Undergraduate Teaching Associate Program
Summary of
Faculty and Student Evaluation
Fall Semester 2003
Jill Sullivan
Graduate Assistant, Center for Professional Development
During the week of December 8 – 12 the Center for Professional Development sent out evaluation forms to all faculty and student assistants who participated in the Fall Semester 2003 UTAP Program. Of the seventy-five participants, nine students and nine faculty returned forms. The following summary is based on their responses.
Eight of the nine faculty respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they were satisfied with the program and would use a teaching assistant again in the future. One faculty respondent “didn’t know” if they were satisfied with the performance of their student or if their experience with UTAP met their expectations. Accompanying this response was the statement, “The program is great, but I found no time to prepare material for my TA to present.”
Eight of the nine of the student respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they were satisfied with their teaching experience, the program met their expectations, and they would recommend the program to other students. One student respondent disagreed with the statement, “My participation in the program met my expectations.” No explanation or comment was given for this response.
UTAP Luncheons
Only four of the nine faculty respondents attended the luncheons; similarly, three of the nine student respondents attended luncheons. Almost all faculty and students rated the luncheons favorably, either agreeing or strongly agreeing that they were beneficial and interesting. One student respondent “didn’t know” if the luncheons were beneficial. A faculty member commented, “The topics help out a lot!”
Several students and faculty wrote that they couldn’t attend the luncheons because of scheduling conflicts. Suggestions were made that in the future the CPD vary the luncheon times in order to include more/other participants.
Communication
All of the faculty and student respondents felt that the CPD’s communication about the program and the luncheons was adequate. A faculty respondent commented that it was unnecessary and wasteful to use envelopes in mailing out flyers, as a folded page with a label would suffice. Since receiving this suggestion, the CPD has switched to sending out folded-page flyers for UTAP events.
Faculty felt that there were many benefits to having student assistants. The reasons they gave generally centered on the support that assistants gave to students taking the class. The assistants talked to students and received feedback, worked with students in small groups and labs, tutored, and in some cases presented material to the class. Absenteeism was a problem that one faculty respondent had. He/she found it difficult to carry out the plans for the class after the assistant had failed to show up. Perhaps more clarification is needed in the program reguarding assistant absences. A suggestion was also made that the program give faculty more “recommendations, advice etc… on how we set up these relationships” rather than an “awkward list of things they can’t do.”
With the exception of one, all student respondents strongly agreed that their TA experience helped them to learn useful teaching skills. Eight of the nine agreed or strongly agreed that their knowledge of the subject matter was enhanced. One student respondent commented that he/she “had fun, but didn’t learn much.” This student would repeat the experience with another instructor if given the opportunity.