminar. The seminar is a series of 80- minute sessions that provide future TAs with information on asking and answering questions, cooperative learning, leading discussions, using technology in the classroom and other topics. Each topic is offered at least twice during the semester to give TAs more than one opportunity to attend.
Attendance is voluntary.
Graham said she hopes to generate discussion on several issues, including how to achieve consistency in instruction across multiple sections of a course when different TAs lead them and what to teach TAs about evaluating students. A general trend she has noticed is that teaching assistants are more susceptible to grade inflation, she said. Graham said she also is concerned about the dual role TAs face as students and instructors and their struggle to be competent in both.