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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. 

This poster focuses on the experiences of TA Coaches in a comprehensive graduate teaching assistant training program in mathematical sciences that was designed and refined at one institution and is being replicated at two peer institutions. During program development, TA coaches were tasked with working with GTAs teaching recitation sections of college algebra and calculus I to facilitate active learning pedagogy and were asked to free-form journal about their experience. At the two institutions replicating the program, the duties changed to support the structure and needs of each department. Recent TA coaches at the three institutions participated in interviews about their experiences. This poster summarizes the roles of the TA Coaches across the three universities and explores their perceptions of the unique benefits that the TA coach role provides to the GTAs they assist and their own instructional experiences. 

The abrupt switch from in-person instruction and tutoring to remote or online instruction and tutoring as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 was difficult for even the most experienced instructor. In this paper, we explore how graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) at three different institutions responded to and experienced this change. Data was collected from surveys and focus groups conducted with graduate teaching assistants at each institution, as part of our ongoing collaborative NSF-funded project focusing on equipping mathematical sciences GTAs to become better teachers. In their responses, the graduate teaching assistants discussed topics ranging from what they did in their remote classrooms to the challenges they faced and supports they received from their department, university, and fellow classmates and faculty. 

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. 

Throughout the past few decades, the term active learning has been used to describe a variety of classroom instructional techniques and pedagogy. In this poster, we explore the conceptualization and implementation of active learning strategies for graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) in three Departments of Mathematical Sciences at the start of a funded project evaluating a multifaceted GTA training model. 

A comprehensive graduate teaching assistant (GTA) training program in mathematical sciences designed at one institution is being replicated at two peer institutions. This paper presents the findings of a baseline comparison of the three universities undertaken at the start of the project to inform its adaptation and implementation at each institution and the evaluation of its impact. Program components 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. Differences in undergraduate demographics and performance in introductory mathematics courses, GTA responsibilities, prior departmental GTA training elements, and GTAs attitudes towards teaching mathematics/statistics are presented. Implications for program implementation and assessment of study goals related to institution differences are presented. 

Promoting equity in undergraduate mathematics education is of vital importance, yet has received considerably less attention than equity in K-12 mathematics. The current study focuses on a pedagogical training program for graduate teaching assistants’ (GTAs), which emphasizes equity in their teaching of undergraduates. The study examines GTAs’ journals and open-ended survey responses, including their definitions of equity and the ways they promote equity in their classrooms. The research will foster discourse about ways of promoting equity in undergraduate mathematics and about professional development for undergraduate mathematics instructors.