Teaching the Teachers: Reflections from two GTAs

This case study offers a critical reflection on the experience of two Graduate Teaching Assistants who were hired to ‘teach the teachers’ at their department during the first national lockdown. The presentation draws from a program of workshops and learning activities used to train lecturers, senior lecturers, and professors alike as they prepared to teach online, many for the first time. The program included training on everything from how to navigate KEATS and use external software, to how to record lectures and manipulate user interfaces for maximum impact. While taking on this challenge, the experienced GTA found that their pedagogical instincts and practices were challenged by their positionalities. While they intended to implement blended, digital, and active learning techniques to deliver this program to senior staff, things like perceived academic hierarchies, cultural differences, and imposter syndrome significantly altered our ability to do so in ways we expected. The presentation will serve as a reflection on their experiences.

Part of the Learning & Teaching Conference 2021 Series.

KED Talk created by

• Dr Anna Grimaldi, Graduate Teaching Assistant, Faculty of Social Science and Public Policy
• M. Sudhir Selvaraj, Graduate Teaching Assistant, Faculty of Social Science and Public Policy