This Complete Evidence-based Practice paper highlights the training of teaching assistants (TAs) and analyzes teaching assistant empowerment in the classroom. This study was conducted at The Ohio State University, where undergraduate teaching assistants are used in the first-year engineering classes. There are teaching assistants for both the honors and standard versions of the classes, and each year, there are both new and returning teaching assistants. Training for these teaching assistants has changed over the years and the first-year engineering program is looking for ways to assess the impact of training. Empowerment is used as a frame for analysis of teaching assistant performance in the classroom. Intrapersonal, interactional, and behavioral components of empowerment theory are used to map the training aspects to desired teaching assistant outcomes. By this mapping, higher levels of empowerment lead to better teaching assistant performance for students. It is the goal of the program being studied to prepare teaching assistants to be successful in the classroom with students, and training is one of the tools that is meant to help achieve that goal. A survey was developed to look at empowerment in teaching assistants based Frymier's Learner Empowerment survey. This survey showed that teaching assistants perceived high levels of empowerment and the three subscales of competence, impact, and meaningfulness. Results indicate returning teaching assistants had a higher average empowerment, competence, and impact score compared to new teaching assistants. The honors engineering teaching assistants had a higher average meaningfulness score compared to the standard engineering teaching assistants. This survey can be useful in the future as changes are made to the teaching assistant roles and training to see if it has an impact on their empowerment while instructing in the classroom.
Andrew Phillips is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Engineering Education at The Ohio State University (OSU) expecting to graduate in Summer 2023. He received his B.S. in 2016 and M.S. in 2018 from OSU in Electrical and Computer Engineering with research focus in integrated nonlinear optics. His engineering education research interests include Teaching Assistants (TAs), first-year engineering, systematic literature reviews, personality theory, and instrument validation. As a TA he has taught first-year engineering for 10 years.
Krista Kecskemety is an Associate Professor in the Department of Engineering Education at The Ohio State University and the co-Director of the Fundamentals of Engineering Programs. Krista received her B.S. in Aerospace Engineering at The Ohio State University in 2006 and received her M.S. from Ohio State in 2007. In 2012, Krista completed her Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering at Ohio State. Her engineering education research interests include investigating first-year engineering student experiences, faculty experiences, and the research to practice cycle within first-year engineering.
Dr. David A. Delaine is an Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University Department of Engineering Education. Within this newly formed department he strives to creatively impact engineering education and society through investigating community-based le
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