Seven Principles of Good Teaching Practice

Principle 1: Good Practice Encourages Student- Faculty Contact<
Principle 2: Good Practice Encourages Cooperation Among Students
Principle 3: Good Practice Encourages Active Learning
Principle 4: Good Practice Gives Prompt Feedback
Principle 5: Good Practice Emphasizes Time on Task
Principle 6: Good Practice Communicates High Expectations
Principle 7: Good Practice Respects Diverse Talents and Ways of Learning


Teaching Assistant Job Description and Responsibilities

Section 1: Interaction with instructor

• The course instructor has overall responsibility for the structure and delivery of the course, and TAs work with instructors to ensure the course runs smoothly and successfully.
• TAs should obtain from the instructor clear guidelines for the specific tasks required of the TA. Many of these tasks are described in general terms below.
  • Note that TA positions in Duke Statistics require 12-15 hours per week on average. During some weeks, the workload may be higher or lower.
• TAs are expected to be in contact with the instructor before the first class and be available to meet with the instructor during the first week of class. TAs generally meet with the instructor regularly throughout the semester (at least once a week).
• TAs should attend the first class and ask the instructor whether continued attendance is required. For TAs new to a course or the TA experience, attendance throughout the semester is usually expected.
• TAs assist in assessing and reporting student performance to the instructor. This includes identifying top and/or struggling students and identifying problems or concepts causing difficulty for students.

• TAs should respond to students' e-mails, forwarding common questions to the instructor and other TAs. If the instructor is using Blackboard, solutions to commonly asked questions can be posted on the Discussion Board if the instructor permits.
• Office hours are required as part of TA duties and should be discussed with the instructor.
  • All office hours will be held in the Statistics Education and Consulting Center (SECC) in Old Chemistry 211 A/B. A schedule of those hours will be posted in the SECC and on the course web page.
  • TAs are required to have at least four office hours in the SECC and are expected to use those hours doing the following items:
    • Help students
    • Familiarize themselves with course materials from other classes.
    • Grade
    • Improve teaching skills
  • TAs are expected to answer students' questions for any course for which they have sufficient background. They are not expected to answer questions if they are not familiar with the course material. Office hours in the SECC should not be used for the completion of work unrelated to TA responsibilities.
  • Changes in office hour times should be communicated ahead of time to the students and instructor via e-mail and on the course web page. The Head TA should be informed of any adjustments.
  • The TA is responsible for finding a replacement to hold office hours in the event that he/she cannot hold his/her office hours.
• Grading
  • The TA may be asked to draft, proctor, or grade course exams, homework, quizzes or lab reports. The instructor will specify the grading responsibilities.
  • Solutions provided by TAs should be clear and readable, including notes about what graders expect in the solutions. For solutions posted on the web, typeset solutions are preferred.
  • A clear, consistent grading scheme is needed, particularly when multiple TAs share the grading of an exam or homework. TAs should ask the instructor for grading schemes.
  • TAs should provide feedback to students on homework through short comments.
  • Time frames for grading/recording grades should be decided in coordination with the instructor.
  • TAs should be respectful to student privacy with respect to grades.
• For review sessions, TAs are expected to work with the instructor to prepare material. For lab sessions, TAs are expected to work the lab on their own prior to the lab period and discuss any questions with the instructor.
  • If conducting a review session before an exam, a room must be reserved -- see Kris Moyle in Old Chemistry 223 for 025 reservations.
• TAs may be expected to work with instructors to maintain the course web site -- see instructor.

• Continuation of funding is contingent on good TA performance. Student and faculty evaluations of TAs will occur at the end of each semester. Excellent TA evaluations can provide the basis for future recommendation letters from faculty. TAs will be able to review their evaluations at the end of each semester. (Copies of these evaluation forms are included.)

• Instructors are the best resource for information about the course. Stay in close contact with them.
• If you experience conflicts or problems related to your TA duties -- with students, the instructor, or outside sources -- the DUS and the head TA are available for discussion.
• TAs are encouraged to improve their teaching skills by consulting faculty, working with experienced TAs, and utilizing the Center for Teaching, Learning and Writing (CTLW) located in 404 Old Chemistry. Available opportunities include:
  • Faculty and/or Peer Evaluations
  • Classroom video taping and evaluations by the CTLW
  • Attend Teaching Breakfasts and Lunches
• In an effort to make TA resources easily accessible, a helpful site for the TAs is linked to the Duke Statistics web site (http://www.stat.duke.edu/courses/sta1xx). The TA home page provides a web-based clearing house for TA resources including:
  • TA job description forms and evaluations forms
  • Teaching and statistical resources
  • Datasets
  • Quizzes and exams from previous courses

Seven Principles of Good Teaching Practice

Principle 1: Good Practice Encourages Student- Faculty Contact

Frequent student-faculty contact in and out of classes is the most important factor in student motivation and involvement. Faculty concern helps students get through rough times and keep on working. Knowing a few faculty members well enhances students' intellectual commitment and encourages them to think about their own values and future plans.

• Post office hours, open-door policy (with family's approval, publish home phone number)
• Personalize feedback on student assignment -Ask questions
• Solicit information from student
• Create campus "visibility"
• Use e-mail access
• Help students network with other faculty -Let them know of options, research, etc. of other faculty
• Require student to visit instructor
• Have regular hours, but vary within week -Have regular telephone hours
• Teacher can attend student events
• Stick around for after class conversations
• Learn students names
• Encourage frequent contacts
• Teacher: be early, stay after classes (if possible), maintain office hours, be immediate with your students, know students names and a little about them (if possible)
• Student: ask questions, meet with teacher during office hours -Depends on size of class, but go to faculty office -Meet with student one-on-one basis at least once out of the classroom
• Mentoring Program?

Distance Education

• "Chat time" online with faculty (at various times, scheduled weekly)
• Listservs for student to student contact
• phone bridge
• Picture of faculty/other students
• On site support person
• Telephone access if necessary
• Group work at distance site
• Call individuals by name
• Visit the distance sites
• Maintain eye contact with camera and local students
• Go to sight of distance students
• Question/answer period - spermatically throughout class
• Site visit by faculty member once per semester
• e-mail (1 on 1 contact)

Learning is enhanced when it is more like a team effort than a solo race. Good learning, like good work, is collaborative and social, not competitive and isolated. Working with others often increases involvement in learning. Sharing one's own ideas and responding to others' reactions improves thinking and deepens understanding.

• Break up into small groups
• Leave hands-on activities
• Have discussions (small groups, pairs, ect.)
• Do creative things to show what was learned
  • skits
  • discussions
  • activities
  • games (Jeopardy?)
• Keep people moving around from group to group/person to person
• Have activities and projects outside the classroom for group participation
• Have students share book reports or other class papers with each other
• Be "constructivist"
  • Develop teams
  • Use group activity
  • Grade on a criteria based system (use a curve)
  • Ask students to respond to other students' work
  • Have students write together, group speeches, too!
  • Peer tutoring
  • Encourage students to study together
• Be open to another faculty person suggestions
• Teachers can model group process activities. Effective collaborative group work that helps students increase their understanding is not something they do automatically.
• Model:
  • asking questions
  • listening behaviors
  • model exchange processes
• Sharing ideas can increase learning due to exchanging of ideas
• The instructor can encourage students to answer each other's questions instead of answering them him/herself
• To implement this instructors can use group activities for collaborative learning

Distance Education

• Set up teams to interact via e-mail or phone bridges with enough people at each site (Each site could be a group)
• Post papers, ect...on Internet-students could respond to each other's work
• Work on group projects via phone/e-mail
• Team-teach courses
• Make it out to each distance sight and do some group activities so they are able to have direct contact with instructor as well
• Teleconferences for idea sharing
• Problem solving in groups (via e-mail, ect.)
• Visit with instructor to sites
• Have question and answer time
• Encourage site reports/activities to be shared
• Encourage activities/discussion (chat rooms)
• List serves/e-mail
• Have e-mail groups
• Have joint projects for students from different sites or from same sites
• Offer opportunities for student to interact with other students
• Offer students opportunities to express their own ideas
• If students are close enough geographically, sponsor a fair at the end of the semester where all the students could come to demonstrate their project.

Learning is not a spectator sport. Students do not learn much just sitting in classes listening to teachers, memorizing pre-packaged assignments, and spitting out answers. They must talk about what they are learning, write about it, relate it to past experiences, and apply it to their daily lives. They must make what they learn part of themselves.

• Set up problem solving activities in small groups and have each group discuss with class
• Use some of the same problems solving activities outside of the classroom and have students summarize experiences and solutions
• Journaling (reflective process)
• Assign projects with real life application for them to solve

Distance Education

• Interactive web page
• Debate on-line
• Application: observation/reflection/ journal
• Writing: discussion group via e-mail, chat rooms
• Journaling could be sent via e-mail
• Group like problem solving (e-mail)
• Utilize home/local experiences in teaching content to make subject matter relevant and something the student interacts with more often
• To "talk" about what students are learning, need to create communication/learning groups via e-mail, telephone, chat room, conferencing....weekly activity

Knowing what you know and don't know focuses learning. Students need appropriate feedback on performance to benefit from courses. In getting started, students need help in assessing existing knowledge and competence. In classes, students need frequent opportunities to perform and receive suggestions for improvement. At various points during college, and at the end, students need chances to reflect on what they have learned, what they still need to know, and how to assess themselves.

• Personal needs assessment by student and faculty person
• Provide constructive criticism when necessary, but provide praise/input as often as possible.
• Provide ways to competency validate through testing, and discussion. Use hands-on techniques and some group work as necessary
• Vary assessment techniques (writing, speaking.....)
• Journaling exercise
• Question and answer sessions
• Small groups sharing
• Exams
• Evaluation at start and end
• Reports/Assignments (daily?)
• Relating to life experiences

• Chat group with office hours where the instructor is present
• A student chat group could be used for various assignments or collaborations Have some kind of testing activity on the class info page
• Feedback forms on web site
• E-mail
• Small group sessions
• Exams
• Question and answer groups
• Use of e-mail for sharing/discussing
• Telephone conferences for discussion
• Evaluating/Assessments
• Could use journals -not on weekly basis perhaps
• Exams
• Needs assessment preclass and postclass assessments

Time plus energy equals learning. Efficient time-management skills are critical for students and professionals alike. Allocating realistic amounts of time means effective learning for students and effective teaching for faculty. How an institution defines time expectations for students, faculty, administrators, and other professional staff can establish the basis for high performance for all.

• List the job expectations of the instructor so that person can view what is expected of them.
• Assign what you think are realistic time values for each item. -If the total time equals greater than the time you have, adjust accordingly
• Be careful that time or task is real learning not busy work
• Do not use technology for technology's sake, it must be relevant to topic and useful
• Progressive deadlines for project/assignments
• Many instructions establish "rules" -1 hour of lecture equals 2 hours of outside homework
• As an aspect of instruction, teach time management -With good organization of subject materials, assignments to be completed more timely and more completely
• Realistic expectations means you don't expect10 papers in 10 weeks

• Proper planning means pretty good performance! -Make sure you know what your goals are and that the learners understand them as well.
• Understand that there will be problems with the distance and technology along the way
• Each distance class should involve some sort of time-achievement expectation that is laid out at the beginning of the course -Assign some content for out of class
• Consider both in and out of class time
• Encourage learners to participate in the time issue... Ask: we have 10/20 minutes left, what do you want to do with it?
• Use help...facilitator, technician, decision. Consider team approach and give up illusion of "doing it all," as one might in regular classroom
• Identify key concepts and how those will be taught. Given set amount of time, what can realistically be covered?
• In creating inter-active learning environment it can be overwhelming to both the students and the teacher if the types of interaction required are too time consuming. Keep it realistic! Vary the types of interaction!

Expect more and you will get it. High expectations are important for everyone, for the poorly prepared, for those unwilling to exert themselves, and for the bright and motivated. Expecting students to perform well becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when teachers and institutions hold high expectations of themselves and make extra efforts.

• Contract -outlining grading scheme
• Provide lots of variation and challenging aspects to content
• Be organized as an instructor; pay attention to details
• Be energized and enthusiastic; interaction
• Range of testing questions
• Expect students participation -active learning, not passive, stressed
• Be prepared

• Clearly stated course syllabus
• Provide "stellar" examples (of past student project, for example) for students to refer to
• Work on climate setting-role modeling
• Provide corrective feedback -state what you liked/didn't
• Ask student to comment on what they are doing
• Expect student to participate
• Celebrate in-class success -name student or group
• Suggest extra readings/ect. which support key points
• Try to make the assignments interesting to create interest

There are many roads to learning. People bring different talents and styles of learning to college. Brilliant students in the seminar room may be all thumbs in the lab or art studio. Students rich in hands-on experience may not do so well with theory. Students need the opportunity to show their talents and learn in ways that work for them. Then they can be pushed to learning in ways that do not come so easily.

• Utilize multimedia presentations
• Consider field trips -outside of the classroom activities
• Change delivery methods frequently
• Identify within each lesson; a variety of learning opportunities. Engage as many ways of learning as possible. Visual, kinesthetic, auditory and so on
• Give students a problem to solve that has multiple solutions. -Provide examples, clues....to guide them. Let them decide on a strategy that best fits how they learn.

• In a distance setting laboratory experiences can be provided by contracting with local high schools or community colleges to provide a Saturday lab experience
• Some CD-Rom's that are available provide a simulated lab -such as anatomy, Myers-Briggs type of learning style
• Balance classroom activities for all styles (some books, some hands on, some visual)
• Explain theory from "practical approach" first, then add the structural approach