More Like this

1. A Case Study of a Multi-Institution Replication of a Comprehensive GTA Teacher Training Program

   https://doi.org/10.1080/10511970.2023.2214909  

   Manzanares, RaKissa; Webb, Jessica; Harrell-Williams, Leigh M.; Olson, Gary A.; Houston, Scotty; Lanius, Melinda; Funkhouser, Kelsey; Shannon, David; Gomez, Josias O.; Jacobson, Michael; et al (June 2023, PRIMUS)

   A comprehensive graduate teaching assistant (GTA) training program in mathematical sciences designed at one institution is being adapted and replicated at two peer institutions. Using a case study approach, this paper outlines the development of the program components, which include a first-year teaching seminar, peer mentoring and support from a peer TA Coach, a Critical Issues in STEM Education seminar, and K-12 outreach to inform understanding of the pipeline. Additionally, adaptations due to institutional context and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic are described. Implications for components of the comprehensive program, based on GTA-provided feedback, are discussed. 

   more » « less
2. On the Evolution of Graduate Student Mentees’ and Mentors’ Conceptualizations of Peer Teaching Mentorship

   Houston, S.; Lanius, M.; Gomez, J.; Harrell-Williams, L.M.; Manzanares, R.; Olson, G.; Ratliffe, K.; & Jacobson, M. (February 2023, Proceedings of the Annual Conference on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education)

   Peer mentoring programs can provide instructional support for graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) (Rogers & Yee, 2018; Yee & Rogers, 2017) through more specialized and detailed discussions than just working with faculty (Speer et al., 2015; Yee & Rogers, 2016). Lanius et al. (2022) explored how mentees and mentors participating in a comprehensive multi-component GTA pedagogical training program, Promoting Success in Undergraduate Mathematics Through Graduate Teacher Training (Harrell-Williams et al., 2020), at three universities at the start of an academic year conceptualized the role of an effective mentor. In this poster, we explore whether this conceptualization of the mentor role changed over the course of the academic year after participation in components of the training program: a GTA Teaching Seminar, Critical Issues Seminar, and peer mentoring (including mentor training). 

   more » « less
3. Graduate student peer mentoring experiences as a component of a multi-faceted graduate teacher training program

   Funkhouser, Kelsey; Gomez, Josias; Manzanares, RaKissa; Harrell-Williams, Leigh; Jacobson, Michael (January 2021, 2021 Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education Reports)

   Karunakaran, S. S.; Higgins, A. (Ed.)

   Peer mentoring programs are one approach to improving the pedagogical development of mathematical sciences graduate students. This paper describes the peer mentoring experiences at three institutions that have implemented a multi-faceted GTA professional development program. Data was collected from surveys and focus groups conducted with graduate teaching assistants at each institution regarding mentees’ ratings of their mentors, mentors’ ratings of their impact on mentees, mentors’ impressions of the benefits and challenges of peer mentoring, and mentees and mentors’ ratings of program components related to support from mentors, their TA coach, program staff, and other graduate students. Most GTAs found value in participating in the peer mentoring program. While the mentees found their mentors to be significant to their own success and effectiveness, the mentors did not rate themselves as high as the mentees rated them with respect to their own significance in impacting the effectiveness of their mentee. 

   more » « less
4. Supporting BIPOC Males in STEM: Insights from a Case Study on Online Peer Mentoring

   https://doi.org/10.51355/j-stem.2024.145  

   Wendt, Jillian; Jones, Vivian (December 2024, Journal of Research in STEM Education)

   The current study explores the implementation and impact of online peer mentee training, part of a larger online peer mentoring program, on the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) self-efficacy, sense of belonging, and STEM identity of Black, Indigenous, and Other People of Color (BIPOC) males enrolled in STEM degree programs at a historically Black institution. Framed by Bandura’s Self-Efficacy Theory, Tinto’s Institutional department Model, and Social Cognitive Career Theory, it examines participants’ intent to persist in their STEM degree programs and subsequent STEM careers. Using a case study design, interviews and focus groups were analyzed. Five themes were identified: Development and Solidification of Identity, Increase in Confidence, Motivation to Make an Impact, Belonging, and Persistence and Retention through Developing Skills. The study is significant as it attends to the dearth in research that examines BIPOC males’ experiences in an online peer mentoring program while enrolled in STEM degree programs at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). The findings provide insight on one method for supporting the participation of BIPOC males in STEM—an historically underrepresented population within STEM degree programs and fields. The findings inform institutions seeking to broaden participation within STEM fields while simultaneously supporting the retention of underrepresented populations in STEM degree programs. The findings also inform future implementations of online peer mentoring programs within HBCUs. 

   more » « less
5. Where’s My Whiteboard? The Challenge of Moving Active-learning Mathematics Classes Online

   Nelson, Jill K.; Rosenberg, Jessica; Fernandez, Kathryn; Shank, Julie (July 2021, 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference)

   null (Ed.)

   This research paper studies the challenges that mathematics faculty and graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) faced when moving active and collaborative calculus courses from in-person to virtual instruction. As part of a larger pedagogical change project (described below), the math department at a public Research-1 university began transitioning pre-calculus and calculus courses to an active and collaborative learning (ACL) format in Fall 2019. The change began with the introduction of collaborative worksheets in recitations which were led by GTAs and supported by undergraduate learning assistants (LAs). Students recitation periods collaboratively solving the worksheet problems on whiteboards. When COVID-19 forced the rapid transition to online teaching, these ACL efforts faced an array of challenges. Faculty and GTA reflections on the changes to teaching and learning provide insight into how instructional staff can be supported in implementing ACL across various modes of instruction. The calculus teaching change efforts discussed in this paper are part of an NSF-supported project that aims to make ACL the default method of instruction in highly enrolled gateway STEM courses across the institution. The theoretical framework for the project builds on existing work on grassroots change in higher education (Kezar and Lester, 2011) to study the effect of communities of practice on changing teaching culture. The project uses course-based communities of practice (Wenger, 1999) that include instructors, GTAs, and LAs working together to design and enact teaching change in the targeted courses alongside ongoing professional development for GTAs and LAs. Six faculty and five GTAs involved in the teaching change effort in mathematics were interviewed after the Spring 2020 semester ended. Interview questions focused on faculty and GTA experiences implementing active learning after the rapid transition to online teaching. A grounded coding scheme was used to identify common themes in the challenges faced by instructors and GTAs as they moved online and in the impacts of technology, LA support, and the department community of practice on the move to online teaching. Technology, including both access and capabilities, emerged as a common barrier to student engagement. A particular barrier was students’ reluctance to share video or participate orally in sessions that were being recorded, making group work more difficult than it had been in a physical classroom. In addition, most students lacked access to a tablet for freehand writing, presenting a significant hurdle for sharing mathematical notation when physical whiteboards were no longer an option. These challenges point to the importance of incorporating flexibility in active learning implementation and in the professional development that supports teaching changes toward active learning, since what is conceived for a collaborative physical classroom may be implemented in a much different environment. The full paper will present a detailed analysis of the data to better understand how faculty and GTA experiences in the transition to online delivery can inform planning and professional development as the larger institutional change effort moves forward both in mathematics and in other STEM fields. 

   more » « less