Core Module 1
As a Teaching Assistant (TA), you will play a role in generating interest in a field and supporting students’ learning. Thus, it is important to consider: What is learning? How do we know if someone has truly learnt? Does teaching necessarily leads to learning? In this module, we invite you to examine your experiences as a learner and challenge one another’s assumptions about what is ‘good’ teaching and learning in the context of higher education. Through introducing the concepts of deep and surface learning approaches, we will explore teaching strategies to foster students’ interest in learning and support them in thinking deeply and critically. You will also reflect on how the knowledge and skills of teaching and learning, can support your personal and career motivations.
Core Module 2
As a Teaching Assistant (TA), you may be tasked to conduct a lecture or tutorial, provide consultation to students or mark assignments. No matter the type or length of the interaction and the number of students, it helps to be clear about what we hope students can achieve. One way to do this, is to write our desired ‘Aims and Learning Outcomes’ clearly and using these as a basis for continuous engagement with students. Aims and learning outcomes tell students where they should direct their energies in a course or lesson and encourages students to take responsibility for their learning. In this module, we invite you to consider how we can help students relate to and understand what they will be learning and appreciate the value of the learning. Using the SOLO taxonomy (Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes), we will discuss how learning outcomes of the appropriate cognitive levels support students to adopt deep learning approaches.
Core Module 3
As a Teaching Assistant (TA), you may be asked to help students understand difficult concepts and acquire certain skills. How would you go about it? Would you explain or demonstrate to students, pose them questions, or get them to discuss with one another? How do we know which strategy is effective? In this module, we invite you to consider how you can design learning activities to support students to construct understanding, make connections to their prior knowledge and engage in deeper learning. Every learner is different, and every interaction is unique. You will need to carefully consider various factors to make informed judgments to spark students’ curiosity and engage them in meaning-making. In this module, we will learn how to develop student-centred learning activities aligned to the aims and learning outcomes. We will discuss common challenges in engaging students and formulate strategies to overcome these challenges.
Core Module 4
Now that you have had an opportunity to think through and plan a student-centred lesson, it is time to deliver the lesson in practice. Interactions with students are dynamic and require us to be attentive to how students are responding to the learning activities. We may have to adjust along the way or rethink our initial plans. In this module, you will facilitate a 12-minute interaction with 5-6 peers from different disciplines. We will discuss the criteria used to assess the effectiveness of facilitation skills and provide feedback to one another. Through reflecting on your experience and the feedback given, you may make changes to your learning activities, in preparation for the microteaching assessment.
Core Module 5
This module assesses your ability to demonstrate effective facilitation skills when engaging 5-6 peers from different disciplines who will take on the role as students, to support them in achieving specific learning outcomes in a 12-minute interaction (based on the lesson plan submitted for your graded assignment). Based on the microteaching assessment criteria, you will provide constructive feedback to one another, reflect on your facilitation, and receive feedback from the assessor.
You will need to pass the Microteaching Assessment (15/30 marks and at least 1 mark for each criterion). For ‘Outstanding’ performance, attain at least 4 marks for each criterion. Refer to
NTULearn for the grading rubric.
The aim of the graded assignment is for you to demonstrate your learning from Core Modules 1 to 4. You are to develop a lesson plan for a 12-minute interaction with a small group of 5-6 learners who are your peers in this course. You will have an opportunity to facilitate your lesson plan with your peers in Core Module 4 to obtain feedback for improvement. You will use your finalized lesson plan for the microteaching assessment in Core Module 5.
You will need to pass the Graded Assignment (10/20 marks). Refer to
NTULearn for the grading rubric.
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