ERIC Number: ED169592
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1979-Feb
Pages: 20
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Training Teaching Assistants to Teach the Basic-Communication Course.
Weaver, Richard L., II
At Bowling Green State University (Ohio), a training program to prepare and develop teaching assistants to handle the basic communication course has been in effect for five years, and has resulted in strong basic course evaluations and effective teaching on the part of the graduate teaching assistants. The preparation begins in midsummer, when the prospective teachers are sent handouts and teaching materials for the course. It continues, just prior to the beginning of fall term, with a university-wide "professional development program" and a more specific departmental training session that provides experiences in the speech activities the teaching assistants will soon direct. Other parts of the training program continue through the school year, including weekly staff meetings (to discuss grading procedures, effective teaching techniques, and other concerns), class visitations by the "t.a." director, required participation in a one-credit teacher education course, and optional enrollment in a four-credit course about teaching interpersonal and public communication. The rationale for such a multi-faceted approach to preparing teaching assistants is to offer a subtle combination of structure and flexibility; the program's design gives direction to the t.a.'s but on a wide path that yields consistent experiences to the group without constricting the individual. (RL)
Publication Type: Reports - Descriptive; Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Note: Paper presented at the Central States Basic Course Workshop (Cleveland, Ohio, February 1979)