The power of peer-advice videos in ta training

Graduate Students in Teaching (GSiT) conference
May 11, 2022
 

Michelle La, Masayuki Iwase, and Duane Woods

The Centre for Educational Excellence, Simon Fraser University

sfu's centre for educational excellence

The SFU Centre for Educational Excellence (CEE) is an integrated service unit that supports faculty members, instructors, staff and academic units in their teaching roles and responsibilities.
 

Presenters:

• Michelle La, Project Manager of TA Materials Development at CEE and MA candidate in the Department of Sociology & Anthropology, SFU
• Masayuki Iwase, Multimedia Specialist at CEE and PhD candidate, Department of Educational Studies, Faculty of Education, UBC
• Duane Woods, Audio Video Design Specialist at CEE

what we are covering today

• Provide an overview of SFU's TA Hub project
• TA peer advice videos:
  • Video content delivery
  • Reflective practice
  • Diversity of TAs and model inclusion
• Production and post-production
• Questions

Land acknowledgement

Simon Fraser University respectfully acknowledges the unceded traditional territories of the Coast Salish peoples, including the səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations, on which SFU Burnaby is located.

TA Hub project

The TA Hub is a media-rich Canvas resource for SFU TAs from across the disciplines to use throughout the semester semester, and their overall teaching journeys

The TA Hub is a part of a larger collaboration between CEE and SFU's HR called the TA Core Competency Project and is funded by SFU's the Student Experience Initiative (SEI)

TA Hub module content

Sample topics:

• Role and responsibilities of TAs
• Communicating with your course supervisor
• Classroom management
• Managing your time
• Professional development for TAs

chu's video

How do you set healthy expectations for yourself as a TA?

According to Cynthia Brame (2016), the use of video as an educational tool for student learning is maximized when instructors consider the following:

1. Cognitive load of the video
2. Student engagement
3. Promotes active learning

TA peer advice videos format

Cognitive load:

• Signaling: highlighting important information

• Segmenting: length is 6-mins or less

• Weeding: focused on 1 topic

Brame's (2016) effective video principles

Active learning

• Using guiding questions at the beginning

Student engagement

• Conversational language
• Speaking with enthusiasm
• Emphasize relevance to the course

Faune's video

Why is being vulnerable in the classroom a strength?

MODELLING Reflective practice

Reflective practice is ‘learning through and from experience towards gaining new insights of self and practice’ (Finlay, 2008)

representation of ta diversity

Multilingual tas

VIDEO PRODUCTION PROCESS

SUMMARY OF VIDEOS

• 25 videos
• 13 TA's

PRE-PRODUCTION

• Planning
• Testing looks
• Logistics

 PRODUCTION

POST-PRODUCTION

Summary

TA peer advice videos:

• Another way for TAs to gain information -- from peers!
  
  
• Brame's (2016) principles of effective educational videos
  
  
• Models reflective practice and inclusion for new TAs
  
  
• Are an authentic SFU resource and recognizes the diversity of our TAs and community

References

• Brame, Cynthia J. "Effective educational videos: Principles and guidelines for maximizing student learning from video content." CBE—Life Sciences Education 15.4 (2016): es6.
  
  
• Finlay, Linda (2008). Reflecting on ‘Reflective practice’. Practice-based Professional Learning Paper 52, The Open University.
  
  
• Houston, Leonia. "Efficient strategies for integrating Universal design for learning in the online classroom." Journal of Educators Online 15.3 (2018): n3.