Date of Award
1-17-2013
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Educational Leadership, Ed.D.
First Advisor
David Cox
Committee Members
Amany Saleh; Audrey Bowser; George Foldesy; Myleea Hill
Call Number
LD 251 .A566d 2012 A35
Abstract
The study examined the adequacy of preparation that graduate teaching assistants receive before or during the pursuit of their graduate degree. Specifically, this study looked at graduate teaching assistants' perceptions of their particular programs. Additionally, this study explored how prevalent or non-prevalent TA training was before and/or during services as a Teaching Assistant, the strengths and weaknesses of training program components, the intensity of training programs, the role faculty mentoring played in TA training and the differences in perceptions based on gender and degree status (Master's versus Doctoral). The researcher was interested in identifying and assessing the adequacy of graduate teaching training programs for the purpose of improving or implementing preparation strategies for future programs. The target population for this study was graduate teaching assistants who were employed at public universities in departments of communication studies. Department heads from each university were contacted and asked to forward the survey to all graduate and teaching assistants. The questionnaire was made available through an on-line link (included within the email) formulated specifically for this study. A total of 351 surveys were returned, with 297 of the surveys from teaching assistants who received training before and/or while being in the classroom and 54 of the surveys were from teaching assistants who received no training. According to the descriptive data, 72 percent (211) of the teaching assistants who responded to the survey perceived their training program as having adequately trained them to enter the classroom. Only 27.9 percent (62) of teaching assistants did not feel they were adequately trained.
Rights Management
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Atkins-Randle, Brenda, "Graduate Teaching Assistants' Perceptions of Their Preparation for Teaching in Departments of Communication Studies at Selected Universities" (2013). Student Theses and Dissertations. 839.
https://arch.astate.edu/all-etd/839
