Module 5 Overview

Module Introduction

Module 5 (Week 5) of this course will be conducted face-to-face. We will be discussing the "Qualities/Characteristics of Effective Undergraduate Teaching Assistants". You will be asked to share ideas about the qualities that contribute to being an effective UTA.

We also will discuss "Teacher Immediacy", sometimes referred to as classroom or instructional immediacy. Teacher immediacy was briefly introduced in Module 1 (Week 1) as verbal and non-verbal behaviors shown to reduce the perceived psychological and physical gap between the instructor and students. Research shows that the use of immediacy behaviors is positively associated with  student motivation, cognitive learning, attendance, and other factors associated with student performance.

ObjectivesModule Objectives

This session provides students with the opportunity to:
  1. Identify qualities/characteristics associated with effectiveness of UTAs.
  2. Choose qualities/characteristics associated with UTA effectiveness that are essential to the specific UTA responsibilities assigned to them, and explain why they selected these qualities/characteristics and how they have demonstrated/plan to demonstrate these qualities/characteristics.
  3. Gain perspective on the views and approaches used by classmates to achieve effectiveness as a UTA.
  4. Demonstrate an understanding of the concept of teacher/instructional immediacy and identify behaviors associated with immediacy.
  5. Infer how the qualities/characteristics of effective UTAs and immediacy behaviors might apply to your professional development and/or your future success.