Introducing a fast way to give feedback on GTA teaching

on

 By Emma Hughes

Two Bioscences students working in a lab, they are wearing white lab coats



GTAs (Graduate Teaching Associates/ Assistants) are an integral part of the teaching team in the School of Biosciences. Last semester, I developed and introduced a form for Academic teaching leads to give feedback to GTAs in the School of Biosciences on key areas of their teaching practice. The aim of the GTA Development Form is to provide fast, actionable feedback and facilitate teaching development discussions between GTAs and their supervisors. The form was developed to map onto the UK Professional Standards Framework for Teaching and Supporting Learning in Higher Education.

Whilst still early days, I have received positive feedback from both GTAs and Academic teaching leads. For example:

I found it easy to use as a staff member and it will improve the quality of feedback given to PhD demonstrators! (Senior University Teacher, School of Biosciences)

 My feedback forms were useful to see when putting together my FHEA application. It helped me to map out examples and provide evidence. It was great to get some positive feedback for my efforts. It has made me feel more part of the teaching team. (GTA, School of Biosciences)

 GTA feedback form

You can view and download the GTA feedback from here. If you found it useful, used it yourself, or wanted to discuss ideas further, I would love to hear from you (emma.hughes@sheffield.ac.uk).

Four Biosciences students working outside on a field trip




Motivation

The School of Biosciences was formed from three Departments (Animal and Plant Sciences, Molecular Biology, and Biomedical Sciences) in 2021. On the one hand, this brought increased opportunities for GTAs, and different Academic staff to work with. On the other hand, having many more PhD students under one School meant that the ‘community feel’ amongst GTAs was reduced. This was further exacerbated by COVID-19 as GTAs were no longer working alongside each other and Academic staff in person.

 In Spring 2023, GTAs in the School were surveyed to explore their thoughts on what was working well for them in terms of management of GTAs, available support and development opportunities, as well as what they thought could work better. One of the recurring points made was that GTAs felt that they did not know whether they were doing a good job whilst teaching or not, and that they would really value formative feedback on their teaching from Academic teaching leads. This finding echoes responses from Slack and Pownall’s (2023) survey of UK based GTAs across all disciplines (see Table 3, recommendation 2).

Further, GTAs requested additional support for FHEA and AFHEA applications from Academic teaching leads. As the GTA feedback form is designed to map onto the UK Professional Standards Framework for Teaching, it can be used directly as evidence in HEA applications.

Challenges

The biggest challenge has been encouraging Academic staff to complete the forms. Staff have limited time, so the form design needed to be of maximum benefit to our GTAs without being too arduous for Academic staff to complete. During the 2023/24 Semester 1 initial roll out phase, over half of Academic staff who teach alongside GTAs completed reflections. More targeted communications regarding the GTA feedback form will hopefully increase this further.

Technicalities (how we use it in Biosciences)

We make the form available to download via the Biosciences staff intranet. The form is then completed by an Academic lead for each GTA they have taught alongside. This can be done after a single teaching session, or a run of similar sessions (e.g., a series of project practicals). The form is submitted via a link on the staff intranet. The form is then uploaded to the relevant GTAs Training Needs Analysis (TNA) folder. This means that the only staff to see the GTA development form are the Academic teaching lead who completed it, a member of the office team, and the students’ PhD supervisors. 

Reminders are sent to teaching staff via the School’s newsletter and the School’s teaching newsletter. Sometimes direct reminders are sent. In Semester 1 (2023/24), 28 GTA feedback forms were submitted and uploaded to TNA folders.




Contributors: 

Sarah Kemp for developing the technical administration of the feedback form, feedback on drafts, and liaising with Dr Kai Erdmann to embed GTA Review and Development Scheme discussions into PhD students Training Needs Analysis (TNA) meetings. Discussions focus on feedback received from the GTA feedback form. Dr Emma Jones and Dr Erika Hansson for contribution of ideas and comments on the draft versions of the feedback form. Kristina Llewllyn, Suzanne Wragg and Kate Orgill for coordinating form uploads to GTAs TNA folders. Dr Erika Hansson and Dr Emma Hughes lead the GTA network in the School of Biosciences.

Resources:
Dr Emma Hughes is a Teaching Associate in the School of Biosciences at the University of Sheffield.