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Epigenomics course reflection

I have been a TA for 4 days in this course. I define that a good TA is there to help both the teachers and the learners. In that regard, I think I did well:

  • I typically respond first to a post on Zoom or Slack
  • I prepare calling for a teacher, by -after reading the post from a learner- also look up the room where the teacher needs to go
  • I let the teachers have their authority, e.g. I asked what they wanted me to do (instead of me suggesting what I needed to do)
  • I encouraged the teachers to give technical questions to me (so that they can focus on teaching epigenomics)
  • I answered all technical questions in a welcoming way, i.e. I had patience and was fully dedicated to finding a solution

An interesting viewpoint I encountered was that the learners are the sole responsible for their own learning, i.e. a teacher does not need to motivate them. To explore this view, next SLL TLC we will read Matthews, Michael T., and Stephen C. Yanchar. "Instructional designers’ perspectives on learners’ responsibility for learning." Journal of Computing in Higher Education 30.1 (2018): 111-124. DOI to paper.

After some fresh reading, I changed to this paper:

Matteucci, M.C., Guglielmi, D. & Lauermann, F. Teachers’ sense of responsibility for educational outcomes and its associations with teachers’ instructional approaches and professional wellbeing. Soc Psychol Educ 20, 275–298 (2017). DOI