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A Full Paper: An Evaluation of Faculty and UTA Perceptions: A Pilot Program of Embedding UTAs in a First Year Engineering Course

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Conference

14th Annual First-Year Engineering Experience (FYEE) Conference

Location

University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee

Publication Date

July 30, 2023

Start Date

July 30, 2023

End Date

August 1, 2023

Conference Session

S6B: Full Papers - One Size Does Not Fit All

Tagged Topic

Full Papers

Page Count

8

DOI

10.18260/1-2--44817

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/44817

Download Count

88

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Paper Authors

biography

Tameka Sharona Clarke Douglas Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

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Tameka Clarke Douglas, is an Assistant Collegiate Professor in The Department of Engineering Education.

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Abstract

The College of Engineering (COE) sought to capitalize on the underutilized and underdeveloped resource of undergraduate students as teaching assistants within undergraduate engineering education. Accordingly, a training and support program was designed and developed with specific undergraduate teaching assistants (UTAs) outcomes in mind. At the center of this program design was the intent that UTAs are effectively prepared to support instruction and appropriately trained with the knowledge, skills, and attributes to practically and effectively promote and foster engagement and inclusion within undergraduate engineering courses. As a direct result, embedding UTAs in a first-year undergraduate foundation two-semester sequence engineering course was piloted in Fall and Spring 2023. Within this context, this paper first describes faculty evaluations of UTAs in accomplishing traditionally assigned graduate teaching assistant (GTA) instructional support tasks. Secondly, this paper describes UTAs beliefs of ways they fostered a sense of belonging, a growth mindset and fostered an inclusive engineering undergraduate classroom.

Clarke Douglas, T. S. (2023, July), A Full Paper: An Evaluation of Faculty and UTA Perceptions: A Pilot Program of Embedding UTAs in a First Year Engineering Course Paper presented at 14th Annual First-Year Engineering Experience (FYEE) Conference, University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. 10.18260/1-2--44817

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